Note 32 — Chapter XVII · ICE BREAK-UP OF 1856.

One of the medical officers accompanying the troops, and possibly the surgeon in this case, was Dr. George L. Miller of Omaha, Neb., who had early established himself in the West to seek his fortune there, and afterward became one of Nebraska’s most eminent citizens and well known throughout the country. He had gone up with the troops for temporary service because they had no regular surgeon. Dr. Miller returned to Omaha on the St. Mary, and many years later prepared an account of his personal experiences on the trip. His reference to Captain La Barge is interesting in this connection. He described him as “a short, stout, alert, and energetic man, with the eye of an eagle, which had been trained by twenty years’ service as a student of the mysterious and muddy waters of the Missouri.” A few years before these reminiscences were written by Dr. Miller, Captain La Barge’s brother John died, and Dr. Miller had mistakenly understood it to be his old river friend of 1855. The event called forth this further reference to the Captain: “The death of Joe La Barge, the brown-faced and black-eyed pilot, two or three years ago, caused a pang of regret in the hearts of tens of thousands who dwell along the valley of the great river, and who knew and admired him both in character and calling.”