The daily gazette., 1876-07-08

were piled promiscuously. At the
highest point of the ridge lay Custer,
surrounded by a chosen baud. Here
were his two brothers and his nephew,
Mr.. Reed, Colonels Yates and Cook,
and Captain Smith all lying in a circle
of a few yards their horses beside
them. Here, behind Yates company,
the last stand had been made, and here,
one after another, these last survivors
OF Clusters five companies had met
their death. The companies had suc-
cessively thrown themselves across the
path of the advancing enemy, and had
been annihilated.
mot A MAN ESCAPED"
Not a man has escaped to tell the
tale, but II was inscribed on the sur
face of ..the barren hills in language
moreeloquent than words. Two hund
red and sixtyone bodies have been bur
ried from Clusters and Reno's COM
mands. The last one found was that
of Mr.: Kellogg, correspondent of the
Bismarck Tribune, and aIso, | believe,
of the New York Herald. The follow
ing are the names of the officers whose
remains are recognized: General Gus
ter, Colonel Keogh, Colonel Yates,
Colonel Custer, Colonel Cook. Captain
Smith, Lieutenant Mcintosh, Lieu-
tenant calhoun, Lieutenant Hodgson
and Lieutenant Rely. All of these
belonged to the Seventh Cavalry.
Lieutenant Crittenden, of the Twen-
tieth Infantry was serving temporarily
with the regiment. Lieutenants Por>
ter, Stugis, Harrington and Assistant
Surgeon Lord are reported missing as
their remains were not recognized, but
there is small ground to hope that
they survived, ,as it is obvious that the
troops were completely surrounded by
force ten times their number. The
history of Reno's operations com
prises all tina. is now known of this
sanguinary affair. 1t seems that Gus
ter, with eight companies, reached the
river in the forenoon of the 25tb, hav
ing marched continuously all the pre-
vious day and night. Seeing the up.
per or southern extremity of the VII.
lage, and understanding its extent,
he ordered Reno to ford the river and
charge the village with but three COM
panies, moved down the right bank
and behind the bluff made similar
attack at the other end. Reno made
his charge, but finding that he was
dealing with force many times his
own numbers he dismounted his men
and sought 9shelter in the timber
which fringed the river bank. The
; position appearing to be untenable
he remounted and cut his way to the
river, forded it under a murderous fire
,, and gained the bluff, where he wa;
|, subsequently found. Here he was
= afterwards joined by Colonel Benteen
: with three companies, which had JUS
! reached the field, and by Captain Nc
I, Dougal. with his company and the
pack mules. The position was in
mediately afterwards completely in
vested by the Indianf, who, for more
than twenty -four hours, allowed the
garrison no rest and inflicted severe
', loss. But for the timely arrival of
relief the command would have beer
cut off to man. The number saved
with Reno was 329, including 81
wound.
The loss among the Indians was proba
bly, considerable, as bodies have beer
found in every direction and they left
behind only small portion of theil
! dead, We remained nearly two days OF
the scene of. f.this disaster, to bury the
dead and to prepare for transporting, the
: wounded to place of safety. The
: neighboring country was still full OF
. scattering bands of Indians, watching
our movements and doubtless prepared
to take advantage of any wants of vigi-
lance to add to the number of their vic.
Tins. A species of rude horse litter was
constructed of poles and strips of hide.
and on these the disabled were carried
twenty miles to the Forks of Big Horn
where they were placed on board the
steamer and last night they were brought
down to the junction with the Yellow
stone. Tomorrow the steamer will con-
vey the poor fellows to Fort Lincoln
In closing my hasty narrative of this af-
fair, in certain respects the most remarka-
BILE in modern history, | purposely re-
frain from comments. The naked facts,
so far as they are known, must guide
your readers to conclusion as to the
cause of the calamity. Information de-
rived from many sources, including, of
course, the observations Of officers en-
gagged in the battle, lead to the conclu-
sion that twenty-five hundred or three
thousand Indians composed the fighting
force arrayed against Custer and his six
hundred. Still these were odds which
any officer of the Seventh Cavalary
would have unhesitatlngly accepted for
his regiment under any ordinary circum-
stances of Indian warfare. The force
under General Terry's immediate ccm-
mand was designed, not only to cut off
the retreat of the Indians, but to afford
support to Custer if needed. Its march
was made in accurate accordance with
the plan communicated to each of the
subordinate leaders before the move
ment commenced. 1t reached the point
where the battle was expected at the
time proposed. and had not the actions
been precipated for reasons which are as
yet unknown, force would have been
present on the field sufficient to retrieve
any repulse of the attacking column.
General Gibbons cavalary followed the
Indians for about ten miles, and ascer-
tanned that they have moved to the south
and west by several trails. A good deal
Of property had been thrown away iby
them tc tighten their march, and was
found scattered for many miles over the
prairie. Many of their dead were also
discovered secreted in ravines a long dis
tance from the battlefield. Among them
were Arapahoes and Cheyennes as .well
as Sioux.