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

by Walker

  In a ravine near the river were found the dead bodies of the men and horses of Captain Thomas W. Custer's company, together with those of Captain Algernon E. Smith, and twenty-three men of his company. Lieutenant James E. Porter^Jjieutenant John Sturgis, and Lieutenant Harrington, together with tlllrty-five enlisted men, were missing, and no trace of them could be discovered. Near the ford, as though killed early in the fight, was the body of Mark Kel-log, correspondent of the New York Herald, and a resident of the frontier. His body was undisturbed and still clothed, as though overlooked by accident in the horrible carnival of blood and butchery that followed hard upon the battle. Near here was also found the body of " Isaiah" a colored scout, long in the employ of the officers on the frontier, an intelligent, trustworthy man, married to a Sioux squaw, who, with his children, was then at Fort Rice. This circumstance did not appear to be a recommendation to the mercy of his wife's relatives, as he was not only killed, but circumstances indicated that he had been captured and met his death by the savage cruelty of torture.

  The probable fate of the thirty-five missing men and their three officers is too horrible to contemplate without a shudder. It is claimed by Indians who were in the fight and afterwards returned to their agencies, that the horses of a portion of the calvary were captured by the Indians early in the engagement, while the situation of those surrounding the group of men and officers, with whom Custer made his last stand, would seem to indicate that they had been killed by the soldiers to form a barricade, behind which to defend themselves, until the relief which they doubtless then expected from Reno and Benteen should arrive.

  How vague and satisfactory are these pitiful details of this most horrible of modern massacres, the exact occurrences of which will probably never ba known! The sole survivors of all that proud array of men and steeds, so recklessly hurried to their impending doom, are the Upsaroka scout, "Curley," and the horse of Captain Keogh, Comanche, which was found near the battle-field with seven wounds. Major Reno, thinking him mortally wounded, ordered the noted war-horse to be shot; but Comanche was a veteran of the 7th Cavalry, and the men who knew and loved him, begged for his life, and by careful treatment and nursing he was restored, and remains to-day the only living survivor of the fated five companies who plunged into the carnage that engulfed alike, rider and steed, in the lonely valley of the Little Big Horn.

  Soon after the discovery of the dead bodies on the battlefield, they were given hasty burial by their comrades of the surviving companies. Then, the Indians having escaped, and the supplies being exhausted, General Terry took up the line of march toward the Yellowstone, and returned with all possible haste to his headquarters at St. Paul, Minn., and thus ended one of the most disastrous and disgraceful campaigns in the annals of the country; and in the language of

  General Sherman in his annual official report to the Secretary of War, who submitted the same to the next session of .: Congress (the Forty-fourth), which convened in December, j j/r 1876, said, " And had it not been for the brave and heroic *

  Reno, not a man would have been brought off the field to tell the tale! "

  In the entire management of the expedition, from its first organization down to the closing affray, there is but one redeeming feature mingled with our pity for the gallant boys in blue, who there met an untimely death-the warmest Admiration for the knightly courage, to which their lifeless bodies, ranged in order along the battle lines, bore dumb but eloquent witness.

  " Even thus the sword of Custer, In his disastrous fall, Flashed out a blaze that charmed the world, And glorified his pall."

  APPENDIX TO THE PRECEDING SECTION.

  We will here make brief mention of the filling up of the rank and file of the pet regiment on the plains, and some of its duties since the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Of the companies that were lost in that memorable battle, their places were at once filled by officers who survived to command them, and were soon recruited to the maximum by recruits sent forward from the East, who were recruited with a special view to closing the Indian war in the northwest, if possible. The field officers of the regiment that survived were veterans, and gallant and skillful men, who had seen many a hard-fought battle, and had won laurels on many a field, and lived only to take part in further operations to open and pave the way for civilization.

  They had survived numerous battles during the war of the late rebellion, and had experienced hard service on our extreme frontier in subjugating the Indians, all the way from tho Wichita mountains to the valley of the Little Big Horn, where their gallant and chivalrous comrade, Lieutenant-

  I

  Colonel Custer, fell at the head of their dashing and fearless troopers. This regiment has been on duty at different military stations-mostly in north-western Dakota-and generally commanded by its Lieutenant-Colonel, Elmer Otis, and one or more of the Majors belonging to the regiment.

  Brevet-Colonel Elmer Otis, Lieutenant-Colonel of the 7th U. S. Cavalry, received his appointment from the military academy at West Point before the war, and has been deservedly promoted from time to time up to the assignment to duty with this regiment. He is an industrious, zealous, and faithful officer. He has been the commanding officer at Fort Lincoln a greater portion of the time since his assignment to duty with the 7th Cavalry. He is much admired as an officer and a gentleman by his command, and in army circles as well as by the citizens in general.

