My Native Land - James Cox
Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24
An adjournment is then taken for dinner, and in the afternoon, six
gorgeously painted and hideously decorated clowns come forward and go
through a series of antics calculated to disgust rather than amuse the
spectator. The unfortunate sheep, which is still hanging to the pole, is
finally thrown to the ground after several attempts have been made to
climb the pole. The fruits and products are seized by the clowns, who
rush off with them, and every one connected with the tribe seem to be
highly satisfied with the outcome of the day's proceedings, and the
culmination of the spectacle.
CHAPTER XI.
HOW CUSTER LIVED AND DIED.
"Remember Custer"--An Eye Witness of the Massacre--Custer, Cody and
Alexis--A Ride over the Scenes of the Unequal Conflict--Major Reno's
Marked Failure--How "Sitting Bull" Ran Away and Lived to Fight Another
Day--Why a Medicine Man did not Summon Rain.
"Remember Custer" was the watchword and battle-cry of the small army of
American soldiers who early in the present decade advanced against
hostile Indians in the Northwest, who after indulging for weeks in a
series of fantastic dances and superstitious rites, were finally called
to time by the Government and punished for their disregard of treaty
rights and reasonable orders. Every American child should know who
Custer was and why the troopers called upon each other to remember him
on the occasion referred to. It is less than twenty years since he died.
His name should be remembered by civilians as well as soldiers for
almost as many centuries to come.
There are some men who seem to defy and even court death. Custer was one
of these. He was so recklessly brave that he often caused anxiety to his
superior officers. Time and again he led a handful of men apparently
into the jaws of death and brought them out safely, after having
practically annihilated the foe. As the pitcher which is carried safely
to the well ninety-nine times sometimes gets broken at the hundredth
attempt, so was it with General Custer. In June, 1876, his detachment
was outnumbered twenty to one at a little ford near Crazy Horse Creek,
in Dakota, and his entire command was wiped out. An adopted son of
"Sitting Bull," the famous Indian, states that he saw Custer die, adding
that he twice witnessed the hero lying on his back fighting his foes.
The third time he saw him a blanket was drawn over the hero, who was
apparently dead.
On another page is given an admirable illustration of the camp and ford,
as well as of the monument erected in Custer's memory, with typical
Indian camp scene. This picture is from photographs taken specially for
Mr. Charles S. Fee, General Passenger Agent of the Northern Pacific
Railroad, whose tracks run close by this scene of such sad history.
A volume could be devoted to the life of Custer, the adventures he
encountered, and the risks he ran in the course of his eventful and
useful career. His works and his memoirs bristle with information
concerning the actual truths of border life and Indian warfare, bereft
of romance and exaggeration. Like almost all Indian fighters, Custer
entertained a supreme contempt for the red man generally, although his
naturally kind disposition led him to give credit to individual red men
for bravery, gratitude, and other characteristics generally believed to
be inconsistent with their character and nationality.
Besides being a gallant fighter, Custer was also a great lover of
recreation and fun, while a genuine hunting expedition drew him out from
his almost habitual quiet and made him the natural leader of the party.
Among his friends was William Cody, better known to the amusement loving
world as Buffalo Bill, on account of his alleged excessive prowess in
the shooting and destruction of buffalo. If Mr. Cody were consulted, he
would probably prefer to be called Indian Bill, as his hatred of the
average red man was very largely in excess of his anxiety to kill the
hump-backed oxen, which were, at one time, almost in sole possession of
the Western prairies. On one occasion, he and Custer had a very
delightful time together, and Cody has given a pleasing description of
what took place.
This was on the occasion of the visit to this country of the Grand Duke
Alexis. Some twenty-three years ago this European celebrity enjoyed a
tour through the United States, and visited most of the grandest
features of our native land. Before coming to the country, he had heard
of its great hunting facilities, and also of the sport to be obtained
from shooting buffalo on the prairie. He mentioned this fact to the
officers of the Government, who were detailed to complete arrangements
for his benefit, and, accordingly, it was arranged that the Grand Duke
should be conducted into buffalo land, and initiated into the mysteries
of buffalo hunting, by the officer who has since been annihilated by the
Sioux, and the irrepressible hunter who has since developed into a
prince among showmen.
