The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-10-21

alarms and the continued firing Of the
pickets. During the night cavalry pick
ct, being taken for an Indian by his BROTH
or sentinel, received a shot in the face,
much to his ohagrin and disgust at the un-
certainty Of military affairs
At daybreak on the 9Th the camp was
astir, hasty breakfast partaken, and the
command was ready to move, for no tents
had been erected and the horses were sad
died at twelve o'clock at night. Again
we crossed the Little Missouri, which, by
the by, is big river in a wet time, but
don't amount to much now, taking up a
deep gulch, down which torrents of water
must roll during the rainy season of the
year. Indians immediatelyEmade their APP
pearance in numbers, occupying the buttes
and other places along the route for the
purpose, no doubt, Of firing on our train
and creating confusion in order to get pos
session of some Of our horses andcattle. A
sufficient number of men were dismount-
ed and thrown out on either side as skirm
ishers, and Notwithstanding the Indians
sent US word that they were the same ones
who fought at Sahpahakuta with REIN
forcement Of 500 lodges, and that they in
tended to kill every one Of us, it proved
an easy task to drive them from hill to hill
like flock Of sheep before q wolf On
the right every nook and orevice was liter
ally alive with Indians, and quite sharp
skirmish took place, but it was of short
duration on our side; they left, we could
not get respectable shot. The batteries
had fine opportunity ; worked hard, and
must have done considerable execution.
They lowered round Us all day and we had
to out our way through the enemy as we'll
as the hills. The only one hurt on our
side during the march was our Blackfoot
Indian scout, who was shot through the
shoulder with sball. Late In the evening
we camped, surrounded on all sides by
immense buttes, our only supply Of water
being small pond which was soon stirred
to mud by both men and animals, and in
consequence many of the former went
breakfastless tho next morning. The
fighting kept up lively till after sunset
and %. G, I'd MINI. Cavalry succeeded in
getting five or six Of their men wounded,
mostly with arrows--none, we believe,
dangerously. No one doubted but that
the Indians would attack us during the
night; but in this We were disappointed,
for the cowardly soamps never came near
until sunrise on the morning Of the 9th,
when they showed themselves in greater
numbers than We had seen before, made
dash in body of two or three hundred
strong at the rear of our camp, vel ed,
danced and performed all sorts of gymnas-
tics on the hills around us, making such
demonstrations as to lead novice in In
dian character to believe they were happy
as clans Our howitzers, which they say
threw rotten balls around the hills, soon
made them skedaddle, and by twelve
O'Clock not one of the rascals was to be
seen. Thus ended the great battles of the
Little Missouri. These Indians are GER
tainly the most cowardly, contemplate foe
against which white man can pit his
strength. They are armed mostly with
spears, bows and arrows, and other bar
barous weapons, few having guns. Posi-
bly, this may account for their want of
pluck. They seem to have no regular sys-
tenn of warfare whatever, and go yelling
about more like SO many lunatics let out of
an asylum than the braves of warlike ma
ton, as they boastingly call themselves
That there was large body of them OPP
posed to US, no one with the expedition
ought to dispute; yet we hear it esti-
mated at from 70 to 1000, and the num-
Der killed at from so to $50. 1t is safe to
say no one can give either number cor
rectly and there will be nearly as many
opinions as there are men in the expedi-
ton.
On the 10th and 18th new difficulty
arose in the shape of no feed for the
animals, the grasshoppers having taken
everything on the district over which our
route lay; and at Fort Union few weeks
since they came in swarms 30 thick that
they darkened the air, filled the houses,
got into the victuals and were as likely
to prove as great plague as those of
Egypt in the ds, 8 of Pharaoh's obstinacy.
On the 18th we reached the banks of
the Yellowstone, thirty-five miles above
here, and fortunately for us the boats
which had been sent round to connect
with the land forces at the mouth of the
Big Horn could not get up the river any
further than the point where we reached
1t, making the singular coincidence of two
branches of an expedition meeting when
neither could progress any further, and
when for one branch at least, it was highly
important they should meet or great loss
and much suffering ensue
In consequence of the low water in the
Yellowstone, the scarcity of feed, the late
ness of the season, as we'll as other things
combined, the project of establishing
post at the Big Horn was abandoned. So
the expedition crossed the Yellowstone,
followed down it's west bank to its mouth,
crossed the Missouri, and to-day finds us
making preparations for the homeward
move, which, after continuous march Of
1000 miles or over, is not disagreeable
task.
The health Of the whole command has
been and is extraordinarily good. The
steamer Alone is hospital transport for the
command, and on her all our sick, num-
bering perhaps $50, are to be sent down
the River to Fort Rice, where the expedi-
ton will probably arrive about the 9Th OF
September.
Yours truly, A b.