Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-08-26
YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION.
The Uneapapas Indians Attack onr
Troops and are Badly Defeated
In Two Warm Sk;rmlshes.
Oar loss Fonr Killed and Twenty
HOunded-Indian Loss Forty
Kiiled-All from North
ern Pacific.

1 NEW YORK, August 25.--The follow
ing dispatch is published this morning
/ from the Yellowstone expedition.
MussEIL SHELL RIVER, August %.
The abundant preparation which the
/ Yellowstone expedition made for the re-
ception of the Indians has been fully
justified, and the prediction of Bloody
| Knife that we should meet with saw
ages IN the vicinity Of Tongue river,
/ proved correct. The Indians were dis
covered for the first time about August
! lst, watching our movements and
prOwling around the camp at night.
! No overt act took place, however, until
August 4th. General CusraT with
! Bloody Knife and a squadron OF cavalry
had been detailed by General Stanley to
| go eli and look up the road. Having
got about ten miles ahead they halted
aud picketed their horses in a wood by
| the river to wait for the train. Two
| hours afterward
SIX INDIANS APPEARED
on the plain, and made demonstration
toward their camp. 4 dismOunted line
of skirmishers was thrown out, and the
horses saddIed, and the Indians were
keasily driven of, but they proved to be
decoy of a large party in the neighbOr-
ing wood who were waiting in ambush
for the cavalry. Finding the Tuse had
failed, the Indians, to the number Of
two hundred, boldly rOie out and ad-
vanced on the grove occupied by the
cavalry. General Custar had only one
squadron Of eighty men under rcOmmand
OF Captain Maylen, one troop COM
manded by Lieutenant Custsr and the
other by Lieutenant Van Tum. The
men were again dismOunted and ex-
tended their line in a semi-circle around
the cavalry, who had the river at their
back, and rapid firing was kept up at
q distance of four hundred yards. While
thus engaged with General Custar in
front, another party of Indians crswled
along behind and under the river bank,
and tried to
STAMPEDE HIS HORSES,
but this scheme was frustrated. The
Indians fired the grass in several places,
but failed to burn out the cavalry. Cen
eral Custer deferred the charge, perceiv-
ing that the main command would soon
come UP and assist in capturing the In
dians. After a three-hours fight his
ammunition gave out, and he then
charged upon the Indians, who precipi-
lately fed, dropping many of their
equipments. After retreating several
miles they took TO the bad lands. One
man slightly wounded in the arm and
one horse wounded formed the extent
of General Clusters loss. While the
fight was going On several Indians left
the war party in search of stragglers,
and, coming upon DR.. Honsinger, vet
erinary- surgeon, and Mr.. Ballain, cav
airy sutler, who were less than a mile
from the column
THEY KILLED THEM,
and took their horses and valuables.
Private John Ball of the cavalry, while
out hunting, met a similar fate. In this
fight two Indians were killed and sew
eral ponies captured.
On the eighth of August, four days
after the fight at Tongue river, We came
upon the site of the recent Indian viii
lage. Stanley directed Custar TO take
his cavalry, numbering four hui dred and
fifty men, and follow and punish the In
diaRS. Custar started on the night OF
the eighth, and at sgndOwn on the
ninth, after a march of forty miles, ar
rfved at the place where the Indians had
crossed the river twenty-fOur hours be-
fore, taking over their families on boats
and RATS. Next day he attempted to
cross the Yellowstone, which at that
point is four hundred and fifty yards
wide, where the current was too swift
aud deep to swim horses and men, and
so the attempt to cross had to be aban-
doned for the want of axes and rope.
At evening his camp was discovered by
the Indians, and at daylight on the
morning Of the eleventh he was at
tackled by
EIGHT HUNDRED INDIANS
The firing was then returned tor two
or three hours, both parties using trees
as a cover. a party of three hundred
Indians then crossed the river above and
below our camp and endeavored to gain
the bluffs in our rear, when our men
We're dismouuted and posted on the
bluffs and received them bravely. The
Indians behind the ridges kept up the
fire, when General Custar ordered
charge and our men then mounted and
pursued them boldly for eight miles.
Just at this time a train came up and
opened on the Indians across the river
with artillery. A few shots dispersed
them and ended the fight. This battle,
which took place within two miles OF
Big HON, wss a fierce one. General
Custar and Adjutant Ketcham had their
horses shot under them. Lieutenant
Braden was badly shot in his thigh and
private Tuttle, General Custar's orderly,
was killed and twenty soldiers were
slightly wounded. We had four
i,oTses killed and three wounded. The
Ind,9n loss is estimated by General
Custar At
FORTY KILLED AND WOUNDED.
The Indians were well armed with
heavy rifles, and had an abundance of
ammunition. Some were dressed in
clothes procured at agencies. These were
mainly Uncapapas, supposed TO be un-
der the command Of Sitting-Bull, and
also supposed to have received their
supplies from Fort Peck, on the MissOu-
ri, a famous trading-post for tIGians
and an infamous one for whites. The
expedition arrived at Pompey's Pillaron
the fifteenth instant and reached Mus
sci Shell on the nineteenth, homeward
bound. General Stanley expects to
reach Fort Rice by the first of October.
! The health of the command is good.
Lieutenant Braden is getting on well.
THE CHOLERA.