These two somewhat rough, but very kind, chaperones, took with them on
this trip a party of Indians, including "Spotted Tail," with whose
daughter Custer carried on, we are told, a mild flirtation on the march.
A great deal of amusement was derived from the trip, as well as very
much important information.
It was but four years later that Custer was engaged on a more serious
and less entertaining mission. The scene of the tragedy was visited some
three years ago by Mr. L. D. Wheeler, to whom we are indebted for the
following very graphic and interesting description of the visit and of
the thoughts it called forth:
"A rather lengthy ride found us at Reno's crossing of the river, the
ford where he crossed to make his attack. Fording the stream, we
dismounted among the young timber and bushes lining the stream, and ate
lunch. Before lunch was finished, two Indian girls came down the river.
The younger, tall, slender and graceful, dressed in bright, clean
scarlet, was a picture. With her jet black hair hanging in shining
plaits, her piercing eyes and handsome face, she was the most comely,
sylph-like Indian maiden I have ever seen.
"Mounting our horses, lunch over, we cantered back on the trail that
Custer and Reno followed, for a ride of several miles to Lookout Hill,
or Point, which we ascended. This was the point where Custer and his
officers obtained their first view of the valley of the Greasy Grass, as
the Sioux call the Little Horn.
"After a survey of the region, spurring our horses forward, we in time
found ourselves climbing the gentle acclivities which led up to Reno's
old rifle-pits, now almost obliterated. The most noticeable feature of
the spot is the number of blanched bones of horses which lie scattered
about. A short distance from the pits--which are rather rounded, and
follow the outline of the hills in shape--and in a slight hollow below
them, are more bones of horses. This is where the wounded were taken,
and the hospital established, and the horses kept. From the wavy summit
line of the bluffs, the ground slopes in an irregular broken way back to
the northeast and east, into a coulee that forms the passage to the ford
which Custer aimed for and never reached. The ground about the
battle-field is now a national cemetery. It is enclosed by a wire fence,
and there are several hundred acres of it. It might be cared for in a
manner somewhat better than it is. During one of my visits there, a Crow
Indian rode up to the gate and deliberately turned his herd of horses
into the inclosure to graze.
"As I rode into the grounds, after fording and recrossing the river
where Custer failed, the first object to greet my sight was a small
inclosure, with large mound and headstone, which marked the spot where
Lieutenant Crittenden fell. At one corner, and outside of it, stood the
regulation marble slab which marks the place where each body on the
field was found. This one stated that there Lieutenant Calhoun was
killed. At numbers of places down the western slope, but near the
ravines, the surface is dotted with the little gravestones. In some
places, far down the descent, and far from where Custer, Van Reilly, Tom
Custer and others fell, they are seen singly; in other spots three or
four, or half a dozen. At one point there are over thirty, well massed
together. Down in this part of the field, in the ravine running towards
the monument, is the stone marking where Dr. Lord's body was found, and
with it are four others.
"In the shallow coulee east of the ridge, and almost at the bottom of
the slope, some distance northwest of where Calhoun and Crittenden were
killed, and on the main ridge slope of it, is a large group of stones.
Here is where Captain Miles Keogh and thirty-eight men gave up their
lives. On this side of the ridge--the eastern side--between where Keogh
and his men died and where Custer fell, there are numerous stones. On
the opposite side of the Custer ridge--that which faces the river--and
close to its crest, there are very few stones, and those are much
scattered, and not in groups. At the northern extremity of the ridge is
a slight elevation which overtops everything else, and slopes away in
all directions, save where the ridge lies. Just below this knoll, or
hillock--Custer Hill--facing southwest, is where Custer and the larger
part of his men fell."
On the right bank of the Missouri River--the Big Muddy--in North Dakota,
almost within rifle shot of the town of Mandan, on the Northern Pacific
Railroad, there existed in the '70s a military post named after the
nation's great martyr President, Fort Abraham Lincoln. On the morning of
the 17th of June, 1876, there went forth from here among others, with
the pomp and ceremony for which they were distinguished, a cavalry
regiment famed in the army for dash, bravery and endurance--the noted
Seventh Cavalry.
