A Decade of Warfare; Custer’s Massacre; Sheridan, etc.

For several years, I might say the whole decade from 1870 to 1880, the Indians occupied the attention of the public. In the Northwest they were very active. The Utes, Apaches, Cheyennes, and the Sioux were almost continuously on the warpath, and their activities were so widespread and far-reaching that, at times, they almost blocked the progress of the wheels of commerce, and made trade and travel a very dangerous proceeding. The movement on the part of the Indian developed a corresponding activity on the part of the military department. Gen. P. H. Sheridan, Gen. Crook, Gen. Custer, and Gen. Nelson A. Miles and many other men high up in military affairs devoted their time and attention to the pressing condition of affairs and took up their position in localities where they would be able to suppress the movements of the Indians and bring about a peaceable solution of their difficulties.

The various bands of Indians adopted practically the same mode of procedure in their warlike movements. Each spring and summer, when there was plenty of green grass and abundance of water, usually found them opening up a new campaign against the encroachments of the white population. It was very galling for them to stand by and see the source of their supplies, the buffalo, exterminated without making any contrary movement. In fact, they did not propose to do so, but set out to exterminate the hunters who were intent on making a desert of the plains that teemed with millions of their favorite game. Their efforts were sometimes crowned with success, and frequently they encountered disaster. In spite of the reverses they suffered, as at the Chivington massacre on Sand Creek, Colorado, they did not abandon their efforts to retain their rights to the land they had so long retained as their lawful hunting ground. The fact that he had practically no further means of gaining a livelihood, made them all the more determined to fight to the finish with those whom they considered usurpers of their ancestral kingdom.

To add to his difficulties in the way of the encroachments of the whites, an unexpected circumstances arose that made conditions much more difficult to bear. Gold had been discovered in the Black Hills. There was a rush made upon the gold-bearing district, which stirred the Indians to greater excitement. Immigrant trains from Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and as far east as Ohio and Michigan, began to wind their long sinuous way across the plains in the direction of the new gold fields. They were not entirely unacquainted with the excited condition of the territory through which they were compelled to travel, and consequently made preparations to meet the difficulties and dangers of the way. They were well aware that the Indians were on the warpath and ready to give them a warm reception on their invasion on the Indians’ domain. To meet the perils of such a journey as they were compelled to make, each wagon train consisting of numerous outfits, was under the guidance of some experienced plainsman. He showed them the proper manner of procedure in the method of self-defense in case they were subjected to an attack from the marauding bands of red-men on the way. It was well, as far as their own safety was concerned, that they learned how to corral their wagons and stock in the time of danger, as more than one wagon train was attacked and completely destroyed and the members of the party massacred on their way across the plains. In justice to the Indians, I wish to remark that all the massacres and plunderings of the early days were not wrought by the Indians. It is a well-known fact that the Mormans in Utah played a part in such inhuman affairs, as is evidenced by the actions of John D. Lee and his followers, disguised as Indians, when they perpetrated the Mountain Meadow massacre. To leave the impression that it was the work of the tribesmen they scalped their victims, ran off their stock, and burned their wagons. There are several other instances that might be mentioned, wherein the whiteman in the guise of the Indian, performed deeds of deviltry and endeavored to cast the blame upon the redman. While charging the Indian with his crimes, let us not forget to give him credit for his virtues also, or as Theodore Roosevelt would say, “let us give him a square deal.”

