History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 152

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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Later in the summer of 1873 Gen. George Forsythe, of Sheridan's staff, made a steamboat reconnoissance of the Yellowstone River as far up as the mouth of the Big Horn. He was also authorized to select sites for two military posts which Sheridan had recommended for construction in that country and for which an appropriation was then pending in Congress but failed of becoming a law. Had the posts been built as recommended at that time, it is quite probable that it would have had a favorable influence in preventing the gathering of such large numbers of Indians as were encountered and which overthrew Custer and his men. General Forsythe was an experienced Indian fighter. It was related of him that when a young officer, while in command of a small force of only twenty- eight men, in camp on the Arickaree fork of the Republican River in Colorado, he was surrounded and attacked by 1,000 Indians. Being cut off, he set to work, cut the canteens of his soldiers in two, extemporizing shovels, and with these threw up breastworks, behind which, though seriously wounded, he succeeded in defeating the Indians and rescued his force.

The Indian troubles which were marked by almost continual warfare in the Yellowstone country, extending from 1872 to 1877, having their most tragie cul- mination in the massacre of the lamented Custer and his men, were not due to the opposition of the Indians to the opening of the Black Hills, but to their inveterate hostility to the extension of the Northern Pacific Railroad west of the Missouri. Their opposition to this enterprise was implacable, and they must have realized that it knelled the doom of their free nomadic life to which they had been born, and to which they clung with a persistency which impelled them to undergo the supreme sacrifice rather than yield the country to the demands of civilization and fate. Sitting Bull himself was another Tecumseh. He was every inch an Indian, and rightly interpreted the destiny of his race in the events that had transpired since he became a man capable of noting the tendency and effect of civilization in the domain so long held by the Indian race, where they had enjoyed unmolested freedom, though at times seriously burdened by privation, by famine. contagion, and the incessant small wars in which Indian was pitted against Indian The savage life was the only one they knew, and they viewed the change which civilization would force upon them as more to be dreaded than all the ills thuet were inseparable from their barbarous condition, hence their long and fruit' - struggles in the face of continual and certain defeat.

Many of this implacable class among the Sioux were in time kille I ot ished from privation and disease and the renmant murdered. Sitting Bill helt Vol. 1-56

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out with stoical firmness to the end, which came to him many years later, after his return to the United States, in a characteristic manner.

The military expedition of 1873, formed for the purpose of affording pro- tection to the surveying parties of the Northern Pacific Railroad, west of Bis- marck, was organized by General Terry, commanding the Department of Dakota. Gen. D. S. Stanley, of the Twenty-second Infantry, was placed in command. The expedition rendezvoused at Fort Rice in early June, and was made up of ten companies of the Seventh Cavalry under General Custer ; ten companies of infantry from the Eighth and Ninth Regiments, under Lt. Col. L. P. Bradley, of the Ninth; five companies of Stanley's regiment, the Twenty-second; four companies of the Seventeenth Infantry, under Major Crafton, of the Seven- teenth; seventy-five scouts; and also ten scouts who were with Stanley the year before; two rodman rifled guns. The expedition was provided with sixty days subsistence, and arrangements had been made for further supplies at a depot to be established on the Yellowstone by General Forsythe, who was then en route by steamer Key West to the Yellowstone to select sites for two military posts. The expedition got away from Fort Rice about June 15th, and very soon thereafter it entered upon an active campaign, which kept the troops em- ployed during the entire summer.

Early in August, General Custer, with Scout Bloody Knife and a squadron of cavalry, were detailed by General Stanley to go ahead and look up the route, and having advanced about two miles from camp, to a point two miles below the mouth of the Big Horn, they halted to wait for the train. Shortly after a large band of Indians appeared and made demonstrations toward the camp as though intending to attack : they were easily driven off, but proved to be a decoy for a large number in the woods in ambush, waiting for the troops whose route would be in their direction. Finding that the ruse had failed, the Indians to the num- ber of 300 boldly advanced on Custer, who had but eighty men. under Captain Moylan, and began firing. They also fired the grass. A serious skirmish took place during which the ammunition of the cavalry gave out but the Indians did not observe this and gave up the fight. Two Indians were killed and three cav- alrymen who imprudently ventured too close to the enemy.

