Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1854-09-27
FROM THE PLAINS.

FROM THE PLAINS.
Authentic Details ofthe Battle al Sarpys Point
Defeat ofhe Troops from Fort Laramie
Government goods Captured-Bordeau's store
Pillaged
SARry's PoINT, Nebraska Territory, }
miles east of Fort Laramie,
August 81, 1854.
Editor of the Missouri Republican:
SIR: An affair has happened here between
the soldiers and the Indians, which ought to be
properly noticed by the United States Govern
ment. Having been an eyewitness to the bat
tie, consider it my duty to furnish strict ac-
count Oft and its causes In the first place, on
the 18th of August train of Mormons passed
this place. The Indians, who were encamped
here waiting for their payment from Govern.
ment, had no provisions, and were of course
anxious for something to eat As the Mormons
were passing, lame cow, belonging to a man
in the rear of the Mormon train, become fright
ened and ran into the Indian camp. The Nor
mon left the cow behind, and so one of the In
dians, Mnnecosha, shot it down, and with his
companions, ate it up. The Mormons then
went to the Fort and reported that the Indians
had killed one of their cows. On the 10Th,
about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Lieut. Grattan
with command of twenty-seven soldiers, and
Auguste Lucien, interpreter, arrived here to ar
rest the Indian who had killed the COW. ac-
cOrdngly sent for the chiefs TO 90 with the
Lieut.. and make the arrest. They accompanied
him, but the Indian was not willing to give him.
self up, saying that he would die first. While
the BearChief of the Wazazies was standing
with three other chiefs, the Little Thunder, the
Big Partizan and the Man who is afraid of his
Horses, among the soldiers, the Lieutenant Or
dered his men to fire. They did so, and wound
ed the Bear Chief and his brother. But Que
round was fired, when the Indians in turn charg-
ed, and succeeded IN routing the soldiers, and
killing all of them with the exception of one
private, who is not expected to recover. Lieut.
Grattan and two of his men were killed while
standing by their cannon, the Lieut. receiving
twenty-four arrows, one of which passed thro'
his head. AS soon as the soldiers saw their
commander fall, they took to flight, but were all
killed within half a mile Of this place. The Og-
alallah camp was about one mile distant, and
white man named Seyfroy lott was staying
there at the time. Being Sioux interpreter,
the chiefs requested him to stay between the
camps to prevent the young men from charging
on the soldiers but he could not succeed, and
barely escaped with his life.
AT my house, we were placed in bad situa-
tion. There were with me, Mr.. Antoine Rey-
nal and Mr.. Samuel Smith, with five others, and
all we could do was to stay in the house, and
try to keep the Indian out. AS Mr.. r. was
standing in the doorway Of the house, an Indian
rushed on him, and tried to kill him, when an
other Indian, the Quick Bear, tried to kill the
first Indian for rushing on a white man-but
some one caught Quick Bears gun, and its con-
tents went into the wall of the house. BY this
| t,s,.n I,1 l.
who tried to force their way in, but some of my
friends, the Quick Bear and others, stopped
them. After the battle, the Chiefs came in my
house, and said that as the young men had kill
ed all the soldiers that had come to fight them,
they would now 60 and slaughter the rest of
the soldiers at The Fort, burn all the houses,
and kill all the whites on the river; but told
the Chiefs to stop them from so doing-assu-
ring them that since the soldiers had commenc-
ed the quarrel it would be overlooked by Gov
ernment. But they then rushed in the house,
and demanded Of me to give them everything
they wanted. To save our lives, gave them
every thing had in my store, to the amount of
two thousand dollars.
The next day they went to the post of the
American Fur Company, took all the goods that
were sent to them by Government and pillaged
the store. The situation of the traders and of
Fort Laramie is perilous in the extreme. was
requested by the Commander of the Fort to
bury the dead soldiers, since he had not men
enough to detach party for that service, and
succeeded in doing so.
As far as | know anything about Indians,
think that our Government ought to send five
hundred mounted men, veteran troops, to keep
the Indians in subjection; and one company of
| infantry to guard the Fort The Indians, in the
recent battle, after killing all the soldiers, broke
their cannon to pieces, and carried off their
muskets and animals. AS for placing the in
fantry on prairie to fight with Indians, it is
just the same as putting them up as targets to
be shot at There were about one thousand
Indians in the battle.
Yours truly, JAMES BORDEAU,
Per SAMUEL SMITH.