Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-08-30

sent Dack WOru, Dy Lieut.. hare, ina
he could 60 no further, and that tn,
Indians were getting around him. Al
this timo he was keeping up a heavy
fire from his skirmish line. ] ut once
turned everything back TO the first
position | had taken on the bluff, and
which seemed 10 me the best. dis
mounted the men, had the horses and
mules Of the pack train driven together
in o depression, put tho men on the
crests of the hills making depression,
and had hardly done SO when ! was
furiously attacked. This was about {
p. m. We held our ground with the
loss of eighteen enlisted men killed and
forty.six wounded until the attack
ceased, about 0 p. m.
As | knew, by this time, their over
whelming numbers, and had given up
any support from the portion of the
regiment with Custer, I had the men
dig rife pits barricaded with dead
horses, mules, and boxes of hard bread,
the opening of the depression toward
tho Indians in which the animals were
herded, and made every exertion to be
ready for what l saw would be q ter
rife assault the next day. All this
night the men were busy, and the In
dians holding scalp dance underneath
us in the bottom, and in our hearing
On the morning of the 26th, / felt con-
fident that 1 could hold my own, and
was ready as far as / could be, when,
at daylight, about 2:30 a. M, ! heard
the crack OF two rifles; this was the
signal for the beginning of fro that
| have never seen equallcd. Every
rife was handled by an expert and
skilled marksmaD, and with range
that exceeded our carbine, and ii was
simply impossible to show any part
of the body before it was struck. We
could see, as the day frightened, count.
less hordes of them pouring up the val
ley from out of the village, and scamp
ering over the high points toward the
places designated for them by their
chiefs, and which entirely surrounded
our position. They had sufficient num-
bers to completely encircle us, and men
were struck on opposite sides of the
lines, from which the shots were fred.
| think we were fighting all the Sioux
nation, and also all the desperadoes,
rencgadcs, halfbreeds, and squaw men,
between the Missouri and the Arkan-
sas and east of the Rocky Mountains
they must have numbered at least
$500 warriors. The fire did not slack
en- until about $50 n. m, and then we
discovered that they were making a
last desperate attempt, and which was
directed against the line held by Com
panies II and NJ in this attack they
charged close enough to use their bows
and arrows, and one man, lying dead
within our lines, was touched by the
Hcoup stick" Of one OF tho foremost In
dians. When l say the stick was only
about ten or twelve feet long, some
idea of the desperate and reckless fight
ing Of these people may be understood.
This charge Of theirs was gallantly re-
pulsed by the men on that line, led by
Col. BentecD. They also came close
enough TO send their arrows into the
line held by Co.'S d and X, but were
driven away by q like charge Of the
line, which l accompanied. We now
had many wounded, and the question
of water was vital, as from p. m. Of
the previous evening until now, 10 a. m.
(about sixteen hours) we had been
without. ... N
A skirmish line was formed, under
Col. Benteen, to protect tho descent of
volunteers down the hill IN front OF his
position TO reach the water. We sue
ceeded in getting some canteens, al
though many Of the men were hit in
doing so; the fury of tho attack was
now over, and to my astonishment the
Indians were seen going in parties to,
ward tho village. But two solutions
occurred to us for this movement, that
they were going for something to EFT,
more ammunition (as they had been
throwing arrows), or that Cus,sr was
coming. We took advp....ge of this
lull to fill all vesselE win whter, and
soon had IL by the camp kettle full
but they continued to withdraw, and
all firing ceased, save occasional shots
from sharpshooters sent TO annoy us
about the water. About . p. m. the
grass in the bottom was set on fire,
and followed up by Indians, who en-
couraged It's burning, and it was svi-
dent it was done for o purpose, which
purpose discovered later on, to be
the creation OF dense cloud of smoke,
behind which they were packing and
to move their tepees.
1t was between 6 and p. m. that
tho village came out from behind tho
clouds of smoke and dust We had q
close and good view of them, as they
filed away in the direction of Big Horn
Mountains, moving in almost perfect
military order tho length Of tho col
umn was fully equal to that of large
division of the cavalry corps of the
Army OF the Potomac, as | have seen
II on its march. ..,of Li /
We now thought of Custer, of whom
nothing had been seen and nothing
heard since tho firing in his direction
about 6 p. m. on the eve OF the 25tb,
and We concluded that the Indians had
gotten between him and us, and driven
him toward the boat, at the mouth Of
Little Big Horn river, the awful fate
that did befall him never occurring TO
any OF us as within the limits of posi-
billties. During the night ! changed
my position, in order 10 secure an un-
limited supply Of water, and was pre-