Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-04-25

having 10 snONtl passages LOT lne |
wagons through snowdrlfts, from seven |
TO ten feet In depth. II was intensely |
cold the whole time. As for the road, 1t |
was totally undlstinguishabe and but |
for our three excellent guides we should |
In all probability have been lost, showed |
in and persisted. After arriving here we
were greeted by nine of the heartiest |
cheers ever heard, Since the day of
the massacre, no one had dared to go |
outside the stockade until our arrival.
The scout who brought the dispatch |
from Gen Darlington to Gen. Palmer re-
ceved 81 200.
For some time previous TO the massa-
ere the indians were prowling around |
the post, barely out of rifle range, and
troops had several pretty sharp skirm- |
ishes with chem, which did not amount
10 much. On the particular day OF the
slaughter wood train went out with a
small guard, and when about three
miles from the fort were attacked by the
Indians, whom after brisk skirBlsh,
they routed. The troops at the Fort
hearing the firing, detachment of nine
ty-iour men and officers were ordered
out by Gen. Darlington, under the com
mand of Lieut. Col. FetleTman, to 60
out as far as the Crests of the bluffs to
reconnoitre, but not to 60 beyond them,
as he had reason to believe that the In
dams were in large force on the other
side. Col. Fetterman and his command
proceeded to the bluffs, and Immediately
became engaged with about fifty Indians,
who of course retreated. In their ardor,
our troops charged, driving them over
the bluff into the hollow, and out OF
sight OF the garrison, which was against
positive orders. As soon as they were
in the hollow, the fight became general
and terrific, as those at the garrison
could tell by the ceaseless roll Of mus
kerry, which lasted about two hours.
When the firing had ceased about two
hours, and no signs of the troops re-
turning, the general sent out thirty men
and five ambulanCes TO ascertain the re-
suit of the battle But imagine their
horror on gaining the top of the bluff,
and on going down in the valley, to find
the still warm, bleeding and mutilated
remains Of ninety-fOur of their comrades,
all sCalped, and cut and mutilated in the
most shocking and revolving and inhu-
man manner.
Not one solitary man who went out
armed to the teeth few hours before
was left to tell the tale, or how it oc-
CURED. Lieut.. Col. Fetterman, Captain
Brown and three other officers were
among the killed. Even of twenty-seven
cavaliymen, well armed with Spencer
seven-shOoters, and brace Of TevOlvers,
and well mounted, not one individual
escaped to give an account of how 1t
occurred but it is supposed that after
our troops crossed the bluff they We're
surrounded by 1000 or 5000 warriors,
and so maSsaCred at once.
No trace of the Indians, except strag-
glers, has been seen since the massacre.
All the murdered men were stripped to a
state of total nudity, and cut, and even
quartered, and mutilated in the most
barbarouS and shameful manner imagin-
able. There was one old guide and
trapper who was dead Shot, and
whom the Indians all knew well, and
he was found scalped and two hundred
and fifty-siX arrows sticking in his
DUuJ. 1uclG WAS uOI d undu Duu hHN
from thirty to one hundred arrows re-
naming in his body when found. 1t
seems that they vented their barbarous
| hatred on the lifeless bodies Of our men
by shooting arrows into them. One In
dian arrow, on calm day, will do the
business at $50 to 200 yards as etfectual-
| ly as a Minnie rifle ball. The Indians
must have suffered a terrible loss also,
as there were about seventy of their po-
MES found dead and struggling about
the battle ground, but as the Indians
invariably carry off their dead, the loss
could only be guessed at. 1t is estim-
ated, however, that they lost at least
five hundred warriors in killed and
wounded. Had they not been crippled
they would have assaulted the garrison
the same evening, which was very weak,
The battlefield is only three miles from
the fort on the opposite side of the bluff,
| which faces it on the west.