The Morning herald., 1876-07-17
r,,. alauehtor Of the Seventy Covs
-" nlPys

046Js
1,outenant John Garland, Of company B
o,x,h infantry, with General Gibbon's COM
o s".ud. writes as follows concerning the
n.1anohter of the Seventh cavalry and Gen
s.sS Custer. The letter is dated mouth ol
eis .hs little Horn river, June 29, and after
nreliminaries proceeds as follows:
Major Reno was to attack the encmy in
.hs rsar while Custer fought them In front
Th;s s1J would have worked all right, as Reno
,.sa hmi' oot In their rear; but General Custer,
n"u i""rchinp down on the other side, saw what
ha smnposed was the front of the camp and
,n.de nv q charge on them, the Indians giving
way and letting him right In the gap.
The brave man rode In with his 300 men,
and would have killed the whole 4, 900 Sioux.
helieye, If there had been no enemy behind
him. m But instead of charging the front he
was right in the center of between 3, 900 and
A 0OA Sioux. Those that were behind him
1snt ru1 concealed until he was right in their
midst. and then, when 1t was too late, he
made made bold dash, trying to cut through
,hem. But the enemy were too many. He
fell about the first one, and the horses be-
coming unmanageable the poor soldiers
wore cut down in less time than it takes to
tell it.
hattie ground and see the poor fellows,
came of them with their entrails cut out,
others with their eyes dug out and hearts
laid across their faces. They even stopped
to cut their pockets to get their money and
watches.
The most fearful sight was Colonel Cook
He was splendid looking man, with long
dark whiskers. They dug his face all out
50 As to get his fine beard, it is supposed
Tbey did not disfgure General Custer in any
way, but his brother Tom Custer was open.
! ed and his heart taken out.
The wounded are now on the boat, and
will start for Fort Buford tomorrow. We
estimate the loss of the enemy at 500,
though it is hard to tell how many were
killed, as they carried most of them away.
Some of ours claim that Sitting Bull was
killed, as he is known by some, and an In
dian answering his description was found
dead; but no doubt this is false, as they
would have tried to carry him along.
General Terry and the remaining officers
ire feeling very badly. l was standing by
/ General Custer when General Terry came
up, aud as he looked down upon the noble
general the tears coursed down his face as
he said: "The flower Of the army gone at
last"
Custer was supposed to be the first one
who died, but though he fell first, we found
seventeen cartridge shell by his side, where
he had kept them off until the last mo-
ment.
These can no blame be attached to any
one for this fearful slaughter. If Custer
had had the whole regiment it would only
have been worse, as the Sioux were too
many. OF course there will be some blame
by eastern papers, but as an eye witness of
the whole battle, cannot censure any one.
There is one poor Crow Indian on the boat
who has five shots through him yet he is
happy because he has nine scalps at his side.
This is true statement of General Custsr's
brave charge. These Sioux were all from
some ..agency, as we found camp equip
ments that bad never been used, also blank
cts that were new and branded "U. s. In
dian Department.