Campaigns of General Custer in the North-west, and the final surrender of Sitting Bull

by Walker

  General Custer was not exempt from these annoyances, but frequently found his plans for enforcing army regulations seriously interfered with by the inconsiderate and unauthorized action of his subordinates.

  On one occasion, General Custer had occasion to detail a Lieutenant from his command on special secret service for the Government.

  A gang of grain and horse thieves infested the garrison, whom it was important to shadow at their base of operations in a neighboring village.

  The officer assumed the rde of detective, took up his station in the village, under positive orders from General Custer " to let no guilty man escape," which order, unlike that of President Grant's in the whisky ring cases, was given in all sincerity, and with the expectation that it would be carried out to the letter.

  But instead of conducting himself as an officer and gentleman, and thereby justifying the confidence reposed in him by his superior officer, his special attentions were reserved for a damsel of African extraction and chocolate complexion, who had long been a sort of silent partner in his household joys and sorrows, and who had added to his responsibilities and contributed an infinitesimal unit to the roll of the census-taker oi the village aforesaid at the same time.

  His regular associates were the miscreants and low flung gamblers of the town, and his most frequent haunts the dens and dives where their evil games flourished unmolested.

  Of the gang of thieves who were detected with stolen grain in their possession, but very few were brought to trial, and fewer still were punished. One or two of minor influence were selected as victims, and their conviction was procured in the courts. The other and more prominent leaders of the gang were permitted to go unpunished, and the officer afterwards openly and boldly boasted of the favoritism shown certain guilty but influential parties, who, through his connivance, were permitted to escape the punishment that was their due.

  This profligate officer, who thus proved faithless to the trust imposed on him, to gratify his own personal designs and illegitimate purposes, when leaving the country left behind him another sprig of his paternity, in the shape of a curbstone-shyster, whether to take charge of the bastard responsibility aforesaid, or to render aid and encouragement to the gang of outcasts, thugs and petty imported government thieves who still hold sway on the frontier (and who are his constant associates) does not appear.

  The reader, doubtless, already knows too well that our social circles, both in the army and civil life, are drifted over with this class of profligates, and the writer has simply called up this matter to show how military circles have been imposed upon by the appointment of such unprincipled men, who, in all probability, could not make a respectable living outside the army, but who have obtained commissions through.transitory political influence, and are thrown in to fill vacancies caused by the death or resignation of worthier men.

  It is, however, proper to state that this evil has of late been counteracted greatly by the action of the better class of officers, many of whom have gone to work earnestly to weed out from the service, wherever practicable, these unprincipled vagabonds, who disgrace the uniform they wear, and who have sought a commission in the army, only to find there an asylum for life.

  The entire blame, as already said, for this unwarranted state of affairs in the United States army, lies at the doors of unscrupulous members of Congress, who recommend for appointments in the army the worthless and degraded loafers of their respective districts, as a reward for political service.

  If the better class of officers continue to apply the remedy at their hands, and administer the medicine freely, the result will add greatly to their personal credit, and be highly conducive to a more wholesome discipline, and increased respectability, and better morale of the army. The only suggestion the writer has to make is, " Let the good work go on- keep tveeding out"

  In returning to the grain thieves we will briefly state: Of the citizens arrested in this way and confined in the post guard-house at Fort Lincoln, were two men who, not pleased with the military attentions paid them, resolved no longer to trespass on the willing hospitality of the 7th Cavalry, and one night, with the connivance of the soldiers implicated with them, a hole was cut in the outside wall of the guardhouse ; thus they obtained their liberty, and afterward, outside the limits of the reservation, defied arrest.

