USA > Montana > Then and now; or, Thirty-six years in the Rockies. Personal reminiscences of some of the first pioneers of the state of Montana. Indians and Indian wars. The past and present of the Rocky mountain country. 1864-1900 > Part 20
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in the thousands. Poor Custer met his fate at the hands of these same warriors only a week later. Crook's forces were not much, if any, superior to Custer's whole command, but he was fortunate in keeping them undivided. He withstood the attack with great skill and courage, although for a while things certainly looked very blue. On this day, a little company of Montana miners, who had been out in the Black Hills prospecting and had joined Crook while on their way back to Montana, did splendid work with their Sharp's sporting rifles. Crook and Terry, those grand soldiers, after poor Cus- ter's command had been wiped out, united their forces on the Yellowstone. How Terry then took for his share the task of cleaning out any hostiles to be found north of the Yellowstone, while Crook, like a bull-dog, hung to the trail which led to the south; how he followed it without bedding, without shelter, without food other than horse meat and berries found in cap- tured villages, and in spite of the pitiless rain which beat down upon us (for I was one of those who camped on the trail), day after day, during the entire march from the mouth of Powder river to the Black Hills.
"I could write a book about our trials and tribulations on those marches, and sometime in the future the half-formed fancy of the present moment may take shape. One thing I wish to impress upon the minds of present and future Mon- tanians, and that is the fact that the campaigns of General Crook and brother officers and men in 1876 and 1877 had the positive result of opening to their permanent occupation and use those vast and beautiful regions drained by the Yellow- stone, Big Horn, Rosebud, Tongue, Powder, Musselshell and Judith rivers-regions which up that time had swarmed with the most powerful, vindictive and treacherous tribes of sav- ages America has produced. I went into those campaigns knowing little of the regular army, and indeed somewhat
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prejudiced against it; I came out satisfied that the mass of its officers and men, the 'youngsters' especially, were brave, intel- ligent, patriotic, ambitious and courteous-men of whom any country should be proud.
"Closing this reminiscence of an arduous season of toil and danger, I am glad to say that among the lieutenants with whom I faced the red foe, and for whom I formed a great at- tachment, was the witty, bright and brave Schwatka, whose successes as an Arctic explorer have since made him world famous; Bourke, who besides being an officer of exceptional gallantry and good judgment, has devoted himself, with great patience, to the collection of memoranda upon the manners and customs of the aborigines; Carpenter, noted as an ento- mologist, and dozens of other officers-Eagan, Charles King, Schuyler, Allison, Chase, Lemley, MeKinney (since killed), Delaney, Randall, Sibley, Nickerson, Henry, as brave and intelligent as any men can be-in the army or out of it.
"As Sherman's army had an important element following and surrounding it-'the bummers'-so this hard-worked force that Crook commanded had attached to it a force of corre- spondents whom I compare, and in all kindness, to the ‘bum- mers' whom Sherman led to the sea. They were an excep- tionally fine lot of men. There was Jack Finerty of the Chicago Times. I have always had a notion that he stepped out from some place in Lever's novels; he was brave to rash- ness, and devoted to the interests of his great journal. Joe Wason, of the Alta California and the New York Tribune, always on the skirmish line after 'pints.' His red head shone like the danger signal of a freight train, but in spite of his red head he was one of the best fellows I ever knew. T. C. MacMillan of the Chicago Inter Ocean, and J. J. Roche of the New York Herald, both physically weak, but intellectually strong, and so on through the list. Readers of the Boston
COL. WILLIAM F. CODY (BUFFALO BILL).
The Pony Express Rider, the Noted Scout During the Indian Wars and Chief Scout of the United States Army.
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Advertiser, New York Herald and Tribune, Alta California, Philadelphia Press, Washington Star, Denver News, Omaha Republican and Herald, Cheyenne Sun, and other papers rep- resented at various times during that campaign of seventeen months' duration, never imagined while they were reading our letters at their comfortable breakfast table, and growling at the dashed correspondents because they 'didn't make 'em more full,' that the 'dashed correspondent,' dressed in rags, soaked through with rain, and almost crazed with want of food and rest, was writing his letters on a cottonwood chip or a piece of flat stone, and often at the risk of his life from a stray bullet."
