Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-08-16
Another Account of Clusters Last Fight.

The Detroit Neps of August I'd pub
fishes letter from James Mannion
one of Clusters command, and conse
| quently an eyewitness of the massa
ere. lie, and Curley the Grow Scout
are the only survivors. 1t is the only
account of that terrible affair yet writ
ten by a witness of it, and details many
| incidents not yet given to the public:
We left camp on the 18th of June
and started for the Big Horn River
$50 miles north Of here. We were -four
| days on the march thither, where we
joined Terry and Custer, and marched
north on the bank of the Big Horn
Striking the Little Big Horn, we fol
lowed a well-marked trail along its
banks, and on Saturday morning, June
Oath, we came in sight of an Indian
village with about 800 tents, and a
fighting force of 5000 warriors. Mai.
Reno In whose command I am, COM
manded the left flank and Custer the
right, and the fight commenced by Re-
nos charging nto the Indian village,
lighting on foot: having tied the horses
In a grove short way off. While the
fight was going on, Gen. Custer reached
the other side of the village and at
tackled it. Gen. Custer and his five
companies took position on ridge in
the center of the Indian camp, cut off
from access to water, and there fought
desperately all day long, conspicu-
Gus mark for the savage marksmen all
around chem.
At last, when half his command had
been killed, he called on those that re-
manned to follow him, and dashed
boldly through the red devils. 1t was
running the gauntlet of at least 1000
rifles for the whole distance. His men
did not follow him, and when he got
through he found himself alone with a
single Crow Indian, one of his scouts.
He would not leave his men to perish
alone and turned to go back, but the
Grow, recognizing that such a course
would be fatal, grabbed his horse and
implored him not to do so.
Custer only laughed, and putting the
reins of his horse between his teeth,
with revolver in each hand, he gave q
wild cheer, and dashed back through
the hell of smoke and flying bullets. As
if by a miracle, he reached the rem
nant of his command, which was now
reduced to forty men. Calling on these
survivors again to follow him, which
the example and success of his former
charge disposed them to do, he led
them from their place of peril over the
path of his solitary charge.
That was the last seen of them until
the battle was over, when the whole
party, with Custer in their midst, were
found stark and dead within a circular
rampant formed by their horses bodies.
They had evidently at the last MON ent
made up their minds to sell their lives
dearly, shot their horses, and then rails
ed them as breastwork, fought on with a
vigor of despair until the last man was
dead. What they suffered and what
they did within the fatal circle will ever
remain locked in mys' cry. Of all Gus
ter's men only the Grow scout above
mentioned and a Sergeant of Company
escaped.
From the descriptions in the papers
you cannot imagine the horror of the
scene after the battle. I went over it
with the artist as the dead Law in heaps
where they fell, and Ishall ever remem-
Der it. Gen. Custer was found with all
his clothes upon him. but his two
brothers were terribly mutilated. When
the fight was in progress the Indian
squaws would rush in among the
wounded soldiers and beat out their
brains with clubs.
S. A remarkable story is told of the
fearful scene at the death of Charles
Reynolds, Clusters chief scout, and the
best shot on the Missouri river. He
was shot off the back of his horse, and
in falling caught the horse and killed
him, and making breastwork of the
beasts body, he commenced terrible
slaughter of the Indians. He lay be-
hind his horse, dying and still shooting,
and every shot be fired his deadly aim
sent savage to the devil When he
was taken off the field after the fight
twenty-five dead Indians were found
around him.
Law for the People.
Money paid under misapprehen-