  The escape of these parties was of small moment in itself -but, at the same time and through the same aperture, there escaped an inmate of the guard-house-an Indian held

  prisoner by Custer-who, afterward, in the valley of the Little Big Horn* killed his distinguished jailer, and who, now going directly from the Lincoln guard-house to the hostile camp, devoted his time thereafter to persuading peaceful bands of Agency Indians to join them, and to perfecting htg plans of future vengeance. This was Bain-in-the-Face, the most treacherous and bloody-minded of the Unc-papa hostiles, yet who so far had disguised his hatred to the white men, as to be duly enrolled upon the books of the Agent (at Standing Bock) as a good Indian, and as such was entitled to a share in the regular issues of provisions, blankets and ammunition. But, like the majority of these peaceful warriors, Bain-in-the-Face was a good Indian only during the winter season, and pending the spring issuance of rations and clothing. Thereafter he was wont to depart on the warpath with parties of the able-bodied warriors of the tribe, leaving their women and children under the protecting care of the Agency until the waning of the summer, when cold weather and the approach of another ration period would draw them back to the Agency. Here, at the rejoicings consequent upon the issuance of rations, it was their wont to boast of their bloody deeds, and exhibit the scalps and trophies torn from the helpless victims they had slaughtered with the repeating rifles obligingly furnished them by the United States Government.

  This is literal truth. Bain-in-the-Face, an Indian of the Uncpapa tribe, and an attache of Standing Bock Agency- hence, presumably at peace with the white men-had assisted at the killing of Dr. Houtzinger and Mr. Baliran, the civilians murdered on the march with the expedition of 1873, already referred to in these pages.

  In the winter of 1875 the Standing Bock Agency Indians were holding their usual dance on an occasion of drawing their stated rations. Among them, as usual, was Bain-in-the-Face, with his fellow-murderers, all pensioners upon the bounty of a weakly, magnanimous Government.

  In the course of their pantomimic dance there was told, in the plainest of Indian sign language, the bloody tale of the murder of two unarmed white men in the valley of the Yel-

  lowstone. Exultingly in the gyrations of his war-dance the Indian boasted of his prowess, and, in proof thereof, exhibited articles that he had taken from the lifeless body of Dr. Houtzinger. In the little crowd of white spectators near at hand-agency employes, hangers-on of the military post, etc.-stood Charles Reynolds, a scout attached to the 7th Cavalry, well and favorably known on the frontier as " Lonesome Charley," a brave-hearted, dauntless, quiet man, and who afterward was killed in Reno's rout at the Little Big Horn battle. Returning to his post at Fort Lincoln, Reynolds reported to Custer what he had seen and heard. A detachment of one hundred men and four officers were at once dispatched from Lincoln to Standing Rock Agency, seventy miles distant, to arrest the murderer. Arrived at the Agency, they found the Indians engaged in their usual occupation of drawing rations-it being the day for the issuance of beef. Hundreds of fully-armed warriors, mingled with the non-combatants of the tribe, were greedily awaiting their share of the bountiful supply of food which a mistaken Government deems essential to prolong the precious lives of its privileged assassins and incendiaries, yet whom, as we have already seen, it does not itself disdain to rob of their unceded lands, when measures of public policy dictate the violation of its treaty stipulations.

  Notwithstanding great excitement on the part of the assembled braves, the arrest was effected in safety, and Rain-in-the-Face was conveyed, under escort of Captain T. W. Custer – brother of Lieutenant-Colonel Custer – to Fort Lincoln. Here he fully conf
essed his crime, and remained a prisoner in the guard-house at Lincoln until the incarceration of the suspected grain thieves and their escape gave him his liberty.

  Rain-in-the-Face went directly to the hostile camp, and attaching himself to the band of Sitting Bull, was joined by his followers, and sent frequent messages by the Agency Indians-who paid them frequent visits of friendship and business-that he was ardently awaiting an opportunity to be revenged on Lieutenant-Colonel Custer and Captain Custer, for his imprisonment.

  In the spring of 1876 it was determined by the Government to attempt the subjugation of Sitting Bull and the lawless tribes under him, who had refused to accede to the provisions of the treaty of 1868, and had since led a wandering life. Their numbers augmented each spring by frequent accessions*of warriors, and supplies of war irom the Missouri River Agencies. From their stronghold at the headwaters of the Yellowstone, war parties were continually sent out to annoy the white settlements.

  Their camp formed a convenient retreat for disaffected Agency Indians. Criminals and unruly spirits, supported by the Government through the winter, were ready in the summer to join the hostiles, conveying to them arms, ammunition, ponies and supplies. Thus the problem of dealing with the professedly peaceful Indians was greatly complicated.