Time passed on, each year bringing its quota of trouble and disaster, without any indication or improvement in the general condition of affairs. All the frontier posts were supplied with soldiers who seemed anxious for something to turn up to relieve the monotony of camp life. They finally had their wishes fulfilled, for in the spring of 1876, Sitting Bull, the Napoleon of the Sioux tribe, succeeded in concentrating his whole force in the valley of the Little Big Horn. No opportunity was more desired by the whites for putting an end to the activity of the Indians. Gen. Custer lost not a moment in taking the field against him. His past successes in fighting the savages seemed to guarantee him victory in his present undertaking. In his impetuosity he set out flushed with the thought of the success that was to perch upon his arms. In his ardour lay his crushing defeat. Custer had about 700 men—only 256 with him in actual fight where he fell, every man killed except Curley the Crow scout who escaped. Reno and Benteen were already held in check on the hill they retreated to when attacked before Custer engaged the Indians. The Indians had 3600 braves or warriors. Sitting Bull was the Bismark of the Sioux and Gall the Von Molkte. Custer and Terry had been informed by Indian agent at Standing Rock that only 800 braves were to be engaged. Sitting Bull had defeated General Crook a few days before he encountered Custer. Sitting Bull fearing also General Gibbons and Crook at any minute to reinforce the Seventh Cavalry hastened to make his escape to Canada, otherwise he would have annihilated Reno and the balance of the Seventh Cavalry. These Indians in 1881 returned to the United States and I helped put them on steam boats at Fort Buford and Fort Keogh, or Miles City now, and sent them to Standing Rock agency, Rain in the Face’s band being at Keogh. Sitting Bull, by strategy, succeeded in decoying General Custer, with his entire command, into a position that was suicidal. The wily Indian chief, with about nine thousand warriors, on the 25th of June, 1876, attacked him and annihilated the whole command, carrying off all Custer’s munitions of war as trophies of victory. Acting on the principle that “to the victor belong the spoils,” Siting Bull, by the total annihilation of the enemy was able to replenish his larder at the expense of Uncle Sam. It was a veritable windfall for him, as the supplies of food, guns, ammunition, horses, blankets, and everything that was needed for comfort and safety, were very much in demand about that time, as the Indian’s resources were almost at the vanishing point at the time. It is not my purpose here to offer any explanation of Custer’s failure, but it was commonly reported that General Reno had been expected to take part in the engagement, but did not do so. Others lay the disaster to Custer’s impetuosity, not waiting for his auxiliaries to arrive. I am not prepared to say who was to blame for the calamity.

In the death of General Custer, the country lost one of the bravest men that ever donned the uniform of the soldier. He had his faults but cowardice was not one of them. He was true to his country and his flag and his fall where the fight was thickest, was an indication of his military character.

I thought it proper to write this short sketch in order to show the influence it exercised on succeeding events. It was several days before the results of the day’s disaster became known to the general public. There were several reasons for the delay. First, those who were to join Custer in his attack on the Indians did not arrive for some time after the battle and as there was not a living soul left to tell the tale of the deeds of heroism performed in that desperate encounter, nor give any inkling as to the whereabouts of the dead bodies of the slain, it was more by chance than design that their location was discovered as soon as it was. Even to those who came upon them where they lay stiff and cold in death, it did not seem possible that there could be such a complete massacre that not a living man was left to relate what happened. Again, the means of communication with the world at large were very meagre. There was the pony express, a very slow method at its best. However, the news was finally forwarded to the country at large, and as usual, the newspapers went into glaring accounts of the disaster, calling upon imagination for what they lacked from authorative sources. The whole country was aroused.

When the other Indian tribes had learned of Sitting Bull’s successful annihilation of the hated pale-face command, their enthusiasm knew no bounds. They began to see at last the extermination of the white man. No more would the buffalo hunter deprive them of their means of subsistence. No more would the freighter and the settler occupy the lands that belonged to the Indian long before the white man had set his foot on American soil. The prophecy of the Messiah was coming true, and they were ready and willing to have a share in hastening the day of their deliverance from the white usurper. Naturally, they began to make their war medicine and prepare themselves to aid in freeing their beloved plains from the objectionable intruder. Herein, they reckoned without Uncle Sam. No sooner had the news of Custer’s defeat and annihilation been brought to him, than he began to make preparations for another expedition against them, determined to wipe out the stain of recent defeat. The purpose of the new expedition was probable more comprehensive than the former efforts of a like nature. The government began to realize that it was face to face with no common danger. The forts were put in proper condition to resist any attack that the Indian might contemplate making upon them. New forts were established at different points of vantage and men enlisted for the purpose of bringing the defense up to a proper footing, as well as to afford protection for the trade and commerce of that disturbed region.

The year of 1877 was but a repetition of the preceding years with very few exceptions. The Indian was becoming accustomed to the ways of the white man, especially in the art of making war. Whenever and wherever possible he discarded his primitive weapons, the bow and arrow, for the more up-to-date and efficient firearms. These they acquired, sometimes by barter and frequently by successful engagements in battle, as in the case of the Custer massacre where they obtained sufficient munitions of war to make them feel rather bold in their dealings with the boys in blue.

