Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1876-07-10

out of AMMUNITION, throwing stones by hand
at The soldiers. Rpnp's men stood 6rm. aud
alter Il desperate struggle iha indians fell back
a little. Two or three mere etforts were made
to carry nos position, tuf without succt SO,
and then the Indians drew eff TO hills com pIete-
ly covering them on every side oil the COM
mand. A large body at one time got into q
raviu" close by, aud Col. Reno ordered Capt.
Beo'on to charge them out of it with his c.;m-
paDy. The men sprang out OF their rif Tits,
and with a cheer dashed 70. ward, tie Indians
breaking and ruuDiag at th"ir approach.
l. was DOW discovered that two or three small
hills near by We're higher than the one occu-
pied by Reno and commanded it. Ga these
hills the Indians gathered and pour, d in a gall
lug FIRE. One of the bills overlooked the cor
raj, and from it the savages shot down scores
Of fine horses and mules, aud killed and would.
ed eleven packers who we're with the pack
tralo. The fighting closed a, 9 o'clock, when
II became too dark to sec 10 shoot. But at
dusk the lndlans We're % all the bills aud 10 the
ravlues and the command Was completely sur
rounded. The soldiers worked all night to
strengthen their position; but the ground was
very hard. and they had 90 hug to dig With
except their butcher knives, hands, aud tin
plates and cups for shovels. At daylight on
the morning Of the 18th the battle was renew.
ed. The Indians opened with a tremendous
fire and deafening warwhoop. The hills were
black with then, ard their number was vari.
ously estimated at FROM , 600 to 4 600, while
Renos mma At that .imr did not number
over 400 meu, oneth!rd of whom bad to pro-
tcct the horses and pack amin is, and We're 10
a great measur: of no use 10 resisting an In
dian assault, aud the situation Was desperate
10 the extreme.
"a the m0rning Of the Goth the Indians
renewed The attack 6orceIy. They seemed to
regard It only as Il question Of time, but were
unwilling to wait until the ;uen ran out Of sup.
plies or died for want OF water. For miles back
the country was full of ludians to cut off any
wuo attempted to escape, AID not even q cour-
Ter could DO GOT through heir lines. The
fighting %con,inu d 20 the 26th from e o'clock
till uoon, wncn the lndians begao to Leave, aud
about 2 o'clock Il great commotiju was observ-
co in The villages. Lodges we're pulled down
and Indians in crowds of hundreds hurried out
of the valley and wild hills Until dark the
st,mp3de %coutinu. d, but was conducted IN so
0ldcriy a manner as TO lead Col. Reuo to be-
lieve they were only removing their village to
get fresh Qr 4ss for heir immense herds OF ami
mails. At ~uightfal Gel. Reoo's front was to-
tally free from Indians, and the u pass
ed a quiet oight. % the morning of the 9th
uOi Az llNlau = w SSCUs III uosCy uC-
parture was, OF course, due to their knowledge
of GibhoI's advauc. with Infantry.
Many of the uen fouud dead on Clusters
field were horribly mutiIatcd, aud most had
their skulls smashed by stone mallcts. This
was the work OF the squsxs, who swarmei to
the battle field robbiug and mu!ilating the bo-
dies of the dead and killug the dying aud
wouudcd. There were in Clusters regiment
wheu hr wen; iptn battle 5S5 men and 26 off
GERS. O: these ~ meu were killed with Reno
and 81 xounicd. The Sioux had 4 600 men
on the field, and c,u!d not have lost less than
400 warriors.
a dispatch from Bismarck, Dakota. July S,
says: A gentleman who has just arrived here
from B rIhoId agency reports that the Arric-
base and GroSevcntres and Nandans, stationed
at the BerLhold agency, who have always been
friendly TO tn" w.'it"s, are Inclined 10 alb .DdoD
their ag :ncy and in Sitting Bull in bis cam-
paign against the whites. 10 the %prlncips!
meu on the frontier it seems certain that the
Government must take immediate and effective
measures to chastise the b !sllle S!oux or there
will be great aud damaging detection from q
class Of Indians who have been heretofore
friendly.
A large train arrived here FROM the Black
Hills this afternoon, bridging advic"s TO the
Z9ii ut. lhcy report 10 l''ulau u'Slulofucca
on or about the hills for some weeks past, but
those W - had been prospecting to the west,
ward Of rhc hills rcport that large aud fresh
trails had brro found leading north. Sev'rs!
large parties of SiAux nave passed north from
points 10 The Missouri agencies within the past
three weeks, and at Cheyenne and Standing
Rex agencies there rcmaln only old mcn, W.
uea and children, the warriors being on the
hunt; but all tracks from these agencies lead
toward The location of Sitting Bull.