Three days later, Custer having been reinforced, was attacked by 800 Indians near a timbered strip. The troops returned the fire, and a battle lasting two hours followed, both parties using the trees as covers. About three hundred of the Indians then crossed the river above and below Custer's camp, and endeav- ored to gain the bluffs on the river. The cavalry were dismounted and desultory firing lasted for some time, the Indians protected by the ridges and timber. Finally Custer ordered a charge, when the troops mounted and pursued the Indians who fled in great disorder for eight miles. Happily the train with the main body of the escort arrived under Stanley, and joined in the running fight which was quite a battle at times, but the Indians finally disappeared and must have lost a good many of their number. This battle occurred within two miles of the mouth of the Big Horn. Custer and Lieutenant Ketchum had their horses shot under them. Lieutenant Braden was badly wounded in the thigh. Private Tuttle, Custer's orderly, was killed, and twenty of the soldiers wounded. The loss of the Indians, estimated by Custer, was forty killed and wounded. The

Indians were all well armed with heavy rifles of the latest pattern, and had an abundance of ammunition. Some were dressed in clothes procured at the Grand River Agency and were supposed to be under the command of Sitting Bull. It was also suspected that they received their arms and ammunition from Fort Peck above on the Missouri River. The expedition was at Pomney's pillar on the 15th of August, and returned to Fort Lincoln in October, where it disbanded.

THE CUSTER EXPEDITION A SHERIDAN SUGGESTION

Gen. Phil Sheridan was in command of the military division of the Missouri in 1874, which included the Department of Dakota, and in his annual report to

THESTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

the War Department made in October of that year, he wrote as follow - concerning The origin of the Custer expedition :

The condition of Indian affairs in the Department of Dakota has been remarkably quiet during the past year. In this department are located a majority of the hostile bands of Sioux Indians, some of them on reservations along the Missouri River, some of Milk River farther north near the boundary of British America, and the rest roam over the valleys of the Big Horn, Yellowstone and Powder rivers, occasionally coming into Red Cloud and Spotted Tail's agencies to draw rations and other supplies. With the exception of an occasional dash about Fort Lincoln to steal stock, a raid or two in Montana in which a few lives were lost, and an attack once in a while upon the poor Mandans and Rees. com- parative quiet has existed.

The condition of affairs may be owing somewhat to the very limited extent of exposed frontier in this department, which compels the Indians to seek for plunder and scalps in the Department of the Platte, where the frontier lines of settlement have progressed to a much greater extent, and are more exposed than in the Department of Dakota.

In order to control the Indians making the raids toward the south, I had contemplated for two or three years past to establish a military post in the country known as the Black Hills, and in my last annual report recommended the establishment of a large post there, so that, holding an interior point in the heart of the Indian country, we could threaten the villages and stock of the Indians if they made raids on our settlements. With this view, 1 mentioned the subject in the presence of the President, the honorable secretary of the interior, the honorable secretary of war, and the general of the army, last fall and meeting with a favorable response from the secretary of the interior, who has exclusive charge of Indian affairs, I set to work to make a reconnaissance of the country about which dreamy stories have been told, especially by Father DeSmet.

1 first thought that Fort Laramie, which is not much more than one hundred miles from the Black Hills, would be the best place to start the reconnaissance from, but on visiting Fort Laramie last fall, and again in the winter, 1 found the condition and temper of the Indians such as would probably provoke hostilities,

I then turned my attention to Fort A. Lincoln, on the Missouri River, at the end of the Northern Pacific Railroad, where most of the Seventh Regiment of Cavalry, under com- mand of Lieut .- Col. Geo. A. Custer, were stationed, as the most suitable place to start from, although the distance was three times as great as from Fort Laramie On visiting Fort Lincoln in the spring of 1874, 1 found everything favorable, and two or three Indian guides had been secured by General Custer, with whom I had previously communicated, who stated that the route to the Black Hills was practicable. I then returned and secured the necessary authority for the reconnaissance, and directed General Terry to organize the expedition and put Colonel Custer in command, whom I thought especially fitted for such an undertaking.

