The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-07-13

L
like slaughter-pen, as it really was,
being in narrow ravine. The dead
were much mutilated. The situation
now looks serious. Gen. Terry arrived
| at Gibbons camp on steamboat and
crossed the command over and accom-
panied it to join Custer, who knew it
was coming. Tive hundred and seven
men were buried in one place and the
killed are estimated at 300, with only
! thirty-one wounded.
The Indians surrounded Reno's COM
mand and held them one day in the
| hills, cut off from water, until Glib
bon's command came in sight, when
they broke camp in the night and left.
The Seventh fought like tigers, and
were overcome by mere brute force.
The Indian loss cannot be estimated,
as they bore off and cached
most of their killed. The REM
nant of the Seventh Cavalry and
| Gibbons command are returning to
the mouth of Little Horn, where the
steamboat lies. The Indians got all
the arms of the killed soldiers. There
We're seventeen commissioned officers
killed. The whole Custer family died
at the head of their column. The exact
loss is not known, as both Adjutants
and the Sergeant-Major were killed.
The Indian camp was from three to
four miles long, and was twenty miles
up the Little Horn from its mouth.
The Indians actually pulled men off
| their horses in some instances. | give
this as Taylor told me, as he was over
the field after the battle"
LATER.-The above is confirmed by
other letters, which say Custer met
with fearful disaster.
ADDITIONAL.
The Iater-Oceun correspondent with
the expedition telegraphs to that paper
the following particulars, learned on
the arrival of Gen. Terry's forces at
the scene of the carnage
| At an early hour the head of the column
entered Il plain half a mile wide, border
| ing the left bank of the Little Big Horn,
where had recently been an immense In
| dian village, extending three miles along
the stream, and where were still standing
funeral lOd res with horses slaughtered
around them and containing the bodies of
nine chiefs. The ground was strcwn ev-
| erywhere with carcasses of horses, cav
! l,l, Inf fn1n rain
packages of dried meat and weapons and
utensils belonging to Indians. On this
part of the field were found the clothing of
! Licuts Sturgis and Porter, pierced with
bullets, and d blood stained gauntlet be.
| longing to Col. Yates. Further on were
| found the bodies of men, among whom
were recognized Lieut.. Mcintosh, the in
terpreter from Fort Rice, and Rey-
nolds, the guide just tlien breath
less scout arrived with the intelIi.
gencc that Col Reno, with rem
nant of the Seventh Cavalry, was en-
trcnchcd on Il bluff near by, waiting for re-
| lief. The command pushed rapidly on,
and soon came in sight of a group sur.
rounding cavalry guard upon lofty en-
inence ON the right bank of the river.
Gen. Terry fOrdud the stream, accOmpa'
MED by small party, and rode to the
spot. All the way the slopes were dotted
! with the bodies OF men and horses. The
General approached, and the men
swarmcd out of the works and greeted him
with hearty and repeated cheers. Within
was found Reno, with the remains of seven
companies of the regiment, with the fol-
! lowing named officers, all of whom are
unhurt. Coils Brnteen and Wipr. Cnpis.
| Felix Maylan aud MCDOugal; Licuts. God
! frey. Mathey. Gibson, De Rudid, Edger-
! ". Wallace, Narnum and Hare In the
center of the inClosure was depression
in the surface, in which the wounded were
sheltered, covered with canvas. Reno's
command had been fighting from Sunday
noon (the 25th until the night of the goth,
when Terry's arrival caused the Indians
to retire. Up to this time Reno and those
with him were in complete ignorance of
! the fate of the other five companies, which
! had been separated from them early on
the 25th to make an attack under Custer
on the village at another point. While
preparations were being made for the re-
moval of the wounded, a party was sent
on Clusters trail to look for traces of his
command. They found awaiting them a
sight fit to appall the stoutest heart.
At Il point about three miles down the
right bank of the stream, Custer had cvi-
IDENTITY attempted to ford and attack the
village from the ford. The trail was
| found to lead back up the bluffs and to
the northward, as if the troops had been
rcpulsed and compelled to retreat and at
the same time had been cut Oft from re-
gaining the forces under Reno The bluffs
along the right bank come sharply down
to the water, and are intcrspersed by nu-
merous ravjnes all along the slopes and
ridges, and in the ravines lay the dead,
arranged in order of battle, lying as they
| had fought, line behind line, showing
where defensive positions had been sue
Cessiyely taken up and held till none were
left to fight Then huddled in Il narrow
compass, horses and men were piled pro-
miscuOusly At the highest point of the
ridge lay Custer, surrounded by chosen
band. Here were his two brothers and
his nephew, Mr. Reed, Coils. Yates and
Cooke and Capt. Smith, all lying in cir
Gle of Il few yards, their horses beside
them Here, behind Yates company the
last stand had been made, and here, one
after another, these last survivors of Gus
ter's five companies had met their death.
! The companies had successively thrown
themselves across the path of the advanc-
ing enemy, and had been annihilated.
Not man has escaped to tell the tale,
| but it was inscribed on the surface OF
these barren hills in language more elo-
quent than words Two hundred and
sixty -one bodies have been buried from
Custer's and Reno's command. The last
one found was that of Mr.. Kellogg, CORE
spondent of the Bismarck Tribune, and
| also, believe, of the New York Herald.
The following are thenames of the officers
whose remains are recognized: Gen. Gus,
ter; Co.'s KeOgh, Yates, Custer, Cooke
Capt Smith; Lieut's Mcintosh, Calhoun,
Hodgson and Reilly. All of these be
longed to the Seventh Cavalry.
Lieut.. Crittenden, of the Twentieth In
fantry, who was serving temporarily with
the regiment.
Lieut's Porter, Sturgis and Harrington
and Ass't-Surgeon Lord are reported
missing, as their remains were not recog'
nized; but there is small ground to hope
that any of them survived, as it is obvious
that the troops We're completely surround
ed by force of ten times their number
THE st. Paul Press tells Of a lady
who desired to send her husband, who
was a frontier missionary, pair OF
| those very desirable articles known as