The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-12-06

the fire of the besieged and preparing
the way for the assaulting column.
Seeing that the little garrison was
stunned by the heavy fire of the dis
mounted Indians, and rightly judging
that now, if ever, was the proper time
to charge them, Roman Nose and his
band of mounted warriors, with wild,
ringing war-whoop, echoed by the wo-
men and children on the hills, started
forward. On they came, presenting
even to the brave men awaiting the
charge a most superb sight. Brandish-
ing their guns, echoing hack the cries
of encouragement of their women and
children on the surrounding hills, and
confident of victory, they rode bravely
and recklessly to the assault. Soon
they were within yange of the rifles of
their friends, and of course the dis
mounted Indians had to slacken their
fire for fear of hitting their own war
riors. This was the opportunity fol. the
scouts, and they were not slow to seize
it. "NOw." shouted Forsyth. "Now,p
echoed Beecher, Mccall, and Grover;
and the scouts, springing to their knees
and casting their eyes cOOlly along the
barrels of their rifles, opened on the ad-
vanciHg savages as deadly fire as the
same number Of men ever yet sent
forth from an equal number of rides.
Unchecked, undaunted, on dashed the
warriors; steadily rang The clear, sharp
reports of the rifles of the frontiers
men. Roman Nose, the chief is seen
to fall dead from his horse, then Medi-
cine Man is killed, and for an instant
the column of braves, now within ten
feet of the scouts, hesitates--f -falters. A
ringing cheer from the scouts, who
perceive the effect of their well-direct-
ed fire, and the Indians begin to break
and scatter in every direction, unwill-
ing to rush to q hand-to-hand struggle
with the men who, although outnum-
bered, yet knew how to make such ef-
fective use of their rifles. A few more
shots from the frontiersmen and the
Indians are forced back beyond range,
and their first attacks ends in defeat.
Forsyth turns to Grover anxiously and
inquiries, "Can they do better than
that, Grover "I have been on the
Plains; General, since boy, and never
saw. such charge as that before. /
thiik they have done their level best"
was the reply. All right" responds
d" Sandy" then we are good for
them"
So close did the advance warriors of
the attacking column come in the
charge, that several of their dead
bodies now lay within few feet of the
The scouts had also
suffered a heavy loss in this attack.
The greatest and most irreparable was
hot 1f xryhD
mOrtally wounded, and died at sunset
of that day. He was one of the most
reliable and efficient officers doing duty
on the Plains. Modest. energetic, and
ambitious in his profession, had he
lived he undoubtedly would have had
a brilliant future before him; and had
opportunity such as is offered by a
great war ever have occurred, Lieuten-
ant Beecher would have without doubt
achieved great distinction.
The Indians still kept up continuous
fire from their dismounted warriors;
but as the scouts by this time were we'll
covered by their miniature earth works,
it did little execution. At two o'clock
in the afternoon the savages again at
tempted to carry the island by
mounted charge, and again at sunset;
but having been deprived OF their best
and most fearless leader by the fall OF
Roman Nose, they were not SO daring
or impulsive as in the first charge, and
were both times replused with heavy
losses. AT dark they ceased firing,
and withdrew their forces for the
night. This gave the little garrison
on the island an opportunity to take a
breathing spell, and Forsyth to review
the situation and sum up how he had
Jared. The result was not consoliHg.
His trusted Lieutenant Beecher was
lying dead by his side; his surgeon,
Movers, was mOrtally wounded; two of
his men killed, four mOrtally wound
ed, four severely, and ten slightly.
Here, out of total of fifty-One, were
twenty-three killed and wounded.
His own condition, his right thigh
fearfulIy lacerated, and his left leg
badly broken, only rendered the other
discouraging circumstances doubly so.
AS before stated, the Indians had kill
ed all of his horses early in the fight.
His supplies were exhausted, and
there was no way of dressing the
wounds of himself or comrades, as the
medical stores had been captured by
the Indians. He was about one hum
dred and ten miles from the nearest
post, and the savages were all around
him. The outlook could scarcely have
been less cheering. But FOrsyth's
disposition and pluck incline him to
speculate more upon that which ia, or
may be gained, than to repine at tnat
which is irrevOcably lost. This pre-
dominant trait in his character now
came in good play. Instead of wasting
time in vain regrets over the advan.
ges gained by his enemies, he quietly
set about looking up the chances i'm his
favor And, let the subject be what it
may, will match g Sandy" "against
an equal number" for making a favor
able showing of the side which he es-
pOuses or advocats. To his credit ac-
count he congratulated himself and
comrades, first upon the fact that they
had beaten off their foes; second. water
could be had inside their intrenchment
by digging few feet below the surface;
then for food "horse and mule meat"
to use Sandy's expression, "was lying
around loose in any quantity" and
last, but most important of all, he had
plenty of ammunition. Upon these
circumstances and facts Forsyth built
high hopes of successfully eontending
against renewed assaults OF he sava-
ges.
Two men. Trudeau and Stillwell,
both good scouts, and familiar with
the Plains, were selected to endeavOr
to make their way through the Gordon
of Indians and proceed to Fort Wal
lace, one hundred and ten miles dis
tant, and report the condition of
Forsyth and party, and act as guides
to the troops which would be at once
sent to the relief of the besieged scouts.
1t was a perilous mission, and called
for the display Of intrepid daring, cool
Judgment, and unfiinching resolution,
besides thorough knowledge of the
country, as much of their journey
would necessarily be made during the
darkness of night, to avoid discovery
by wandering bands Of Indians, who,
no doubt, would be on the alert to i'll
tercept Just such parties going for re-
lief. FOrsyth's selection of the two
men named was a judiciOus one. Still
well I afterwards knew well, having
employed him as a scout with my COM
mand for long period. At the time
referred to, however, he was mere
beardless boy of perhaps nineteen
wears, possessing a trim, 1.-THE figure
which was set off to great advantage
by the jaunty suit of buckskin which
he wore, cut and fringed according to
the true style of the frOntiersman. In
his waist belt he carried large-sized
revolver and hunting knife. These,
Il