The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-11-02
TIE MASSACRE.

NAAA W--A~A AA1 lAAC AOAL anu ITO W
leaguering hosts from the thirty-eight
brave but anxious Buckeye boys in their
impregnable fertilization. Just as they
reached the summit of the sand-hill,
whore theroadpassed between two hi h,'
sandy knobs, they paused. Then three
of the men gallOped off to the right and
two of them came towards the boys in
the corral, while one galloped down to
the river and jumped in, leaving his
horse, which was captured few min
utes afterwards by swarm of Indians.
The two boys were welcomed to the tel
egraph stockade, and the balance of the
train passed over the hill which sloped
down towards and directly in sight
of the fort at Platte Bridge. The scene
which presented itself to the gaze of
the Kansas boys on reaching the top of
the hill was sufficient to have appalled,
the stoutest heart. Far down the val
ley, on the other side of the Platte Riv-
er, was the little stockade fort. The
long bridge ever the river was fairly
smoking with sharpshooters.. On a
sand-bar in the center of the river a
piece of artillery was belching forth its
music every two or three minutes /;
while between all this and them were
three thousand rampant redskins. The
officers in the fort saw the three wagons
with their slim escort come creeping
over the hill, and their hearts sank
within them as they saw several hun
dred Indian warriors dash off to meet
the handful of KaEsans. They saw the
three boys separate, and two disappear
over the hill, towards Red Butte,
and the third dash down to the riv-
er. Thirty or forty braves followed
the single soldier to the river, and
the battle ceased for time while the
white men on the stockade and towers
and the Indians on the hiilsides watch
ed the race for life. Even the red
skins cheered when the solitary fugitive
landed on the opposite side of the river
and disappeared in the sage brush, to-
wards the fort. F.a -......F
But now a serious scene presented it
self to the view of the Michigan and
Ohio soldiers in the beleaguered fort.
The three wagons, with their escort of
p men, were in plain sight, and count
less hordes of redskins galloping up
to meet them. When too late the brave
and sarcasticyoung Sergeant of the 18th
Kansas saw his error. In his confusion
he lost sight of the two high sandy
knobs, one on each side of the road,
and drove his teams down into dry,
sandy ravine just such one as most
of Clusters men died in. There he
hauled his wagons up in line, down in
the bottom of the sandy ravine, and
there he and his brave boys made a
stand.
A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.
The men in the fort who had been
fighting steadily for two days stood in
painful Suspense watching the fate of
the three wagons and twenty-seven men
on the hillside. A field glass showed
the mules unhitched and shot down for
breastworks, just as the horde of In
dams swept around them hiding from
sight. Then the Indians fell back I'M
der a terrible vOlley poured in by the
Kansas men, and there was vacant
space noticeable about the three wag-
ons. Then tie Indians sent back their
ponies and the men in the fort saw
them lay down on the ground and go to
digging with knives and tomahawks
small holes in the sand. All this was
plainly and painfully perceptible at the
garrison, but the boys with the wagons
could not see the little sand hillocks all
around them gradually drawing nearer
and nearer. The villains were crawling
along burrows made in the sand by
their knives and tomahawks, keeping a
bile of sand in front sufficient to hide
their heads. In each of these grooves
or burrows dozens Of Indians lay-one
behind the other. But the Kansas boys
behind their breastworks of dead mule
kept up the fire upon every thing in
range which looked like an Indian.
VOLUNTEERS FOR RESCUE.
1t was hard, very hard, for the few
Michigan men in the fort to see the I'M
equal struggle going on without taking
a hand. Here was a portion of Clusters
brigade from the Shenandoah Valley
the 1st and 9th Michigan, under Gen.
Stagg. They were new in this kind of
warfare, but they could not stand by
and see a fight like that on the hillside
going on without an effort to rescue.
&c Ho, boys! for q rescue" cried the
Michigan Captain in command. Forty
brave men stepped out TO the front
ready to go and help the boys on the
hillside. na .. ..-i
This would leave the fort almost de-
serted. But what of that? The strong
gates were proof against every thing
except artillery, and there was party
of brave white men, fighting for life in
plain sight of the stOckade. Here were
forty brave men, poorly armed and
worse mounted, ready to dash into the
midst of thousands of well armed Sioux,
Cheyenne and Arapahoe warriors, to
attempt the rescue of handful Of
white men, -.
Lieutenant Collins, you will lead
this Charge" said the Michigan Cap
tain in command. ...r .-tr.l, ne
'sThese are not my men," said Cas-
per Collins, "why not send their own
officers with them?''
"Never mind, sir, about that. You
viii lead this charge. at once" said the
Michigan Captain 1oi III ..lh -Tt t.-.
Casper Collins was the First Lieuten-
ant of Company Z, 11tb Ohio Cavalry.
He was the only son OF the Colonel of
the regiment, VIM. o. Collins, Of Hills
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