undoubtedly crack shots. He, accordingly, adopted more diplomatic
measures, and, by establishing somewhat friendly relations, got into
close quarters with the settlers. A rough and tumble fight with fists
soon afterwards resulted, and the hard fists and brawny arms of the
settlers proved too much for the regulars, who were for the time being
driven off.

The result of the boomers' victory was the sending of 600 soldiers to
dislodge them, and it being impossible to resist such a force as this,
the colonists yielded with the best grace they could and sadly deserted
the homes they had tried so hard to build up. Some of the men were
actually imprisoned for the action they had taken, and the colony for a
time was completely broken up. The example set was followed by several
others, and for some years a conflict, not particularly creditable to
the Government, went on. No law was discovered to punish the boomers and
thus put a final end to the invasions. All that could be done was to
drive the families out as fast as they went in, a course of action far
more calculated to excite disorder than to quell it. Sometimes the
soldiers displayed a great deal of forbearance, and even went out of
their way to help the women and children and reduce their sufferings to
the smallest possible point. Again, they were sometimes unduly harsh,
and more than one infant lost its life from the exposure the evictions
brought about. The soldiers by no means relished the work given them,
and many of them complained bitterly that it was no part of their duty
to fight women and babies. Still they were compelled to obey orders and
ask no questions.

While the original colonists, or boomers, gained little or nothing for
themselves by the hardships they insisted on encountering, they really
brought about the opening for settlement of Oklahoma. About the year