At the head of the Seventh Cavalry was a man who was unquestionably the
most picturesque character for long years, and perhaps for all previous
and present time, in the army. Entering the army in active service
during the Civil War, his career was a continual round of successes and
advances, and at its close, aside from the peerless Sheridan, no
cavalryman had a greater reputation for magnificent dash than he.
Transferred to the plains--the war over--his success as an Indian
campaigner naturally followed, and at the time he moved out upon his
latest and fated expedition, George Custer had a reputation as an Indian
fighter second to none.
On June 22d, Custer and the Seventh Cavalry left camp on the Rosebud in
compliance with their instructions. On the 23d and 24th, many of the
camping places of the Indians, in their migration westward, were passed.
By evening of June 24th, the trail and signs had become so hot and fresh
that a halt was ordered to await tidings from the scouts. Their
information proved that the Indians were across the divide, over in the
valley of the Little Horn. Custer, confident of his ability to whip the
Indians single-handed, prepared for fight at once. He pushed ahead on
the trail, and created the impression that it was his determination to
get to the spot, and have one battle royal with the Indians, in which he
and the Seventh should be the sole participants on our side, and in
consequence the sole heroes. The idea of defeat seems never to have
occurred to him.
Early on the morning of June 25th, Custer resumed his march. Up to that
time the command was maneuvered as a whole. Now, however, it was divided
into four detachments. One under Major Reno, consisting of three troops
of cavalry and the Indian scouts, forty in number, held the advance; the
second battalion, composed also of three troops, moved off some miles to
the left of Reno, scouting the country to the southward; a third
detachment, comprising the pack train which carried the reserve
ammunition--some 24,000 rounds--was under the command of Captain
McDougall, and had one troop as an escort; the fourth battalion was that
under Custer himself, and was the largest, having five troops, and it
marched parallel to Reno and within easy supporting distance to the
north, the pack train following the trail in rear of Reno and Custer.
Reno advanced from the ford across the valley in column of fours for
some distance, then formed in line of battle, and afterwards deployed
the command as skirmishers. The bulk of the Indians and their camp were
hidden by a bend of the river, and Reno, instead of charging round the
bend and into the Indian camp, halted and dismounted his command to
fight on foot. At this point two or three of the horses could not be
controlled, and carried their riders into the Indian camp; one account
stating that they plunged over the river bank, injuring the men, who
were afterwards killed by the Indians. Here at Ash Point, or Hollow, the
command soon got sheltered in the timber, and were on the defensive; the
Indians now pouring in from all sides. The Indian scouts with Reno had
before now been dispersed, and were making back tracks fast as their
ponies could carry them. Accounts differ as to how long they remained in
this timber, but it was probably not to exceed half an hour. The
"charge" out--as Reno termed it--was virtually a stampede, and many did
not know of the departure until too late to start, no well-defined and
well-understood order having been given to that effect. There was no
systematic attempt to check the pursuit of the Indians, who now,
directed by "Gall," swarmed down upon them and prevented them from
reaching the ford at which they had crossed. Many were killed on this
retreat, and many others wounded, among the former being Lieutenant
Donald McIntosh. Reno headed the retreat, and they tore pell mell across
the valley, and at the new ford they were lucky to strike, there was
great confusion, it being every man for himself, and the devil take the
hindmost; and, as is usually the case, the (red) devil got his clutches
on more than one. Crossing the stream as best they could, Lieutenant
Hodgson being killed after having crossed, men and horses climbed the
steep, almost inaccessible bluffs and ravines, upon the top of which
they had a chance to "take account of stock." Many had attempted to
scale the bluffs at other points hard by. The Indians were up there in
some force, and by them, when almost up the cliffs, Dr. DeWolf was
killed.
After remaining on the bluffs at least an hour, probably longer, a
forward movement down stream was made for a mile or mile and a half.
Previous to this, heavy firing had been heard down the river in the
direction Custer had gone. Two distinct volleys were heard by the entire
command, followed by scattering shots, and it was supposed Custer was
carrying all before him. When Reno had reached the limit of this advance
north toward Custer, they saw large numbers of Indian horsemen scurrying
over what afterward proved to be Custer's battle-field. Soon these came
tearing up toward Reno, who hastily retreated from what would seem to
have been a strong position, back to near the point where he had
originally reached the bluffs. Here they sheltered themselves on the
small hills by the shallow breastworks, and placed the wounded and
horses in a depression. That night, until between 9 and 10 o'clock, they
were subjected to a heavy fire from the Indians, who entirely surrounded
them. The firing again began at daylight of the 26th, and lasted all
day, and as the Indians had command of some high points near by, there
were many casualties. Reno's total loss, as given by Godfrey, was fifty
killed, including three officers, and fifty-nine wounded. Many of those
left in the river bottom when the retreat began, eventually reached the
command again, escaping under cover of night.