  Brevet-Colonel Joseph E. Tilford, the senior Major of the 7th Cavalry, was appointed from the military academy at West Point in 1851. He has been a brave and faithful officer, and his conduct " was gallant and meritorious in the battle of Valverde, N. M." He has been commanding officer at various military stations in north-western Dakota since his regiment came to Fort Rice in 1873. He is really the model and most gentlemanly Major in the U. S. Army. His record as a military officer and a gentleman is too well known to make mention at length in this volume. Suffice it to say, that he is an excellent military adviser, one of the best of disciplinarians, always having an eye to the morale of the army.

  Brevet-Brigadier-General Lewis Merrill, a Major in the 7th Cavalry, has been in the service since July, 1855. He received his appointment from the military academy at West Point, and served with distinction all through the late war. During the rebellion his services were specially gallant and meritorious against the rebels in north Missouri, and in the capture of Little Rock, Ark., also against the rebel forces in north-western Georgia.

  Major Merrill was well known through the late war as Colonel of one of the finest regiments of cavalry in the service, " known as Merrill's Horse." Since the war he has filled

  important military positions in various parts of the country,, at times sitting as Judge Advocate on court martials.

  As a military law officer, lie has no superior in this department, and we think we can safely say, no equal, unless it be General Alfred H. Terry, the Department Commander. For the past two seasons, he has had charge of protecting the line of the Northern Pacific Kailroad from Bismarck, D. T., to Miles City, M. T. The main duty of his command has been, and now is, to guard against roving bands of marauding Indians who infest the plains more or less, roaming from one section of the country to another, more for the purpose of stealing and running off stock, than to engage in actual warfare. He is a thoroughly schooled and skilled officer, and highly esteemed by all who know him.

  Edward Ball, another Major of the " brave and intrepid 7th," joined his regiment in April, 1880. His career with this regiment has been short, and but very little service in the field has been performed since his assignment as one of its Majors. He is a brave, skillful and gentlemanly officer, and well worthy the uniform he wears, having served in the regular army since 1844. His record for bravery, industry and zeal stands among the first in the country.

  Colonel Wm. Thompson, a retired officer from the 7th Cavalry, is a sturdy Pennsylvanian, and a true type of the American soldier and gentleman. At one time before the war, he was Professor of Law and Science in a
n Institute in his native State. Soon afterward he settled in Iowa and represented the Keokuk, or Southern district of that State in the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Congress. Colonel Cork-hill, the District Attorney at Washington, who has charge of investigating " Giteau's case," was at one time a pupil under this veteran officer. He served through the late war with distinction, receiving promotion at different times for gallant and meritorious service on various battle-fields, and specially in the action of Prairie Grove and Bayou Meteo, Ark. He has seen hard service in Indian warfare all the wav from the Staked Plains to the headwaters of the Mis-souri. He is a genial gentleman in and out of the army, and devotes the greater portion of his time to matters pertaining to science, agriculture, and the general development of the new northwest.

  The people throughout the States and other countries can now rest assured this section of our country, and more generally known as the new northwest, is in the hands of experienced and well-disposed officers, who have the good of their country at heart, as well as their own personal affairs, and reputation for bravery and achievements. There are other officers on the frontier t deserving of equal credit as those above mentioned, but having been in fields at too great a distance, the writer does not feel at liberty to make mention of matters of fact as they have transpired, that he is not quite familiar with.

  Now that we have the unconditional surrender of Sitting Bull and all of his war chiefs, the survivors of the 7th Cavalry, as well as members of the other regiments in this department, who have for many years defied the murderous hordes of hostile savages, and who have fought as heroes fight, for friends and home, country and fame, may well take a long breath of great relief.

  The writer is now waiting for a special messenger to arrive from Fort Buford, in order to get a correct and full account of the surrender of " the king of warriors," the wily Sitting Bull, whose manoeuvering on the Plains, and in and out of the bad lands, and whose aptness for Indian warfare has attracted more attention than any other one person in the country, except our suffering President, Mr. Garfield. We will endeavor to present to the readers of this work a concise and clear account of this important move on the part of our red brother, who for many years has been the Stalwart of the Stalwart Warriors.

  Crow King

  SECTION III.

  CHAPTEE I.

  The Kingly Warrior Surrenders to Major D. H. Brothertcm.

  One of the most important events in recent military operations against the hostile Indians in the Northwest, was the surrender of Crow King, a subordinate chief under Sitting Bull, together with all his warriors, war ponies, guns, old men, squaws, papooses and camp equipage, to Major D. H. Brotherton, of the 7th United States Infantry, in the Northwest, during the winter of 1880.

  Crow King was in importance to Sitting Bull among the Sioux warriors as Sheridan was to Grant in the late War of the Rebellion. The surrender was received with great rejoicing by both officers and men of the long-suffering army of the frontier, and by the people of the land was hailed with joy, as practically the close of the Indian War in the Northwest.