There is now in this state one witness of the Custer bat- tles, who is perhaps the only one living. He is William Jack- son, an intelligent and well educated half-breed, who now lives at the Blackfeet reservation sixty-five miles from here.
After a long life as government scout, he has turned his attention to farming and cattle raising, and in this pursuit he has been quite successful. He was in this city a few days ago on his way from Helena, where he had been as a wit- ness in a trial which was held in the United States court. A correspondent of the Anaconda Standard, at this place, had an important interview with Mr. Jackson, which is as follows. He says: "Mitch Bouille, William Cross and myself were acting as guides and scouts for the Custer-Terry expedition against the Sioux and Cheyennes who were under the leader- ship of the wily old Sitting Bull. The battle, as you know, took place on June 25, 1876. On the morning of that day the troopers had made an carly start and we, the scouts, had gone ahead on a reconnoitering expedition. When we returned to report we met the command crossing the divide between the Rosebud and Little Big Horn rivers, General Custer rode at the head of his command, the Seventh Cavalry, and Cap-
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tains French and Benteen and Major Reno were in command of other divisions.
"We had discovered the hostiles camped near the Little Big Horn and about seven miles straight ahead of the soldiers. We so reported to General Custer, and he, calling a halt, sum- mnoned the officers under him for a council. The troops were shut out from view on the part of the hostiles by a ridge of land, and it was at the base of this that the council of war was held. It lasted but a few minutes, and Custer's desire for an immediate engagement carried the day. The soldiers were divided into three battalions. Major Reno with three com- panies and all of the scouts was to advance rapidly and from a commanding ridge make a charge upon the upper end of the Sionx camp, first gaining a patch of timber about six hun- dred yards from the enemy. In the meantime General Cus- ter, with five companies, would deploy around the edge of the ridge where they were now halted and attack the lower end of the village and cut off all retreat on the part of the Sioux. Captain Benteen, with four companies, would take up a posi- tion on the cast bank of the Little Big Horn, overlooking the village and protecting the pack train and baggage.
"As the officers left the council they quickly gave orders to the men, and in an instant all were busy inspecting and loading their pistols and carbines, filling their ammunition belts, tightening saddles and looking to every detail prepara- tory to the figlit. Soon the bugle sounded, 'Prepare to mount; mount, forward !' Custer and his men went to the right, Reno to the left, toward the ford of the Little Big Horn. The horses went forward at a sharp trot, and in the moment of waiting on the bank of the stream I looked back and saw Cus- ter with his five companies charging upon the village, Custer fully fifty yards in the lead. That was the last time I ever looked upon that heroic soldier alive or his gallant men. We
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were soon busy in making the ford, which was somewhat dif- ficult, and then we advanced up the ridge, taking the posi- tion assigned us at the council. Up to that time there had been no incident of interest. The troops were dismounted and the horses left in the care of every fourth soldier. Every- thing was ready for the fight to begin and the wait was not long.
"The hostiles had discovered us at once and took the initi- ative by making a vicious charge up the hill. Their main body gained a vantage ground behind an clevation sufficient to protect them and just in front of our position. As they charged they drove in our skirmish line, which took a position just inside the timber. The fight was furious for a time, the Indians outnumbering Reno's command at least ten to one. A second charge from the hostiles drove us still higher up the ridge, at least one mile further from the village, and it was in our retreat that we first heard the sounds of firing in the lower end of the village where Custer was engaged. It could not have been very heavy, as he met but few hostiles at the first of the engagement, but it was sufficient to draw the atten- tion of the Indians away from us and turn it upon the un- fortunates who were attacking them in the rear. This was between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon and from that time the fighting in the lower end of the Indian camp was hot and heavy. The sound of firing increased steadily until it became a roar, and then it died gradually away until there was only the scattered reports of single shots. All this took place in the space of two hours, and when the June sun set behind the Little Big Horn mountains the Custer command had been entirely wiped out.