The reconnaissance was successful The country of the Black Hills was found t be much better than was expected, with plenty of good timber and considerable good soll at high altitudes, and abundant supply of water and grass. Some goldl was found near Harney > Peak, but of its abundance there is at present no reliable mformation. Sufficient um could not be given by an expedition such as that of Colonel Custer's, to prospect anl determine its quantity. The color of gold can be found almost anywhere in any of the now existing western territories, but often its quantity is confined to the few pirteles which make the color. I have for five or six years past believed there were extensive deposits of gold in the country west of the Black Hills, extending as far west as the ult Crow Reservation in Montana, and as far south as the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming. embracing the valleys of Powder River, Tongue River, Big Rosebud, Big Horn, f. til Rosebud, and Wind River. It is possible that it may exist in quantities to be of great national importance, and the valleys of some of the rivers named, especially of the Wind River and the Big Horn, are of great agricultural importance, having good sel and the greatest abundance of timber and water.

The country of the Black Hills examined by Colonel Custer is. I am led to hcheve of great value for its timber, and it contains some gold and silver, but the tests in the Custer reconnaissance were not sufficient to establish its existence in large quantities

I again recommend the establishment of a large military post there, for the seas ms given in my last report, viz., better control of the Indians

CUSTER'S PLACK HILES EXPEDITION

The official order for the Custer expedition was issued by Brigadier filet Terry, commanding the Dakota military district. July 1. 1871. as follows

In pursuance of instructions from the headquarters of the Military De 0 00 Missouri, an expedition will be organized at Fert Abraham Lincoln Dakote Iscrims he the purpose of reconnaitering the route from that post to Bear Bitte inte II

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and exploring the country south, southeast. and southwest of that point, * The expe- * dition will consist of the six companies of the Seventh Cavalry now stationed at Fort Abraham Lincoln, the four companies of the same regiment now stationed at Fort Rice: Company I, Twentieth Infantry; and Company G, Seventeenth Infantry, and such Indian scouts from Forts Abraham Lincoln and Rice as the commander of the expedition shall select. Lieut. Col. George A. Custer, of the Seventh Cavalry, is assigned to the command.

The expedition will start from Fort Abraham Lincoln as soon after the 20th of July as practicable; Lieutenant Colonel Custer will proceed by such route as he may find to be most desirable to Bear Butte, or some point on or near the Belle Fourche, and thence will push his explorations in such direction or directions as in his judgment will enable him to obtain the most information in regard to the character of the country, and the possible rontes of communication through it.

Lieutenant Colonel Custer will return to Fort Abraham Lincoln within sixty days from the time of his departure from it. Should, however, any unforeseen obstacle render it necessary or advisable for him to return from any point of his contemplated march, even before the Belle Fourche is reached, he is authorized to do so.

Capt. William Ludlow, chief engineer of the department, will report to Lieutenant Colo- nel Custer, as engineer officer of the expedition; he will be accompanied by his eivil assistant and three enlisted men of the engineer battalion.

The transportation was supplied by fifteen six-mule teams and wagons and two ambulances.

Custer prior to starting out sent word to the Sioux Indians of his intention, but assured them that his mission was one of peace and good will, and he did not wish to be molested or compelled to use force to accomplish the objects of his journey. The distance from Fort Lincoln to the base of the Black Hills was estimated at about three hundred miles.

The Indian scouts accompanying Custer came largely from the Santees whose reservation was in Nebraska, opposite the Town of Springfield, Dak. As the Custer expedition was on the eve of starting out it was discovered that the Indian scouts promised had not been furnished. As they were considered indispensable, and as the Santees were known to be well acquainted with the country, an order for thirty-five scouts was received by telegraph. The men were in line the same day, and as there was no time to be consumed in an overland march, the scout squad was taken to the terminus of the railroad at Yankton, where it arrived at 9 o'clock the same evening. In the meantime Missionary Hinman, at the Santee Agency, who had the affair in charge, had arranged for a special train to Sioux City. They reached St. Paul the next afternoon and Fort Lincoln two days later.

The Custer's expedition as organized. consisted of ten companies of the Seventh Cavalry, five of which were under the immediate command of General Custer, and five under the command of General Forsythe, of General Sheri- dan's staff ; two companies of infantry commanded by Maj. L. H. Sanger ; a bat- tery of three Gatling guns and one rodman, commanded by First Lieut. Josiah Chance : a detachment of United States engineers under Colonel Ludlow ; and sixty Indian scouts commanded by Lieutenant Wallace.

