The Grange advance., 1876-07-19

Reno then commanded the men to dis
mount, and they did so, but he soon
ordered them to mount again and
move out on the open prairie. The
Indians were every, moment getting
thicker between the companies on the
river bottom and the reserve on the
hill. ,g I~, -
''Col. Reno ordered his men to
mount and cut their way through. A
wild scramble for life now began. 1t
was every one for himself. Indians on
every side rose up and fired at the fly.
ing horsemen, and hundreds mounted
on swift ponies pursued the soldiers,
easily enough coming up with the
heavy American horses; It was a
hand-to. hand fight, one trooper often
1 having as many as. five Indians after.
him. The troops used their revolvers
at short range, emptying an Indian
saddle at every shot. At the, ford,
about mile distant, a strong force Of
Indians was found holding it. But the
troopers dashed on them, crossed the
river, and began to ascend the high
bank opposite. 1t was mere Indian
trail leading up the face of a bald hill.
The Indians rallied. and, taking shelter
in the bushes about the ford, opened a
deadly fire on the soldiers as they
forded and ascended the opposite
bank.
SLAUGHTER AT THE FORD.
Son account of the narrowness of
the ford a great crowd soon collected
about the crossing and became damned
there; and into this mass of men and
horses the Indians fired at short range.
The loss of life here was fearful.
Lieut.. Hodgson fell while gallantly en-
deavorlng to get his men across the
stream. Hodgson had already crossed.
the stream himself and was ascending
the opposite bank when his horse was
shot and rolled down the bank with
him. Detaching himself from the
fallen animal he grasped the stirrups
OF passing soldier to help himself up
the bank, and had nearly reached the
top when a shot struck him and he
fell back. The Sioux, mounted on
their swift ponies, dashed up by the
side OF the soldiers and fired at them,
killing both men and horses. Little
resistance was offered, and it was a
complete rOut to the ford. Just as I
| got out my horse stumbled and fell
and was dismOunted, the horse run.
ming away after Reno's command: I
saw several soldiers who were dis
mounted, their horses having been
killed or having run away. There
were also some soldiers mounted who
had remained behind. should think
In all there We're as many as thirteen
soldiers, and, seeing no chance to get
away, called on them to come into
the timber and we would stand off the
Indians: Three of the soldiers were
wounded. and two of them so badly
they could not use their arms. The
soldiers wanted to get out, but L said
no, we can't get to the ford, and, be
sides, we have wounded men and must
stand by them. The soldiers still
wanted to go, but l told them | was
an OLD tr0ntlersman, understood Indi-
ans, and if they would do as l said, l
would get them out of the scrape,
which was no worse than scrapes I
had been in before. About half Of the
men were mounted, and they wanted
to keep their horses with them, but |
told them to let the horses 20 and light
on foot.
"We staid in the bush about three
hours, and could hear heavy firing
below in the river, apparently about 2
miles distant. did not know who it
was, but knew the Indians were fight
ing some OF our rAen, and learned after
ward it was Clusters command. Near
ly all the Indians in the upper end of
the valley drew off down the river,
and the fight with Custer lasted about
one hour, when the heavy firing ceas-
ed. When the shooting below began
to die away said to the boys. ssCome,
now is the time to get out.'' Most of
them did not go, but waited for night.
told them the Indians would come
back, and we had better be off at once.
A NARROW ESCAPE
eleven of the thirteen said they
would go, but two stayed behind. 1
deployed the men as skirmishers, and
we moved forward on foot toward the
river. When we had nearly got to the
river we met five Indians on ponies,
and they fired on us. l returned the
fire and the Indians broke, and we
then forded the river, the water being
breast deep. We finally got over,
wounded men and all, and headed for
Ren0's command, which 1 could see
drawn up on the bluffs along the river
about mile off. We reached Reno in
safety. We had not been with Reno
more than fifteen minutes when saw
the Indians coming up the valley from
| Clusters fight. Reno was then moving
his whole command down the ridge to-
| ward Custer.
The Indians crossed the river below