"Of course we did not know this at the time, but wondered how the fight had gone. Soon we suspected that something was wrong, for the Indians again turned their attention to
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Reno, and from that time there was no opportunity to think of anything save what we saw going on about us, and in which we were vitally interested, for the onslaughts. of the painted warriors became desperate. Inflamed by their success in killing the Custer command, they now determined to sweep away the rest of their enemies, and time and again they charged up the hill to capture Reno. Only the strength of our position pre- vented our meeting a fate like that of Custer, and it was after dark before the hostiles gave up their attempt to dislodge and slaughter us. My personal interest in the fray was strong. I had been in the skirmish line, and when we were driven back by the hostiles we retreated slowly, protecting the with- drawal of the main body of Reno's command. In doing this fourteen of us were cut off from the command and had to take to the brush and hide. Before we could conceal ourselves ten of the fourteen had been killed, leaving only Lieutenant Deridio, F. F. Gerard, Tom O'Neal and myself.
"Fortunately we were not discovered, and at midnight, after all danger of the enemy was past, we slipped from our covert and made ready to join our command. We stripped the blank- ets from the bodies of dead Indians, which were plentifully strewn through the timber, and wrapping these about us we filed Indian fashion up the bank of the stream. We did not know just where Reno was camped and our first desire was to get outside of the 'dead circle,' or picket line, of the Sioux. We advanced cautiously and making as little noise as pos- sible, but in spite of that we suddenly ran into a body of fifteen Sioux pickets. To hesitate was to be suspected, and suspicion on their part just then meant death to us. We ad- vanced steadily and without. exhibiting surprise. We had partly passed the party when one of them demanded who we were. I could speak Sioux as well as my own tongue, and without delay replied 'Us.'
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1
" 'Where are you going?' was the next question, and my answer to this was, 'for our horses.' This satisfied the inter- rogators, and we had escaped the first danger.
"We had succeeded in crossing the stream and following the trail along the bank, faint in the dim moonlight, when we came to an opening in the dense cottonwoods, and there we ran into a camp of several hundred Indians. Gerard immediately took them to be our men and belonging to Reno's command. He shouted : "Don't shoot, boys; we are friends.' The start- led Indians cried out: 'Lay non; wa-sce-cha ah-he-pe ah-lo!' (It is the enemy; the evil bad snows are upon us!) At this I dropped my blanket and ran, getting into the brush and away from the trail. Some one followed me closely, and I made up my mind that if he ever caught me there would be a fight to death between us. I could actually feel the knive thrust between my ribs in my highly excited imagination, and when I reached the river bank I turned to face my pursuer. Then I found that it was none other than Gerard, who had chosen the same path as myself. We waited a minute or two and listened. Then we heard four shots, and we were sure that our companions were lost.
"We waited no longer but plunged into the stream and gained the opposite bank, following it as far as we dared. Dawn was breaking and through the day we lay hidden in the willows, watching the battle which followed between the Indians and Reno's command. As the sun arose we could see the Indians circling about the camp and occuping every adjacent hill. A scattering fire was maintained until 9 o'clock, when the Indians made a savage assault upon the east side of Reno's position. The soldiers appeared to be very cool and poured in a murderous fire, which forced the hostiles to fall back with heavy loss. An hour later they made a second desperate charge, and so fierce was this that they actually
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fought with the soldiers over the breastworks, hand to hand. But again the discipline of the soldiers was more than a match for the fanatical frenzy of the Sioux, and they were driven back the second time. The soldiers had lost but few in this conflict, while their savage foes were strewn all over the side of the hill. From that time until noon there was only firing at long range. Then came a third charge, easily repulsed. From that time until 4 o'clock in the afternoon each side rested on its arms. About that hour, sheltered by a hill and not more than one thousand yards distant from the soldiers, the In- dians held a council of war. In a few minutes there were evidences of departure in the Indian village, and it was then that the strength of the foe appeared. They could be seen by the thousand, scurrying about through the camp, taking down the lodges, loading the ponies with packs and with travois, and when the baggage train was finally completed, hurrying off to the north under a strong escort of warriors, making for the Big Horn mountains. At sunset all of them had dis- appeared and we dared venture out from our hiding place.
