The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1876-08-03
+ Il BATTLE.


-.
THE Loss Of Battle Fiags.
After Custer and Reno's great In
dian battle on the Little Horn the ne
moyai of the sick and wounded became
. subject Of serious consideration. No
ambulances could be got into the eoun-
try, and the nearest point to water
transportation was twenty-five miles
distant Rats were advised, but the
Little Horn is so narrow, shallow and
tortuous, RATS could notbe got down it.
Then it was determined to carry the
wounded by hand, but the soldiers were
six hours in making three miles, and it
took $50 men to move the litters. A
ma is a heavy burden, and two men
could only carry about ten minutes
without resting. The progress through
the sage brush wa tiresome in the ex-
treme, and it soon became evident if
the wounded men were to be got to the
boat IN less than three days i better
mode of conveyance than hand litters
must be provided Lieutenant G. W.
Doane, Second United States cavalry,
was the man for the emergency, and
proposed to General Terry that If be
would halt for halls day he (Iieutenant
Doane) would provide horse filters for
the sick and wounded The halt was
ordered, and a detail Of men placed at
Lieutenant Doane's service. He had
no nails, but horses were shot and skim
ned for rawhide, which is the Indians
substitute for a nail; he had no rope,
but the rawhide answered also for this.
Two pole, Is feet long and / inches in
diameter and laid side by side 3 feet
apart, thep two ros pieces 7 feet apart
THE length Of q bed) were laid across
the poles and bound to them with raw
hide Next, q net work Of raEhide Bas
woven from one pole to another. Just as
we used to cord q bed with rope. Two
loops at the ends reaching like a bent
bow from one pole to another completed
the litter. A mule was backed in the
front end between the poles, which ex-
tended along his sides like q pair Of
shafts, and the loop placed over q pack
saddle. Another mule was led into the
rear end Of the poles, with his head to-
ward the front mules tail and the loop
of raw hides placed over the pack sad
die and the litter was ready for trans
~portation. A soft bed of grass blankets
and robes was then made on the raw
hide cords, and the nan laid on it, with
his head toward the front mules tail
and his feet under the rear mule'Bnose.
It was astonishing how these litters
would carry. The spring Of the side
poles and the giving of the rawhide des-
troyed all jolt and after q little travel
ing the mules would take a uniform step
and even trot without hunting the
wounded Forty-two of these ntters
were made in half a day and the woun-
ded taken in six hours over a distance
it would have required three days to
carry them by hand. Even the sitting
down and picking up of a hand litter,
the wounded said, caused them more
pain than the trotting Of the mules with
Mr.. Doane's ingenious continuance.
Loss OF BATTLE FLAGS.
Perhaps one of the bitterest regrets
the officers and men Of the Seventh cav
airy will have for the unfortunate re-
suit of the battle Of the Little Horn
will be the loss of their standards.
General Custer carried with him into
action on that occasion not only his old
division flag, but the regimental stan
dafds, both of which were captured by
the Indians. In addition to the division
and regimental flags Custer lost five
guidons carried by the five companies
that were with him Colonel Reno on
his field lost three of the seven guidons
carried into battle. Nothing is known
of the fighting around Custer's flags,
but the battle on Reno's side ragged
fiercest whenever the smaller tailed
flags appeared. Again and again the
| color ~sergeants were shot down and
their places Immediately filed by others.
About one flag three men were killed
and wounded, but it was at last born
of the field in safety. Lieutenant De
Rudio, seeing a troop flag fall, dis
mounted and picked it up and carried
it away through volleys from the In
dian line, but he afterWard lost it in
the timber, where it became entangled
in the branches of a tree, and before he
could loosen it the Indians charged and
captured it. For this battle of the
Little Big Horn the Indians have no
less than ten of our battle flags to show
as evidence of their bravery and
prowess-