One thing noticeable about this time, was the change in the method of conducting warfare by the organized forces of Uncle Sam. The old army method of fighting was improved by adopting the strategy of the enemy while fighting on his native heath. Heretofore they had followed the tactics of civilized warfare acquired by experience in the years of the Great Rebellion, but they were glad to adopt the latter and improved method of bringing the battle to the Indians in the manner that was more conductive to personal safety and at the same time offered opportunities for personal initiative. The change seemed to be more agreeable to the men in the ranks, for they seemed to enjoy mounting a horse and scurrying over the plains in free-lance fashion. One great drawback to their success was their ignorance of the topography of the country in which they were operating. They were oftentimes compelled to rely upon the knowledge of scouts who were frequently as ignorant as themselves. Since so much depended on the accurate information given by the guide, one may imagine the plight of a body of men guided by an unreliable scout in an expedition through the mountains or over the plains. Happily, men of such character were the exception and not the rule. The rank and file of the scouts were composed of men whose knowledge of the plains seemed almost uncanny, whose personal courage was on a par with that of the bravest of men, and who could be relied upon to accomplish their undertakings with prudence and despatch. Such men as Ben Clark, Buffalo Bill, Amos Chapman, W. F. Brannan, Jack Stillwell, Billy Dixon, and others too numerous to mention filled all the requirements for a successful scout, and rendered service to the country that can not be properly estimated or fitly described within the limits of a short narrative. Some of them I am acquainted with personally, and I feel myself honored by it. They were the men that guided the U. S. troops through the most difficult and dangerous campaigns, blazing the highways for them, and making civilization possible on the western plains.

The summer of 1877 passed away in very much the same fashion as the preceeding seasons of Indian warfare. The first snow fall was a harbinger of peace, as the tribesmen do not favor the winter time as one fitted for the activities of warfare. They preferred to sit around the camp fire in their winter quarters and wait till the grass was green and the plains free from snow before taking the warpath again. They were never known to break the custom of generations, until General Phil. H. Sheridan arrived at the conclusion that it was not advantageous to allow the Indians to go into winter quarters to wait for another season of warfare. That looked too much like allowing the enemy to say when, where, and how they would fight, and that was contrary to the notions Sheridan had of conducting a successful campaign. He it was who ordered the winter campaign against the Kiowas, Comanches, and Cheyennes, which proved successful and paved the way to permanent peace with those tribes. Nelson A. Miles adopted the same plan and drove Sitting Bull through the snowbanks across the boundary into the Dominion of Canada, where he was quite willing to promise to behave himself in the future if permitted to return to the land of his fathers. I know for a certainty that he lived up to his promises, though I do not know how far he would have done so if he had not lost his power as a medicine man with the Sioux. He was shortly after his return shot and killed by the Indian police. His death removed one of the greatest leaders and warriors that ever led the Sioux tribe into battle, and conduced to the establishment of permanent peace with that nation.

CUSTER’S LAST BATTLE.

The 7th U. S. Cavalry, 700 men and 28 officers, 2 companies of the 17th U. S. Infantry, 1 company 6th U. S. Infantry—8 officers and 135 men; One Platoon of Gatling guns, 2 officers and 32 men, of the 20th U. S. Infantry and 40 Ree scouts, the 7th Cavalry being commanded by General Geo. A. Custer, and the expeditionary forces under command of Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry, at the sounding of the “general” at 5 o’clock in the morning of may 17th, 1876 proceeded to march to the camp of Sitting Bull in the Little Big Horn country, by 7 a. m. the 7th Cavalry was marching in column of platoons through the post and around the parade ground, of Fort A. Lincoln, the band mounted on white horses playing “Garry Owen” the Seventh’s battle tune, first used when this gallant regiment charged at the battle of Washita. The column halted just outside of the garrison and dismounted where their wives and members of the families came out and bid their husbands and fathers good bye, many of whom they would see no more, after the farewells, the signals “mount” and “forward” were sounded and the command headed by the Gallant Seventh, marched away the band playing “The Girl I Left Behind Me.”