"Approaching Reno's position cautiously, for fear of being shot by the sentinels in the darkness, we were fortunate in get- ting inside the lines in time to meet Major Reno himself with members of his staff. To them I related what we had seen and heard, including the story of the loss of our companions, but before I had finished a challenge was heard, and into the camp came an orderly with Deridio and O'Neal. We were overjoyed, but there was little time for congratulations. Mounted on the best horse remaining in the command-for the long range fighting had killed many of those in the troop -I was sent with dispatches to Generals Custer and Terry.
"Three miles down the Little Big Horn I came upon the battlefield and it was a most grieveous sight. Scattered or heaped up on the plain were the bodies of 237 men, every
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one save that of Custer mutilated in the most horrible manner known to the Indian mind. Not one had a vestage of cloth- ing upon it; all had been stripped off and carried away by the exulting fiends. In Custer's body there were the marks of two bullet wounds, and undoubtedly I was the first man to look upon the terrible sight. It was too much for me and I turned and rode swiftly away down the river, shortly after- ward meeting General. Terry and his soldiers. To him I gave my dispatches and was immediately sent back to Major Reno with instructions to bury the dead. This was completed about 1 o'clock in the afternoon of the 27th. The wounded in Reno's command were taken to the mouth of the Big Horn river, and thence conveyed down the Yellowstone on the steamer Far West to Bismarck. The next day we gathered up large quan- tities of pemmican and other provisions and camp utensils left by the Sioux in their hurried flight, and burned them. Although I was but a youth when this occurred, it made an impression upon my mind that I shall never forget, and the details of those horrible two or three days are as fresh now as they were at the time of occurrence. Five years ago I went over 'The Custer Battlefield,' where the soldiers are buried, with Mrs. Eustis, whose son Jack, then a recent grad- uate from West Point, had been one of the victims under Custer. She had cherished a hope of recovering his bones, but although we had with us a number of Sioux and Cheyennes who had taken part in the fight, and cach tried his best to recall all of the fearful scene, we were unable to help her, and she was obliged to return to her Eastern home with frustrated hopes. The incident, however, called up in mind all of the gruesome details of the battlefield as I saw it on that memorable morning, and I shall never care to repeat the experience."
General Terry, in his official report dated Camp on Little Big Horn, June 27, 1876, noticed the military movement in
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the direction where Custer and his men had fallen, and sub- mitted for the information of the war department the following important explanation :
"At the mouth of the Rosebud I informed General Custer that I should take the supply steamer Far West up the Yel- lowstone to ferry General Gibbon's column over the river; that I should personally accompany that column, and that it would in all probability reach the mouth of the Little Big Horn on the 26th inst. The steamer reached General Gib- bon's troops, near the mouth of the Big Horn, early on the 24th, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon all his men and animals were across the Yellowstone. At 5 o'clock the column, con- sisting of five companies of the Seventh Infantry, four com- panies of the Seventh Cavalry, and a battery of three gatling guns, marched out to and across Tullock's creek, starting soon after 5 o'clock on the morning of the 25th. The infantry made a march of twenty-two miles over the most difficult coun- try I have ever seeen. In order that scouts might be sent into the valley of the Little Big Horn, the cavalry with the bat- tery was then pushed on thirteen or fourteen miles further, reaching camp at midnight. The scouts were sent out at 4:30 on the morning of the 26th. The scouts discovered three Indians, who were at first supposed to be Sioux, but when overtaken they proved to be Crows, who had been with General Custer. They brought the first intelligence of the battle. Their story was not credited. It was supposed that some fighting, perhaps severe fighting, had taken place, but it was not believed that disaster could have overtaken so large a force as twelve companies of cavalry. The infantry, which had broken camp very early, soon came up and the whole column entered and moved up the valley of the Little Big Horn. During the afternoon efforts were made to send scouts to what was supposed to be General Custer's position, and to
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obtain information of the condition of affairs, but those who were sent out were driven back by parties of Indians, who, in increasing numbers, were seen hovering on General Gibbon's front. At twenty minutes before 9 o'clock in the evening the infantry had marched between twenty-five and thirty miles; the men were very weary and daylight was falling; the column was, therefore, halted for the night at a point about eleven miles in a straight line above the mouth of the stream. Next morning the movement was resumed, and after a march of nine miles Major Reno's intrenched position was reached. The withdrawal of the Indians from around Reno's comand, and from the valley, was undoubtedly caused by the appearance of General Gibbon's troops. Major Reno and Captain Ben- teen, both of whom are officers of great experience, accus- tomed to see large masses of mounted men, estimated the num- ber of Indians engaged at not less than twenty-five hundred. Other officers think that the number was greater than this. The village in the valley was about three miles in length and about a mile in width. . Besides the lodges proper, a great number of temporary brushwood shelters were found in it, indicating that many men, besides its proper inhabitants, had gathered together there."
