The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1876-08-10

and the Indians did not get any Of them.
Neither did they get any mules. Most
of Clusters horses were shot in the action,
and do not believe the Indians got
over one hundred animals BY the fight.
TORTURE AND mUTILATIoY.
think some of our men were captured
alive and tortured. know the coIored
scout Isaiah was, for he had small pistol
balls in his legs from the knees down,
and believe they were shot in him
while alive. Another man had strips Of
skin cut out of his body. Hordes Of
squaws, and old, gray-haired Indians
were roaming over the battlefield howl
ing like mad. The squaws had stone
mallets and mashed in the skulls of.the
dead and wounded. Many we're gashed
with knives and some had their noses
and other members cut of. The heads
of four white soldiers were found in the
Sioux camp, thathad beensevered from the
trunks, but the bodies could not be found
on the battle field or in the village. Our
men did not kill any squaws, but the
Rees Indian scouts did. The bodies Of
six squaws were found in the little
ravine.
NUMBER OF THE INDIANS.
think the Indian village must have
contained six thousand people, and fully
three thousand of whom were warriors.
The Indians fought Reno first, and then
went to fight Custer, after which they
came back to finish Reno. The same In
dams were in all the attacks. think
the Indians were commanded by Sitting
Bull in person. There were eight or nine
other chiefs in the field.
SCENE OF THE SLAUGHTER.
The correspondent of the st. Paul Pho
neer Press, who was with the rescuing
column of Col. GibbOn, consisting of i've
companies of rifemen, four of cavalry,
and the Gattling battery, in all about
eight hundred men, thus describes how
he found things when the command
reached the battlefield between Custer
and Reno and the Sioux Indians:
The morning of the 26th brought in
telligence, communicated by three badly
frightened Crow scouts, of the battle of
the previous day and its results. The
story was net credited, because it was
not expected that an, attack would be
made earlier than the 9th, and chiefly
because no one could believe that force
such as Custer commanded could have
met with disaster. Still, the report was
in no way disregarded. All day long
the toilsome march was piled, and every
eye bent upon a cloud of smoke resting
over the southern horizon, which was
hailed as a sign that Custer was success
full and had fired the village. 1t was
only when night was falling that the
weary troops lay down upon their arms.
The infantry had marched twenty-nine
miles. The march of the next morning
revealed at every step some evidence oil
tine conflict which had taken place two
days before. At an early hour the head
of the column entered plain half mile
wide, bordering the left bank of the Little
Big Horn, where recently had been an
immense Indisn village, extending three
miles along the stream, and where were
still standing funeral lodges, with hsrses
slaughtered around them, and containing
the bodies of nine chiefs, The ground
was strewn everywhere with carcasses al
horses, cavalry equipments, besides buf,
falo robes, packages of dried meat, and
weapons and utensils belonging to In.
dams. On this part Of the field was
found the clothing of Lieuts. Sturgis and
Porter, pierced with bullets, and blood
stained gauntlet belonging to Col. Yates,
Further on we found the bodies of men,
among whom were recognized Lieut.,
Mcintosh, the interpreter from Fort
Rice, and Reynolds, the guide. just
then a breathlesa scout arrived with the
intelligence that Colonel Reno, with
remnant of the Seventh cavalry
was entrenched on q bluff near by
waiting for relief. The command pushed
rapidly on, and soon came in sight Of .
gtoup surrounding a cavalry guard up,
on lofty eminence on the right bank Of
The riNnr- Gen. Terry fnr1ad The