Of Custer's movements, opinions of what he did or should have done, are
many and various. The theory first entertained and held for years, but
not now tenable nor, indeed, probably held by many, was that Custer
reached the ford and attempted to cross; was met by a fire so scorching
that he drew back and retreated to the hill in the best form possible,
and there fought like an animal at bay, hoping that Reno's attack in the
bottom and Benton's timely arrival would yet relieve him. The Indians,
however, strenuously assert that Custer never attempted the ford, and
never got anywhere near it. No dead bodies were found any nearer than
within half a mile of the ford, and it seems undoubted that the Indians
tell the truth.
When Custer rode out on the bluff and looked over into the valley of the
Greasy Grass, he must have seen at once that he had before utterly
misapprehended the situation. The natural thing to do would have been to
retrace his trail, join Reno by the shortest route, and then, united,
have pushed the attack in person or, if then too late for successful
attack, he could, in all likelihood, have extricated the command and
made junction with Terry. Indian signals travel rapidly, and as soon as
Reno was checked and beaten, not only was this fact signaled through the
camp, but every warrior tore away down stream to oppose Custer, joining
those already there, and now, at least, alert.
It is probable, then, that before Custer could reach the creek valley
the Indians had made sufficient demonstrations to cause him to swerve
from where he would otherwise, and naturally, strike it, and work
farther back toward the second line of bluffs, even perhaps as far back
as Captain Godfrey gives the trail. The only thing to militate against
this would be the element of time, which seems hardly to oppose it.
However he got there, Custer is at last upon the eminence which is so
soon to be consecreted with his life's blood. What saw he? What did he?
The sources of information are necessarily largely Indian. At the
southeastern end of the Custer ridge, facing, apparently, the draw, or
coulee, of the branch of Custer Creek, Calhoun and Crittenden were
placed. Some little distance back of them, in a depression, and down the
northern slope of the Custer Ridge, Keogh stood. Stretched along the
north slope of the ridge, from Keogh to Custer Hill, was Smith's
command, and at the culminating point of the ridge, or Custer Hill, but
on the opposite ridge from where the others were placed, were Tom Custer
and Yates, and with them Custer himself. Yates' and Custer's men
evidently faced northwest. It would appear from the Indians' statements
that most of the command were dismounted.
The line was about three-quarters of a mile in length, and the attack
was made by two strong bodies of Indians. One of these came up from the
ford named after the hero and victim of the day. It was led by a daring
Indian, with some knowledge of generalship, and his followers were of a
very superior class to the average red man. This body of attackers did
great execution and succeeded in almost annihilating the white men
against whom they were placed, and whom they outnumbered so
conspicuously. From the meagre information concerning what took place
that is accessible, it appears as though the execution of these men was
almost equal to that of skilled sharp-shooters. A reckless Indian named
"Crazy Horse" was at the head of a number of Cheyennes who formed the
principal part of the second attacking body. These encountered Custer
himself, and the men immediately under his orders. Outnumbering the
white men to an overwhelming extent, they circled around, and being
reinforced by the first column, which by this time was elated by victory
and reckless as to its brutality, it commenced the work of blotting out
of existence the gallant cavalrymen before them.
Most of Custer's men knew the nature of their destroyers too well to
think of crying for quarter or making any effort to escape. There was a
blank space between the ridge on which the battle was fought and the
river below. Some few men ran down this spot in hopes of fording the
river and finding temporary hiding places; they prolonged their lives
but for a few minutes only, for some of the fleetest Indians rushed
after them and killed them as they ran. The horse upon which Captain
Keogh rode into the battle escaped the general slaughter, and found its
way back once more to civilization. Of the way it spent its declining
years we have already spoken.