William Sellow, who now lives in Teton county, Montana, also one of the scouts who served under General Custer, contributes the following to the Dupuyer Acantha, July 15, 1899:
"Quite often, especially of recent years, I have seen articles in papers and magazines relating to the aetions and motives of General Custer that led up to the massacre of his historie band. Most of these do gricvious wrong to the bravest and best officer the United States government ever sent out to fight Indians on the frontier. Books, too, go so far as to call him a suicide and murderer for going at the head of his men into the battle of Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876.
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"At that time I was in Custer's employ as a civilian scout, and had known him for a long time. I knew his ways of attacking Indians, and knew his unbounded con- fidence in his men. I had known him to win Indian fights against greater odds than his last one. For instance, at Wich- ita, he routed them with a force that numbered ten to one. Had he, in his last fight been supported as he could and should have been, he would have won the day, and then the Sitting Bull war would have ended and not have lasted until it cost much money and many lives. Not until the buffalo were killed and other game became scarce were the Indians satisfied to ac- cept government rations and spend their honeymoon at home. An Indian's heart is never good until he is hungry and cold.
"Custer has been accused by would-be historians of going contrary to orders in his last campaign, and to refute these charges I write to follow him as far, or farther, than anyone else is truthfully capable of doing. That he did not go con- trary to orders in his last movements the captain acting as General Terry's adjutant at the time, if he is alive, will gladly, doubtless, testify. Unfortunately, I have forgotten his name. He will remember the greater part of the orders.
"After we, the scouts, delivered to Custer his last orders, I know he had no opportunity to receive any more, and as I re- count the events as nearly as I can remember them at this length of time, it will be seen that I am correct.
"General Terry started myself and another scout to overtake and join Custer. After leaving the supply train and head- quarters on about June 22, 1876, we reached the camp that night and delivered our message. The reader will see that in those stirring times when a scout was given a message it was in duplicate, one for the perusal of the scout and one for the receiver. These precautions were taken for fear one or both might be lost en route. In the first case the open one could be delivered, and in the second the scout might deliver
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the message from memory. I have yet in my possession the extra copy of this message, but unfortunately, it is so old and pocket-worn as to be only partially decipherable. From this, aided by memory, I give the message :
" 'To Lieutenant Colonel Custer, Seventh United States Cav- alry :
" 'The brigadier general commanding desires that you pro- ceed up the Rosebud in pursuit of the Indians, whose trail was discovered by Major Reno's scouts a few days ago. Of course, it is impossible for me to give definite instructions with regard to this movement, and were it not impossible to do so, the de- partment commander places too much confidence in your zeal, energy and ability to wish to impose upon you orders that would conflict with your own judgment and which might ham- per your actions when nearly in contact with the enemy. I will, however, indicate to you his ideas of what your move- ments should be and he desires you to conform to them unless your own judgment should give you sufficient reasons for de- parting from them. He thinks you should proceed up the Rosebud until you ascertain definitely the direction in which the trail above spoken of leads. Should it be found that it turns toward the Little Big Horn he thinks you should still proceed southward as far as the headwaters of Tongue river and then toward the Rosebud and the Little Big Horn, keeping scouts out constantly to your left, so as to prevent the possi- bility of the escape of the Indians to the south or southeast by passing around your left flank. The column of Colonel Gib- bons is now in motion for the mouth of the Big Horn. As soon as it reaches that point it will cross the Yellowstone and move up as far at least as the forks of the Big Horn and the Little Big Horn. Of course, its future will be controlled by circum- stances as they exist. But it is hoped that the Indians, if up- on the Little Big Horn, may be so nearly enclosed by the two columns that their escape will be impossible.
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