The staff appointments were Lieutenant Calhoun, acting assistant adjutant general; Capt. A. E. Smith, quartermaster; Asst. Surg. J. W. Williams, chief medical officer, assisted by Acting Assistant Surgeon Allen, of Fort Rice, and Bergen, of lowa. Col. Fred Grant, aide-de-camp of Sheridan's staff, accom- panied as an acting aid. . H. N. Ross and William McKay, both practical miners and explorers, were the gold miners of the expedition. Louis Agaard, who inter- married with the Sioux, and who had been in the country thirty years, was the guide and interpreter. Charles Reynolds, a famous scout and hunter, was also a guide.

The expedition got away from Fort Lincoln about the 20th of June. Custer's official communications, three in number, addressed to the head of the military department, at St. Paul, were sent out from his most important camps, the first from Prospect Valley, before reaching the hills. These communications are given herewith in order:

HISTORY OF DAKOTA TERRITORY

Ileadquarters Black Hills Expedition. Prospect Valley, Dakota Territory, July 15, 1874.

Longitude 103 degrees and 40 minutes west. Latitude 45 degrees and zy minutes north To Assistant Adjutant General, Departinent of Dakota, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Sir: This expedition reached this point yesterday, having marched since leaving Fort Lincoln 2271/2 miles. We are now 170 miles in a direct line from Lincoln, and within five miles of the Little Missouri, and within about twelve miles of the Montana boundary, our bearing from Fort Lincoln being south sixty-two degrees west. After the second day from Lincoln we marched over a beautiful country. The grazing was excellent and abundant. Wood sufficient for our wants and water in great abundance every ten miles. When we struck the tributaries of Grand River we entered a less desirable portion of the country. nearly all the streams flowing into Grand River being more or less impregnated with alkalt. rendering the crossings difficult. We found a plentiful supply of grass, wood and water, however, even along this portion of our route.

Upon leaving the headwaters of Grand River, we ascended the plateau separating the watershed of the Little Missouri from that running into the Missouri, and found a country of surpassing beauty and richness of soil. The pasturage could not be finer ; timber is abundant, and water both good and plentiful. As an evidence of the character of the country we have marched since leaving Fort Lincoln on an average over seventeen miles a day, one day making thirty-two miles; yet our mules and beef cattle have constantly improved in condition, the beef cattle depending entirely upon the excellent grazing we have passed over. The health of my command is something remarkable, not a sick man being on the sick report ; everyone seems to be not only in good health, but in excellent spirits. Between the forks of Grand River we discovered a cave to which the Indians attach great importanc . The cave extends about four hundred feet under ground, beyond which point it was not practicable to explore it. Its walls and roof are covered with rude carvings and drawings cut into the solid rock, apparently the work of Indians, although probably by a different tribe than either of those now roaming in this region. Near the cave was found a white man's skull, apparently perforated by a bullet. It had been exposed to the atmosphere for several years. As no white man, except those belonging to this expedition, is known to have passed anywhere near this locality, the discovery of the skull was regarded with universal interest. The cave was found to contain numerous articles of Indian equipments which had been thrown into the cave by the Indians as offerings to the Great Spirit. I have named the cave Ludlow's Cave, in honor of the engineer officer of the expedition. Our march thus far has been made without molestation on the part of the Indians. We discovered no signs indicating the recent presence of Indians until day before yesterday, when Captam MeDougall, Seventh Cavalry, who was on the flank, discovered a small body of about twenty Indians watching our movements. The Indians scampered off as soon as discovered Yesterday the same or a similar sized party made its appearance, and was seen by Captain Connelly, rear guard, along our line of march. Soon after several signals of smoke were sent up, which our Indian guards interpreted as conveying information to the main body of our presence and movements. Our Indian guides think differently, however, and believe the Indians mean war. Should this be the case, they will be the party to fire the first sh 1. Indians have been seen near camp today.

Mr. Grinnell, of Yale College, one of the geologists accompanying the expedition, discov- ered yesterday an important fossil. It was bone, about four feet long and twelve inches in diameter, and had evidently belonged to an animal larger than an elephant. Beds of hente coal, of good quality, have been observed at different points along our route by Professor Winchell, one of the geologists of the expedition.

I do not know whether I will be able to communicate with you again before the return of the expedition.