  The only way to end the constantly-recurring troubles, and prevent a general uprising of the whole body of Indians -many of them already on the war-path, resentful at the violation of the treaty of 1868-was to strike a decisive blow directly at the headquarters of the savage tribes, and by breaking up their rendezvous in the Yellowstone region, compel them to return and surrender at the various Agencies on the Missouri River.

  With this object in view, the expedition of 1876 was planned. It was arranged that three expeditions should start simultaneously for the headwaters of the Yellowstone-one from the north, one from the south, and one from the east- the three to join forces and co-operate in the region constituting the objective point of their converging marches.

  The column from the south, under General Crook, started from Fort Fetterman, Wyoming Territory, May 29th, 1876, and marched due north for the Powder River country. It was composed of 1,300 men, and arrived at old Fort Reno June 3d. It succeeded in reaching the indicated ground, viz., the valley of the Yellowstone, drained by its tributaries, the Big Horn, Rosebud, Tongue and Powder Rivers, together with their branches, and at one time was within one hundred miles of the northern column; but the Indians were between them, and after several heavy skirmishes, in which the troops were defeated, it fell back to the head of Tongue Biver, and from there returned ingloriously to its starting place.

  The force from the north, under Colonel Gibbon, left Fort Ellis, Montana, with a strength of four hundred men, and wagon train, marched due east, and joined the force from the east under General Terry, June 1st.

  The departure of the column from the east, which, in the original plan of the campaign, was to have been led by Lieutenant-Colonel Custer, had been delayed, in consequence of Custer having been called to Washington to give evidence before the Congressional Committee then engaged in investigating charges against Secretary of War Belknap. Like all army officers stationed on the frontier, Custer was conversant with the terrible corruption of the Interior Department, displayed in the management of the Indian Agencies and trading posts. As an honest man, he did what many others, better informed than himself, but more devoted to self-interest, had not dared to do-spoke aloud his convictions. Custer's testimony-and the fact that he had presumed to hold opinions on the subject-was distasteful to Belknap's friend, U. S. Grant, President of the United States, and brother of Orville Grant, a post-trader of precious memory on the Missouri Biver.

  CHAPTER III

  Origin of the Breach between Belknap and Custer.

  Inasmuch as there are but very few people in the country, even among those holding official positions in the army, and in military circles outside, comprehend f lly the causes that led the Belknap tradership business to such a sudden " burst of the bubble," the author thinks it proper, in connection with the foregoing history, to state here fully the facts as they came under his observation at the time of their occurrence. Several m amp;nths before the high court of impeachment was ordered to investigate the tradership business

  of Secretary of War Belknap, there was, in one of the regiments belonging to the United States Army, a young officer who was placed under arrest in consequence of charges preferred against him. He was tried by court-martial, and by a preponderance of evidence against him, and an unfortunate combination of circumstances, was found guilty and sentenced to dismissal from the service of the United States. It was, however, generally considered among those conversant with the affair, that the charges originally preferred against him were frivolous, and were created and brought against him more from personal malice than from any zeal for the service on the part of his accusers. Through the regular military channels, the findings and sentence of the court-martial reached Secretary Belknap for his approval or disapproval. It was thought in army circles that the Secretary should have shown some leniency, and been governed by the precedents on record at the War Office in similar cases, at the time. A commutation of the sentence to suspension from rank and half pay for six or twelve months was confidently expected by the friends of the aforesaid delinquent officer, and would have been considered a reasonable punishment for the offense charged. Contrary to popular expectation, the sentence of the court was promptly confirmed by the Secretary of War, and the young officer left the service of the United States army in disgrace, but only to return in due time. He, however, immediately set himself to work to procure his reinstatement by a special act of Congress ; but the approval of the findings and sentence of the court-martial by Secretary Belknap, of course, made a very strong case against him. In the meantime, the young officer, who, while in the service, had excellent opportunities to observe the manner in which the tradership traffic was carried on under the Belknap rule, set himself to work collecting facts and evidence concerning the same, and by means of these, prevailed upon his friends in Congress to bring the matter before the proper committee. This was done, and the result was a high court of impeachment. The Secretary of War was arraigned at the bar of the U. S. Senate to answer the grave charges preferred against him, and only escaped the righteous verdict of an indignant nation by a hasty resignation, and as hasty an acceptance of the same by President Grant, of his high office. We may add in this connection, that the young officer who first set in motion the much needed investigation, was afterward reinstated to his place in the army, and assumed his former rank in the service.

