The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-07-08
GhtGatelliae
The Excitement over the Indian
NeVEg.

gre~ yesterday in favor OF enlisting five
regiments Of troops for immediate SeF'
vice against the Indians, and il is said IN
the Washington dispatches that the rfes'
ident, Secretary Of War, and deneFSi
Sherman are celebrating as to the eAPe'
diency Of inaugurating a very decided
campaign against them. The news from
various points indicates that there Is .
great deal Of feeling stirred up through.
out the country by tho terrible fate .91 ot
Ca,,ar's Chs ar command, and no doubt we will
have clamOr for war Of exterminatiOq
again,, not only the Sioux Indians, but
Derhap, other neighbOring tribes
or course it il only a matter OF time
,hont the Sioux and all the lndiansof
tLefar West meeting the fate Of their
predecessors in every State OF the Union,
from the Atlantic ocean to the present
seat of war in Montana Territory. There
has scarcely been a, ,yeat sincs the.set' !
Element Of this countryiat Plymouth and
jamestown in which we have
not been more or less embroil'
ed with the Indians. Nothing is
clearer than that they cannot live
side BY side with the white race. Even
il The Indians we're not addicted 70 leaving,
their reservations in the summer, there
would still arise, - there always has
arisen, the pretext for war against them,
The Black Hills country was solemnly
SET apart by treaty as an Indian reserva.
tion, and yet when it was invaded by
gold hunters and squatters, and the In
dams resented the invasion, ii became at
once bone Of contention between the
goyernpent aud the Indians, and Of
course the government took sides with
the gold hunters to the extent of protect
ing their lives and their supplies.
The Indians, a4 long as they remain
wholly uncivilizel, are inclined to stray
from their reservations, and in doing 80
are almost sure to come in collision with
those who are never averse to brush
with them. But Whether they remaih
within their limitations or whether they
stray beyond them, it is always the case
that We have q periodical Indian war.
We sell them the best fire arms in ex.
change for their .furs and skins, and
when we undertake to crowd them at
any time they naturally use thelf weap'
Ons on our settlers
The Indians have no confidence in the
treaties OF the Government. They have
seen them habitnally violated whenever
il is the interest OF the white aiyenturers
to intrude upon them. The Black Hills
business hasnotorionsly reused their
resenments in the last two years, and
il was well understood that sooner or
later trouble would grow out of.that ia-
fringement on their domain. The pres
ent trouble probably grew ont OF that
infringement more or less directly. The
facts Of the collision with the Sioux ap.
pear to be about as follows: -. Z
Au expedition under command Of Gen.
Crook, left Fort Fetterman some days ago
for the North to punish the Sioux for dep
relations on the frontier and their refusal
to live quietly on their reservations. The
main column, under command OF Gen:
Crook, took the right, and about fort
night ago encountered the Sioux on Rose
bud Creek, north Of the line Of Montana.
The left hand column, under General
Custar, moved in a northwesterly direc-
tion, and, as 1t now appears, encountered
the Sioux in great force in the valley
Of the Little Horn, within the territory
Of the Grow reservation. The Rosebud
and Big Horn rivers, it may be explained,
flow northward, and pour their waters
into the Yellowstone. The Little Horn
flows into the Big Horn river about
twenty miles from its mouth, and 1t was
about the same distance up the Little
Horn from its mouth that the sanguinary
battle occurred. The plan OF attack was
Characteristic OF Custar, whose tao.
tics have always been audacious and
aggressive to the verge OF rash
ness. Hc had six or eight hundred
men, and he divided them into two de.
tachments, the better to surround and cap
ture his enemy. One detachment under
Major Reno was sent rotnd to get'into
the valley below the Indians, while Custar
with five small companies Of the Seventh
cavalry advanced directly, down theiyel.
ley to tho attack. sNsturaliy,. Castsr
reached the enemy frst, and appafeht-
ly, without moments hesitation,
he hurled his five little squadrous
into the Indian camp. There were
about three thousand Of the Sioux
brayes-Custar's little squad was out.
numbered ten 10 one. They dashed
through the village, their horses plung-
ing through aud over wigwams and cook
ing poles, the cavalfymen slashing right
and left with their sabres and firing
rapidly with their tarbines and revOly
ers. But ten to one are desperate odds
The Sioux were elated over their drawr
battle with Crooks column; they were,
moreover, well armed and full Of savage
fury over the intrnsions upoa their
domain. They hid in theirwigwams and
fred upon the cavalrymen at so short
range that nearly every shot was fatal
When the little band OF aSsailants was
thinned down to a mers squad, and It's
pistols and carbines emptied, the sayages
rushed out, shot down the horses and
dragged the soldisrs from their saddles.
oithree hundred and ten men but thirty
wounded were left, They escaped death
by torture only through the arrival OF
Major Reno's detachment and the eager.