With this exception, it is more than probable that no living creature
which entered the fight with Custer came out of it alive. A Crow scout
named "Curley," claims that he was in the fight, and that after it was
over he disguised himself as a Sioux, held his blanket around his head
and escaped. "Curley's" statement was never received with much credence.
The evidence generally points to the fact that, prior to the battle,
nearly all the Indian scouts who were with Custer on the march ran away
when they saw the overpowering nature of the foe. "Sitting Bull," who
has since met the fate many believe he deserved, also claimed to be in
the fight on the other side. His story of the prowess of Custer, and of
his death, was probably concocted with a view to currying favor with
white men, as it appears evident that "Sitting Bull" showed his usual
cowardice, and ran away before there was a battle within twenty-four
hours' distance.
Major James McLaughlin, during his experience as Indian Agent at
Standing Rock Agency, North Dakota, had an opportunity of gathering a
great deal of important information with reference to the battle-field
and incidents connected with it. At the request of Mr. Wheeler, whose
researches into the legends and history of interesting spots within easy
access by means of the Northern Pacific Railroad were most successful,
obtained from the Major the following valuable information concerning
many points of detail which have been the subject of debate and dispute:
"It is difficult," says this undoubted authority, "to arrive at even
approximately the number of Indians who were encamped in the valley of
the Little Big Horn when Custer's command reached there on June 25th,
1876; the indifference of the Indians as to ascertaining their strength
by actual count, and their ideas at that time being too crude to know
themselves. I have been stationed at this Agency since the surrendered
hostiles were brought here in the summer of 1881, and have conversed
frequently with many of the Indians who were engaged in that fight, and
more particularly with 'Gall,' 'Crow King,' 'Big Road,' 'Hump,' 'Sitting
Bull,' 'Gray Eagle,' 'Spotted Horn Bull,' and other prominent men of the
Sioux, regarding the Custer affair. When questioned as to the number of
Indians engaged, the answer has invariably been, 'None of us knew; nina
wicoti,' which means 'very many lodges.' From this source of
information, which is the best obtainable, I place the number of male
adults then in the camp at 3,000; and that on June 25th, 1876, the
fighting strength of the Indians was between 2,500 and 3,000, and more
probably approximating the latter number.
"'Sitting Bull' was a recognized medicine man, and of great repute among
the Sioux, not so much for his powers of healing and curing the
sick--which, after he had regained such renown, was beneath his
dignity--as for his prophecies; and no matter how absurd his prophecies
might be, he found ready believers and willing followers, and when his
prophecies failed to come to pass, he always succeeded in satisfying his
over-credulous followers by giving some absurd reason. For instance, I
was in his camp on Grande River in the spring of 1888, sometime about
the end of June. There had been no rain for some weeks, and crops were
suffering from drouth, and I remarked to him, who was in an assemblage
of a large number of Indians of that district, that the crops needed
rain badly, and that if much longer without rain the crops would amount
to nothing. He, 'Sitting Bull,' replied: 'Yes, the crops need rain, and
my people have been importuning me to have it rain. I am considering the
matter as to whether I will or not. I can make it rain any time I wish,
but I fear hail. I cannot control hail, and should I make it rain, heavy
hail might follow, which would ruin the prairie grass as well as the
crops, and our horses and our cattle would thus be deprived of
subsistence.' He made this statement with as much apparent candor as it
was possible for a man to give expression to, and there was not an
Indian among his hearers but appeared to accept it as within his power.
"'Sitting Bull' was dull in intellect, and not near as able a man as
'Gall,' 'Hump,' 'Crow,' and many others who were regarded as subordinate
to him; but he was an adept schemer and very cunning, and could work
upon the credulity of the Indians to a wonderful degree, and this,
together with great obstinacy and tenacity, gained for him his
world-wide reputation. 'Sitting Bull' claimed in his statement to me
that he directed and led in the Custer fight; but all the other Indians
with whom I have talked contradict it, and said that 'Sitting Bull' fled
with his family as soon as the village was attacked by Major Reno's
command, and that he was making his way to a place of safety, several
miles out in the hills, when overtaken by some of his friends with news
of victory over the soldiers, whereupon he returned, and in his usual
style, took all the credit of victory to himself as having planned for
the outcome, and as having been on a bluff overlooking the battlefield,
appeasing the evil spirits and invoking the Great Spirit for the result
of the fight.