  Another matter upon which the people of the country, even those of high standing, both in civil and military life, are not enlightened, is the causes' that led to the ill-feeling existing between Grant and Belknap on the one side against General G. A. Custer on the other. It was previously a matter of record, and known all over the country, that Grant, Sherman and Sheridan were not only intimate friends and admirers of General Custer, but that they placed unlimited confidence in his fighting abilities and military skill.

  Indeed, Custer was acknowledged to be the best Tndi^Ti fighter on the plains, by both Generals Sherman and Sheridan ; and on the 13th of August, 1869, at Fort Hays, Kansas, Brevet-Major-General S. D. Sturgis, Colonel 7th U. S. Cavalry, says, in an official communication to headquarters: " There is, perhaps, no other officer of equal rank on this line, who has worked more faithfully against the Indians, or who has acquired the same degree of knowledge of the country and of the Indian character."

  Department commanders also paid high tribute to him as an Indian fighter and an officer of indomitable energy and skill in general military matters; while General Sheridan remarked at one time in the field, while Custer was, with a portion of his regiment, engaged with a band of wild warriors of the plains : " When I want anything done up quick, I can send Custer to do it, and can almost invariably rely upon the result." Such a remark from the Lieut.-Gene
ral of the Army shows that the utmost confidence was placed in Custer, aside from the fact that he was frequently placed in command of the most important expeditions against the hostile Indians.

  Now, in the name of a just Heaven, the author begs leave to ask of the highest military tribunal in the land, what had General George A. Custer done during the interval between the above date and the time of his fitting out his last expedition for that fatal march to the valley of the Little Big Horn, to warrant the harsh and humiliating treatment then bestowed upon him by President Grant and Secretary of War Belknap? The voice of the country speaks to-day, and says that Custer, the true soldier and gentleman, had forfeited not one iota of his well-earned fame or knightly standing; while Secretary Belknap, whose high position had already been degraded by the illegal sale of traderships, was still further prostituting his honorable office to gratify a personal ill-feeling against a gallant officer, who was the beau ideal of a soldier, the pride of the American cavalry. The author proposes to here explain briefly the occurrences that transpired to mar the friendly relations heretofore existing between Grant and Belknap on one side, and Custer on the other. During the year 1870, in the latter part of June, and at the closing of Congress, a certain law concerning post traders was very ingeniously framed, and embodied in what was known as the Military Bill, then pending before Congress, the substance of which is about as follows : " And the Secretary of War shall have power to appoint one or more traders at the military posts on the frontier, for the accommodation of freighters and emigrants." The reader will readily observe the ingenuity displayed in framing the above clause, and when the bill was printed and placed before the unsuspecting and unsophisticated members of Congress, most of whom had never been west of the one hundredth longitudinal line, its deep design escaped detection. The Congressmen felt, doubtless, that they were allying themselves to a liberal act, and making special provision for the wants of the freighters and emigrants, who are, after the army, the real pioneers of the far West. Little did these unsophisticated Congressmen think that in passing this seemingly beneficial act, they were making the Secretary of War the supreme judge and ruler over every post trader in the western country, and that he would with one stroke of the pen, in one sweeping order, turn them all adrift, regardless of their fitness or unfitness for the position, or the fact that they held their positions by the recommendation and with the consent of the Post Council and Post Commandant of the military stations where they were located. Under former regulations, as now, post traders were appointed by a council of the officers of the post, with the approval of the Post Commandant; Belknap made all subsequent appointments to suit himself, regardless of the wishes of'the officers on duty at the post where the trader was to be located.