The command proceeded until on the Rosebud, Indian trails were discovered June 19th. The mouth of the Rosebud was reached June 21st, where preparations were made for the battle that followed on the Little Big Horn June 25th and 26th, 1876.

The Indians attacked in this campaign were various Sioux tribes, also Northern Cheyennes and Arapahoes, the leading chiefs being Sitting Bull, Rain in the Face, Crow King, Low Dog, Big Road, Spotted Eagle and Little Horse of the Northern Cheyennes—Gall, Crow King, and Crazy Horse were the three ruling fighting chiefs; the total fighting strength of the combined Indian forces was 3000.

General Custer was ordered by General Terry to engage the Indians, reports from the Indian agencies leading him to believe that there were only about 800 bucks in the field.

General Crook had engaged Sitting Bull’s command before on June 17th and was badly defeated by the Indians, indeed glad to escape without total annihilation. General Gibbons was near, but the three commands operated independently of each other while had they co-operated together, attacking as a whole, the Custer massacre as it is called would never have occured.

On June 25th, 1876, the Indians were attacked by one battalion under Major Reno, consisting of Troop “M”; Captain French, Troop “A”; Captain Moylan, Troop “G”, Lieutenant McIntosh, the Indian scouts under Lieutenants Varnum and Hare and Interpreter Girard, Lieutenant Hodson acting adjutant, Doctors DeWolf and Porter Medical officers, this battalion marched down a valley that developed into a small tributary to the Little Big Horn, now called Sundance or Benteen’s Creek, where they reached the river, and crossing were routed by the Indians in great force and retreated across the river to the bluffs loosing three officers and 29 enlisted men killed, seven enlisted men and one officer wounded, one officer and fourteen enlisted men missing, the Ree scouts ran away and continued their flight until outside of the danger zone. Some Crow scouts remained with the troops.

The battalion commanded by General Custer, consisted of Troop, “I”, Captain Keogh, Lieutenant Porter, Troop “F”, Captain Yates, Lieutenant Relly; Troop “C”, Captain Tom Custer and Lieutenant Harrington; Troop “E”, Lieutenants Smith and Strugis, troop “L”, Lieutenants Calhoun and Crittenden; Lieutenant Cook was adjutant, Dr. G. E. Lord, Medical officer.

The third battalion was under Captain Benteen, the ranking captain of the Seventh Cavalry, consisted of Troop “H”, Benteen, captain, Lieutenant Gibson; Troop “D”, Captain Weir and Lieutenant Edgerly; and Troop “K”, Lieutenant Godfrey. The pack train was in command of Lieutenant Mathey, escorted by Troop “B”, Captain McDougall, this battalion was to proceed to the right and supposed to cut off Indians routed by Reno, but on coming into view of the Little Big Horn Valley succeeded in joining Reno on the hills where he was being engaged by the Indians; while Gall was leading the attack against Reno, Iron Cedar, one of his warriors, announced that more soldiers were coming, which was the battalion under General Custer, the Indians withdrawing from attack on Reno concentrated on Custer, who never forded the river but being attacked by overwhelming forces made his stand on a ridge where he and every one of his command went down to defeat, not one man escaped to tell the tale—212 bodies were buried on the battle field, all stripped and mutilated except General Custer who was shot in the temple and left side. The bodies of Dr. Lord and Lieutenant Porter, Harrington and Sturgis were never found, at least not recognized, the clothing of Lieutenant Porter and Sturgis was found in the debris, and showed they had been killed. The total killed of the entire command was 265, wounded 52. Little plots of wild sun flowers mark the graves of those resting here who died on that memorable June 25th, 1876, no one will ever know the heroic death they met or the terrible scenes enacted but they attest the services of the Gallant Seventh Cavalry who did more to clear the country in the early days from Mexico to Canada than almost all the other regiments combined. “Garry Owen” can not awake them to glory again, and the girls they left behind will mourn until death shall enable them let us hope, to join their departed dead never seen after that fatal parting, May 17, 1876, at old Fort Abraham Lincoln on the banks of the historical Missouri River.

GENERAL H. M. CREEL.