G. A. CUSTER.

Brevet Major General U. S. A., Commander of Expedition

Custer's second dispatch was transmitted after reaching the hills, and en- bodies a most entertaining and valuable, though brief description of the country, at the same time bearing testimony to its agricultural and mineral worth :

Ileadquarters Black Hills Expedition. Eight and One-Half Miles Southeast of Harney's Peak. August 2. 18;t Via Fort Laramie, W T., August 8. 1521 To Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, St. Paul, Minnesota. Sir : My last dispatch was dated July 15th and sent from Prospect Valley. Dik longitude 103 degrees and 40 minutes, latitude 445 degrees and 20 minutes north 1 w 1 1 \ Indian scouts left as bearers of the dispatch as soon as their departure coull be con el by the darkness. After leaving that point this expedition moved in a southwestern direcion until it reached the Valley of the Little Missouri, un which we moved twenty one nol- ing this valley almost destitute of grazing. Along our hne of march For fore ! the wallr kegs filled, and a supply of wood placed in the wagons, and left the valley in stek better camp ground. During our passage up the Valley of the Little Mi-

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entered and were about to leave the Territory of Montana; our course was nearly due south. After a further march of about nine miles we arrived before sundown at a point capable of furnishing us good grazing, and water for our animals, having marched over thirty miles since breaking camp in the morning. From this point to the Valley of the Belle Fourche we found the country generally barren and uninviting, saving a few isolated places. We reached the Belle Fourche on the evening of the 18th of July, encamping where good grass, wood and water were abundant, and at a point a short distance above that marked "15" on Reynolds' map, just west of the line separating Dakota from Wyoming. The fol- lowing day was spent in camp. On the 20th we crossed the Belle Fourche, and began, as it were, skirmishing with the Black Hills.

We began by feeling our way along the outlying ranges of the hills, seeking a weak point through which we might make our way to the interior. We continued, from the time that we ascended from the Valley of the Belle Fourche, to move through a very superior country, covered with the best of grazing and an abundance of timber, principally pine, poplar and several varieties of oak. As we advanced, the country skirting the Black Hills to the southward became each day more beautiful. On the evening of the 22d we halted and encamped east of and within four miles of the cave, "Inyan Kara." Desiring to ascend that peak the following day, it being the highest on the western range of the Black Hills, I did not move camp the 23d, but taking a small party with me, proceeded to the highest point of this prominent landmark, whose height is given as 6,600 feet. The day was not favorable for obtaining distant views. I decided on the following morning to move due east and attempt the passage of the hills. We experienced considerable delay by fallen timber which lay in our pathway. With this exception, and a very little digging, rendered necessary in descending into a valley, the pioneers prepared the way for the train, and we reached camp by 2 o'clock, having marched eleven miles. We here found grass, water and wood of the very best quality, and in great abundance. On the following day we resumed our march up this valley, which I explored for several miles the preceding evening, and which led us by an easy ascent almost southeast. After marching nearly twelve miles we encamped at an early hour in the same valley. This valley, in one respect, presented a most wonderful as well as beautiful aspect. Its equal I have never seen, and such, too, was the testimony of all who beheld it. In no private or public park have I ever seen such a profuse display of flowers. Every step of our march this day was amid flowers of the most exquisite colors and perfume; so luxuriant in growth were they that the men plucked them without dismounting from the saddle. Some belonged to new or unclassified species. It was a strange sight to glance back at the advancing columns of cavalry, and behold the men with beautiful bouquets in their hands, while the headgear of the horses was decorated with wreaths of flowers fit to crown a Queen of May. Deeming it a most fitting appellation, I named this Floral Valley. General Forsythe, at one of our halting places chosen at random, plucked seventeen beautiful flowers, belonging to different species, and within a space of twenty feet square. The same evening, while sitting at our mess table, one of the officers called attention to the carpet of flowers under our feet, and it was suggested that it be determined how many different flowers could be picked without leaving our seat at the dinner table. Seven beautiful varieties were thus gathered. Professor Donelson, the botanist of the expedition, estimated the number of species in bloom in Floral Valley at fifty, while an equal number of varieties had bloomed or were yet to bloom. The number of trees, shrubs and grasses was estimated at twenty-five, making the total flora of the valley embrace 125 species.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 152

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198