The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1876-07-19

"A Few SPlinters from the Life OF Gen.
Geo. A. Custer"

"A rev Sphnters nom the Lie OF Ien.
Geo. A. Custer"
lE4tsaels nom . Sermon preached a. the
I've July 10Th, by Rev, {, ~, Sanders, Pas
TEXT.
SHY hands uere not bound, nor thy
feet pat into filters; as a man Jflteth be-
fore soieked men, so feiIest thou. And all
the people aoept again orer him.
The reverend gentleman opened his
discourse by comparing the death of
Custer with that of Abner, of Biblical
renown, at whose taking of, the Holy
Book says 'sthere was weeping and wall
ing throughout the nation, A prince
and a great man had suddenly fallen by
cruel hands,
sThe scene of 1900 years ago is
brought vividly to mind by the events
whose record has been flashed over the
wires throughout this land during the
past twelve days-thrilling the national
heart with the profoundest grief. While
Custer and Abner were not wholly
alike in their character and experiences,
they were not wholly unlike. There
were particulars in which their lives
harmonized, and there were points at
which their lives touched. Both were
military men who had risen to occupy
positions of Importance in the armies
of their respective nations, Both came
seemingly to an untimely graye-were
slain by the hand of a bitter enemy. =
The dashing Custer with his lit
tie army, SO faithful and true to their
commander, all fell together upon the
same field and in the same engagement.
1t is a sad defeat and has cast over the
nation a cloud of sorrow."
Here Mr.. Sanders reverted to Incl
dents similar in character to the Custer
massacre, mentioning the murder of
Gen. Candy and Rev. DIR. Thomas, the
disastrous defeat and death of Brad
dock, the charge of the Light Brigade.
In these instances he said the awful
sacrifice of life was due to the fact that
somebody Numbered, and expressed the
fear that Clusters disaster was caused
by somebody's blunder, and some peo-
pie charged it to, the Administration
directly. He said many things were to
be taken into account, and mentioned
the circumstances under which Custer
entered the campaign, his sensitive
nature, deducing therefrom the conclu-
sion that perhaps Custer wished to die
and seized the first opportunity to
meet death face to face. We quote:
HE seems to have become enveloped
in a cloud. He had no doubt been
misunderstood and misjudged. He I'M
doubtedly started out upon that expedi-
ton with a heavy heart, but resolved to
compel the respect which he believed
was his by right.
But the blame Of this defeat is not to
be confined at this point. l am appre-
hensive that other generals have not
unspotted skirts. Custer's superior in
rank seems not to have appreciated the
weight of the conflict and the strength
of the enemy, and to have failed of
making proper provision for meeting
the enemy. So too it seems to me
that the authorities of the nation, and
the people largely-are not wholly
guiltless. They do not appreciate the
Mr. Sanders here took up the ques-
ton of the business or unjustness of the
Indian war. He read an extract from
an eastern paper in which the writer
charged Government with making war
upon the Indians on their own reserva-
ton, and said the writer was either not
postedo or had borrowed Vande ver's
s~pectacles. He said the people of the
interior and eastern States were taking
the part of the Indian because the
western pioneers were driving them
from the land which was theirs by in
heritance, and here he drove the nail
to the head and clinched it by a start
ling inquiry as to how the vast and
wealthy domain east of the Mississippi
was acquired and from whom it was
wrested and by what means. This por-
ton of the sermon fairly bristled with
eloquent and unanswerable argument
against further dilly-dallying with the
Indian question, the reverend gentle
man concluding with this sound and
Characteristic sentiment, which will be
reechoed in the mind of every reader:
~ am a peace man, and am of the
opinion that the surest and speediest
and cheapest and longest-lived peace will
come from an army of twenty thousand
armed men, put into the field at once"
The church was crowded and the de-
livery of the ermon listened to with
breathless interest from the giving out
of the text to the closing word.
INDIAN TYRANNY.