The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1876-08-05

X correspondent with Gen. Crooks
expedition, writing from the camp on
South Tongue river, Wy. T., July %,
says:
Our thin-ribbed horses and melan-
choly mules having deyoured all the
forage around Camp Cloud Peak, we
have been making gradual marches to
the stream, about fourteen miles fur
ther north, since Thursday morning,
July 16. The heat has been intense,
and the air and earth are full of enor-
nous grasshoppers, moving down like
a sand-cloud to lay waste Nebraska and
Kansas They have eaten up every
thing in these endless fields, already
burned brown as moorland by the July
sun, 50 that the country, or wilderness,
has changed the verdant hue which has
greeted oaf eyes on the march To Rose
bud for n closely approaching butter
nut-a fatal color for 'sboys in blue"
Moreover, our eyer-attentiye friend,
Sitting Bull, has been busy burning up
the grass for miles north, east and west
of us, for some reason pregnant with
Indian deyiltry- He may think that he
al starve out our horse-desh-no very
difficult matter, seeing that ouranimals,
entirely without grain for months, are
half-starved already But his own
ponies have stomachs, too, and we car
stand the destruction of horse rations
about as well as the Sioux leader. In
dams never do anything without an
object, and, no doubt, before you read
this we shall have solved the problem
BY some disagreeable process.
Z Our Snakes, who scout the country
every dag, report that the mountains are
all on fire down by the North Tongue
river, and that-the Sioux are going to
defend themselves in those tremendous
ranges full of rcanons, boulders and
woods, where an army would be melted
away in useless efforts to dislodge them.
If it comes down to bushwhacking, I
am willing to bet ten to one that the
Sioux will give us the best whipping
ever a command of this kind got. If
we can get a fair, sta~nd-up-fght out of
them, away from any trees, why then /
think we have some show of success,
although the Indians must number at
least double our present force, and that
is q very moderate estimate Of their
strength
Four Crow Indians came through via
the Big Horn mountains and Ash creek,
from Terry's command, two days ago.
They report the Sioux still in the neigh
borhood of Little Big Horn river, with
hunting parties down on Tongue river
and among the mountains. The Crows
report numerous Sioux dead in the
country through which they passed
the savages, doubtless, fell before the
rifles of Major Reno and his men.
Judging by such reports as we have
seen, Clusters troops could not have
done much slaughter hemmed in and
confused Is they were. Besides, the.
cavalry carbine, in many cases, proved
q treacherous arm 1t appears that the
ejector often failed to throw out the
shell of the exploded cartridge, and,
being unprovided with ramrods, the
soldiers were virtually disarmed- A
word on this subject: The government
cavalry carbine is a very delicate
weapon, easily injured, and once dam
aged, hard to repair. 1t has but nj
shell ejector, which often fails to work,
and leaves the soldier at the mercy OF
his enemy. The official dolts who got
up the arm failed to have ramrods pro-
vided, a great oversight. Even if the
shell of the infantry soldier should
stick, he has still his iron wand where
with to pull it out.
Furthermore, short arms in Indian
warfare are entirely inefficient. The
long infantry rife is the thing to lift
the Indian of his feet, wherefore the
Sioux dread the "walk-a-heaps,' ter
ribly armed and uncmbarrassed by
scary horses, much more than they do
our snowy cavalry. Had the latter
1.-THE long riHe,'' they would be twice
more effective than they are. It is OBJ
jected that the infantry gnn would be
ssunhandy.n / don't think 30, Gen.
Crook always carries n on his saddle,
and surely any trooper can do the same.
The carbine is a pretty weapon, but
compared with the musket of the foot
it is a mere military toy, excellent for
dress parade, but damnable for active
service.