The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-03-14
The Montana Butchery.

| The "PleSan massacre, as IL Is Caueu,
has awakened the sluggish sympathies OF
the Northern people, and the leading press
es denounce with tremendous energy the
last exploit OF '.Fighting Phil Sheridan" as
one which, in after years, will be likened to
the massacre of Glencoe or the butchery OF
the Sicilian Vespers. And there is in bald
statement OF the facts enough to stir the soul
and quicken the pulse Of any man not made
of iron, while the lash of public Indignation
would assuredly lay bare the hide OF any save
the pachydermatous crew to which our
"Smoky Caesar and his bold lieutenants be-
long.
A few words tell the whole horrible story
About two hundred Indians were lying in
camp. The smallpox was upon them, so
that many died every day. Their weakness
was Sheridan's opportunity. A force OF SOL
diery was poured upon them. They pleaded
in vain cur mercy. The soldiers hacked d and
hewed till their arms were weary and their
sabres dull. And when the bloody work
was done, only .forty-sir cf the band were
left alive One HUNDRED AND sEvENTY-THREE
Piegan Indians were murdered in cold blood.
OF the whole number, beggarly fifteen were
fighting men and might resist. NINETY OF
the slain were weak and sickly women, and
FIFTY OF THEM WERE CHILDREN LESS TEAM
TWELVE YEARS OLD. This is the piteous tale
of butchery, ordered by Sheridan, approved
by Sherman, and countenanced by Grant.
Who are the actors in this sanguinary
drama? Grant the Butcher, the hero OF the
slaughter-pens of Spottsylvania and Cold
Harber, is the head and front Of the merci-
less band. 1t was Sherman, now command
ing the armies of the Union, who trailed like
venomous serpent across this Southern
land; whose cohorts blackened with burning
finger our altars and our homes dinting the
stones of our capitol, and scorching with
fiery breath the generous heart Of the chief
city of our State. And Phil Sheridan, last
of the three in rank, and first in infamy and
shame, is the hero Of the Valley Of Virginia.
1t was he who rode roughshod through the
garden of the "Old Dominion" who ravaged
and destroyed, who laid the homesteads in
ashes, who Knocked at the weak and insulted
the feeble, who made the brutal boast that if
bird would fly across the ruined Valley it
must carry its own provisions, for Of food or
shelter for man or bird there was none. !,
These are the men who stand before the
nation as the authors and apologists of the
massacre Of well nigh two hundred unarmed
redskins. And the journalists CT the North,
in blaming and abusing them, only stultify
and condemn themselves. By their butche-
ry, by their rapine, by their blood -guiltiness
in this Southern land, Grant and Sherman
and Sheridan won money and rank and fame.
These were their claims upon the Northern
press, which bounded them on to more
havoc and destruction. AS their conduct
became dark, their fortunes became
bright. They were measured out reward
and honour as they gave shame and sorrow
and suffering 10 the defenceless women and
children of the South. What wonder if they
were eager to prove that time had not
blunted their appetite? What wonder if they
were eager to prove their readiness for
another sanguinary carnival?
The North trained up these military tigers,
teaching them to harry and devour. Now
they demand their reward, and receive in
stead anger and condemnation. What was
right for the white man and white woman
OF the South, is wrong for the coppcr-colorcd
Indians OF the West. The Indian is more
than the paleface of the South. New York
and Boston could laugh and applaud when
Southern horles were disgraced, and
Southern hearts were broken, but an injury
done the poor Indian stirs up the whole brood
OF Pharisaical writers, who know not where to
end their outbursts of Puritanical indigna
ton. The bloody work in Montana cannot
be palliated or excused, but no less infamous
and no less atrocious was the conduct OF
Sheridan and Sherman during the Confede-
rate war.
What n Hundred Dollars i'm PAPER is