St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-07-14
A Fight with the Indians.

A Fight with the Indians.
4 TERRIBLE DEFEAT-GEN. CT sTER AND
EVERY MAN IN HIS COMMAND KILLED
THE PRICE OF RASHNESS.
There has been another big fight " itlI
the Indians and Il terrible whipping for
he troops. an entire command of tiv,
companies, including Il commissioned
officers, among them Gen. Custer, his
tw" brothers, nephew and brother-in-
law. being sacrificed. in sho I, one of
the ihIee eNpedicnts sent to eNtrImi-
ate the hostile Sioux has itself been ex-
tc minated. and the other two are in
Imminent danger of Il similar fate.
The news comes from Boz ,man. Non
tana. where II WAS brought 10y Mnga -
Taylor. Il scout of Gen. Gibbons com
mhnd. but Is also confirmed in general
10y letters from others. The battle wa>
fought on the 2Gth ult.. 30 or 10 miles
below the Little Horn. Gems Custer
and Reno had come upon the Indians
camp of from 2JOO to 1000 warriors.
extending three or torr miles long. for
which they had been looking. and an
attack WAS at once ordered Leaving
three companies on IL hill as Il reserve.
Gen. Custer. with the remaining five
companies of his command. charged the
thickt>t portion of the camp. leaving
Col. Reno. with seven companies to at
tack ii on the other side. Nothing i
known of the operations of Clusters de
tachmtnt. only as they are traced hy
the dead on the field. The Indians
greeted the charge with Il murdcrnus
tiIr from all directions. Besides. the
greater portion ought on horseback.
Custer. his tw" brothers. nephew and
hr"ther-ln-law Were all killed. and not
one OF his detachment escaped. The
Indians surrounded RtIo'> command
and held them for one day in the hills.
cut OF from water. until Gen. Gihhnn's
command came III sight. when they
broke camp in the night and left, and
t'Ihh"n'> and Reno'S commands were
then joined. Gen. Terry was with Glib
bon command. which Custer knew WAS
coming before the fight occurred.
Gen. Clusters command fought like
tigers. and We're overcome by mere
| brute force. the Indians actually pull
ing The soldiers OF their hurs,.s in many
cases. Th" whole Custer family died
at the head of thrir column. The bat
tie ground looks like IL SIaugter-pru. a.
1t really WAS. being in Il narrow raN Inc.
| he deal Were much mutilitcd The
whole number killed WAS 3Ij. with only
81 W"m d |. Two hundred and seven
bodies were buried n'"rr place. Among
the killed was Lieut.. Crittendcn, son of
Cen trittcnden. The loss of the. In
dlan> Is not known. a> they bore of
their dead. They got all the arms of
/ the killed soldiers. The remnant of the
9TH caN!'rN and Gihhon'S command are
returning To the mouth of the Little
/ Horn, where the Steamboat lies. The,
situation l. regarded as very serious.
HOW CUSTER DIsoREYED ORDERS.
The following dispatches received h>
Cen Sheridan AT Philadelphia from
ten. Terry. commanding the cxpedi-
tons against the Indians. con rm the
/ first Impression. that Gen. Clusters de
feat and death and the terrible Slaugh-
/ ter of his command were the result of
his own fool hardness. and indicate
that i'll his ra>hncSS he went 81 far as to
dl>"heA positive orders. seemingly in
the hope "t defeating the redskins with
| his pet regiment alone. in order to gain
all the glory there would bc in such
( achievement
CAMP ON THE IELLowsroNE RIVER.
NEAR MoUTH OF Bic HoHN. july >.
think owe it to myself to uut Won
in more full posseS>ion of the facts of
the late operations. While at the mouth
"t the Rosebud. submitted my plan to
Gen. Gibbons and Gen. Custer. They
approved il heartily. 1t WAS that Gus
ter, with his whole regiment. should
move up the Rosebud till he should
meet Il tail which Reno had discovered
Il few days before. but that he should
not follow 1t directly to the Little Biz
Horn: that he should send scouts over
1t. and keep the main force further to
| the south. 50 us To prevent the Indians
from slipping III between himself and
| the mountains. He wdS also, to exam
inc the head water of Tullock's creek
;IS he PASSED it, and send me word of
what he found there. \ scout was fur
nished him for the purpose of crossing
the country to me.
We calculated il would take Gibbons :
column until the 2Oth to reach the mouth
of the Little Big Horn. and that wide
sweep which | had proposed Custer
ShoLld make would require 81 much
! time that Gibbons would he able to CO.
operate with him in attacking the In
dianS that might he found on that
stream. asked Custer how long his
marches would he. He said they would
hc ut first about 30 miles Il dav Meas
nrements were made. and calculations
based on that rate of progress. ! talk
ed with him about HIS strength, and. at
one time. suggested that perhaps it
would he well for me to take Gibbons
cavalry and go with him. To this SHY
gcstion he replied that. without refer
cnce to the command. he would prefer
his own regiment alone as il homogene-
Gus body; us much could he. done with
1t as with the two combined. and eX-
pressed the utmost confidence that he
had all the force that he could possibly
need, and shared his confidence. The
plan adopted was the only one which
promised to bring the infantry into ac-
ton. and desired to make sure of the
thing by getting up every available
man. | offered Custer the battery of
Gatling guns, but he declined it, saving
that 1t might embarriss him: that he
was strong enough without
me movements proposed by Gen.
Gibbons column were carried out to
the letter, and, had the attack been de