New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-07-13

perienced an utter annihilation of his i'm.
| mediate command.
The forces of Generals Terry and Gibbon
reached the field OF battle the next day,
and rescued fifty.twO wounded men and
buried 26l dead men; including Lieutenant
! kecgh and Yates: Lieutenants Cook, Smith,
Mcintosh, Calhoun, Hodgson, Reilly, Par
ker and Stu!gis, all of the Seventh Cav
! airy, and Lieutenant Crittender. of the
| Twentieth Infantry; Lieutenant Harring-
ton, Assistant Surgeon Lord and Acting As
sistant Surgeon DeWolf. are missing. The
| wounded were carried back to the mouth
of Big Horn, On the Yellowstone, which is
navigable, and where there were two steam
boats, one of which was sent down to Fort
Abraham Lincoln with the wounded, and
10 communicate the sad facts.
! General Terry is, therefore, atithe mouth
| OF the Big Horn rehtting, and will prompt
ly receive reintorcements and supplies, and
will resume his operations Immediately. In
| the meantime General Crook has also ad-
vanced from Fort Fetterman, and on the
| seventeenth of June, eight days before Gen
| eral Clusters attack, had encountered this
| same force of warriors on the mead of Rose
| bud, with whom he fought several hours,
| driving the Indians from the field, losing
| nine men killed, and one officer and twenty
men wounded.
General Crook reports his camp as on
| Tongue river, Wyoming. Reintorcements
| and supplies are also en- route to him, and
every possible means has been adopted to
accomplish a concert Of action between
| these two forces, which are necessarily
separated, and are only able to comnuni-
cate by immense distances around By their
rear.
The task committed to the military au-
! thorities is one OF unusual difficulty, and
has been anticipated for years, and must be
met and accomplished. It can no longer be
delayed, and everything will be done by
the department to insure success, which is
necessary to give even the assurance of
comparative safety to important but scat
tered interests which have grown up in a
remote and almost inaccessible portion of
our national domain.
1t is again earnestly recommended that
the appropriation asked for repeatedly by
General Sheridan, of 100000, be made. to
build two posts on the Yellowstone, at or
near the mouth of the Big Horn and Tongue
rivers. Inclosed herewith please find copies
of General Terry's report, just received by
telegraph eince the preparation Of this let
ter. Your 0bedient servant,
j. D. CAMERON.
Secretary of War.
A correspondent with the Sioux expedi-
ton writes:
Many interesting incidents are reported
from the scene OF Clusters operations. In
anticipation of a battle, the steamer Far
West. a 700 ton boat, was pushed up the
Big Horn to within fourteen miles of the
point where the battle actually took place.
While lying there an Indian came in who
! was known to have been with Custer. He
was terribly cas-. down and excited, but
could not make himself understood. Finally
no fpnf dr. vyin
fair sketch of the battle as it afterward
proved, and in rude figures few soldiers,
one representing Custer, surrounded by
| many Indians represented by dots covering
the valley and hillsides, and pointing to
soldier then to his representation of Gus
ter's command, ne threw his hand to his
head, which was Tapped somewhat closed
| motions of scalping. saying: "Heap Sioux,
soldier neepo'-in English: "Many Sioux,
soldiers killed"
Terry received his first information from
three Crow scouts, who described the bat
tlefeld and told of Clusters disaster, but
the story seemed too improbable to believe.
Still, as Terry had received no tiding from
Custer, who was to report by courier, he
was worried. When he reached the mouth of
the Little Horn, where Custer was to COM
municate his plans and wait instructions
before his final attack on the village, and
found no courier, his uneasiness knew no
bounds. Still he could not accept the story
of the scouts.
On the morning of the twenty seventh
Lieutenant Bradley, chief of the scouts, re-
ported to Terry the heart-rending news.
Custer and l20 cavalry men, with horses to
correspond, lay dead, their bodies naked,
and most of their bodies horribly mutilated.
1t was then three days after the battle, and
the bodies being in the scorching sun, had
become badly decOmpOsed, and in conse-
ouence all were buried where they fell.
The Crow scout who reported to the Far
West proves to be the only survivor of
Clusters charge. He was in the fight, but
escaped to the river. washed of his Crow
paint, changed the dress of his hair, put On
Sioux blanket, and charged with the
Sioux. escaping, however, when an Oppor-
tunity presented. He says the Sioux com.
pletely enveloped Custer, who killed his
horses, using their remains for breastwOrks,
and fought desperately, the Indians charg-
ing his position time and again, losing
heavily, the Crow believes more than Gus
ter. One company, Captain Smiths, tried to
cut its way to the rear, but all were killed.
their bodies lay some rods from Custer, all
in little knot. Custer was among the last to
fall. Colonel Cook, with his heavy, flow
ing beard, was the last one standing that
the Indian recognized. Custer and COM
mand were all killed within an hour. Gus
ter's command having been finished, the In.
dians gathered their entire force about
Reno, leaving the squaws to mutilate the
dead and torture any who proved to be liv-
ing. The remains bear many evidences of
torture. Some seem to have been shot with
arrows In private parts while still living,
and from others these parts were removed
The heads of nearly all had been crushed
with stone clubs, while in other cases their
heads were severed from the body. The
entrails had been taken, and from many the
limbs we're chopped off. Other bodies were
partially burned a few were not found, but
clothing belonging to them was found and
recognized. No trace was found of Lieu
tenant Harrington's body or clothing.
Lieutenant De Rudo, of Reno's COM
mand, who being cut of at the ford, hid in
the bushes, relates that troop of mounted
men passed near him, one of whom was
dressed il Tom Clusters clothing, buckskin
suit, broad d-brimmed hat, and flowing neck
tie. He called to them: "For Gods sake
Tom, don't leave me here" and his cry was
answered by volley. He rushed for the
river and dropped from the steep bank, and
of the Indians in the valley, also scrambled
from the thicket to the river, and their
splashing in the water misled the Indians,
and saved De Rudios life. Fred Girard
lay near De Rudio, and though the Indians
passed within seven feet of him he lay there
until after Benteen had charged the ravine
for the purpose of getting water, when
both he and De Rudio escaped. De Rudio is
an Italian who has been through much
political trouble in France, and was once
rescued from the block and once from the
gallows by his political adherents, but he
says he has seen nothing to compare with
the terror of those few hours. Think of it.
Three companies Of cavalry, with several
scouts, surrounded by blOod-thirsty devils