  Although popular rejoicing in this belief was premature- Sitting Bull, with the main body of able-bodied hostiles, with his usual good fortune or good generalship, having eluded capture and escaped to the British lines-yet the rank and importance of Crow King in the Sioux councils was so great, his influence with the savage tribes under Jrim being almost unbounded, that the effect of his retiring with his people from the war-path was most salutary in the cause of peace.

  Among Indians of all tribes there are invariably found a number of subordinate chiefs who really desire to remain on the war-path, and nothing save actual suffering or necessity will ever persuade or force them to surrender. The presence of a large force of troops in front of them, with starvation among their old men, women and children, are the only arguments to which their stern natures are accessible.

  In the case of Crow King and his warriors, they were driven to extremities. In the dead of a severe winter, without grass for their ponies, and insufficient shelter for their families, with the thermometer 32 degrees below zero, there was necessarily great suffering from cold and hunger among the non-combatants of tho hostile camp. Food and clothing were almost unobtainable in the field, and with the British lines closed apparently against them, and a large well-disciplined force of United States troops in front of them, with ample supplies, and everything necessary to the carrying on of a vigorous and successful campaign, their alternative was to surrender or to suffer total annihilation.

  Scarcely less than the Indians did the brave men of the army suffer from cold and exposure during that fearful winter's campaign. In the field without tents, with the thermometer ranging from 32 to 44 degrees below zero, they suffered intensely from cold and frost-bites. Yet, with the usual stoicism and hardihood of the trained soldier, their sufferings in these respects were borne uncomplainingly, and with true heroism.

  The representatives of the press, who, it must be observed, invariably reach the front as soon as the army, were on hand to chronicle the details of the surrender, and gave to the representative papers of the East, full and graphic accounts of the scenes in the field, and the solemn pow-wow and dance after the surrender. The people of the country are greatly interested in the development of the new Northwest, and consequently follow the operations of the troopa on the frontier with friendly interest and anxiety ; no news is more anxiously sought after or read with more avidity than the published reports from the seat of the Indian wars. Being desirous of seeing the country opened to settlement, all measures tending to that end are eagerly seconded by the people at large, and this is apparent in the universal desire for correct information from the scene of army operations, against those terrible hindrances in the path of progress-the wild Indians of the plains.

  It was at first feared that the surrender of Crow King and his band was not a permanent one; that his warriors would again seek the war-path in the early spring, when the growing grass would furnish sustenance for their ponies ; but it soon became apparent that his personal surrender was made in good faith-that he really desired to settle down on a reservation and cultivate the arts of peace, in the company of his old men, women, and children-a desire that, laudable as it was, may have originated from the fact that he was sorely wounded, and barely able to sit on his horse. His people had unbounded faith in him as a leader. The young Graves of his tribe looked up to him with veneration, and heeded his counsels, as became the loyal subjects of a brave and kingly warrior. Although they acquiesced reluctantly in the surrender, yet such was their loyalty to their leader, that the United States officers, in charge of negotiations, had little to fear from future treachery on the part of his followers, save only from a very few of the ugly, discontented, and unconquerable warriors that are found attached to every tribe, and who undoubtedly, when the favorable opportunity came, would desert the reservation for the more congenial ^var-path.

  The late action of the British authorities, in forbidding ihem to seek shelter on Canadian soil, undoubtedly planted the seeds of peace in the breast of many an unruly savage. So long as the British lines were open to them, they could penetrate into the United States, commit their bloody deeds of rapine and cruelty, murdering white men and stealing horses and other stock, then, when pursued, retreating into the friendly shelter of the Queen's dominions, knowing that the avenging feet of their pursuers must be stayed at the border line, as the Government troops could not invade Canadian soil without interference with international law, which would doubtless be quickly resented by the Dominion authority. But when this friendly shelter was closed against them, and food and clothing gave out; when the winter snows descended, and the wild winds blew fierce and strong across the wide prairies of the West, then many a plumed warrior's heart grew weak; and as he beheld the armed force of dauntless troops under the brave Major G. Hges, of the 5th XJ. S. Infantry, arrayed against their weak and shivering band, there came upon them a desire for a cessation of
hostilities. They hungered again for the " flesh-pots " of the Indian Agency, and meekly submitted to the inevitable, accepting the situation with the coolness and philosophy characteristic of Indian nature.

  The surrender of Gall to Major Guido Hges, of the 5th U. S. Infantry, is of equal importance in this campaign, and more so than that of any other chief under Sitting Bull, except Crow King. He was really the Kilpatrick of the whole Sioux nation. Major Ilges found this daring and reckless warrior occupying a strong position in the timber near Popular Creek Agency. After making a demand for a formal surrender, which was at first stubbornly refused by Gall, he opened fire from his Gatling guns, together with several volleys of musketry.