The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-02-06
CROOK AS A cAMPAlGNER.
His Summer Expedition Against the Sioux
as I. Was, No. as It Might
Have Been.
What He Knew About Fighting Indians When
He Started, and What He Learned
on the Big Horn.

column article in the Chicago Times of
Saturday last, from the pen of John F.
Finerty, the correspondent of the
Times who accompanied Gen. Crook
last summer. We have always con-
sidered Mr.. Finerty the best correspon-
dent who went out with Crook, and we
give place to his remarks as being fair
and impartial in every sense. They
were called out by a letter to the Times
in which the writer charged Crook
with imbecility, cowardice and about
all the other crimes ON the calendar.
Mr.. Finerty says:
Gen. Crook came into the department
of the Platte from Arizona, only u short
time before he commenced operations
against Crazy Horses band o n h Pow
der river. He had always, previous to
that campaign, been engaged against
foot Indians, and had no knowledge of
the Sioux of fighting and their
wonderful skill on horseback. AS was
not in the expedition that attacked the
Indian village on the Powder last 18th
of March, l have nothing to say on the
matter, except that the result led to i'll
feeling between several distinguished
officers, chief of whom are Gen. Crook
and Gen. Reynolds, colonel of the Third
cavalry. The feud has never been COM
pletely healed, and, of course, the par
.tisans on each side cherish a party
feeling that only military rules and ETH
Quette prevent from being disastrous
to the service.
AS far as 1 can learn, it was only on
that campaign that Col. Stanton, pay
master United States army, acted as a
casual correspondent forthe New York
Tribune. And it was that correspon-
dence which produced great ill-will to-
ward him from such officers as sided
with Gen. Reynolds. 1t must be on
this account that your correspondent
makes the mistake of supposing that
Crook takes Stanton around with him
that he may act as a kind of military
Boswell.
The correspondents on the field, with
two exceptions, were not particularly
friendly to Crook. For myself, l had
no feeling for or against him, and wrote
Just as l thought proper. A couple of
correspondents l knew to be hostile to
the general, so that his chances for get
ting ''puffed" were certainly not bril-
liant. You can find no 1attery of Gen.
Crook in either The New York Herald
or The Chicago Times. Whatever COM
pliments he received came as a matter
of fact, not as a matter of imagination.
In any case, Col. Stanton had nothing
to do with the business. He joined us
with Gen. Merritt's cavalry OIL Aug. 3,
and we marched on the track of Sitting
Bull, toward the Yellowstone, two days
later.
Gen. Crook has himself acknowledge
ed that he underestimate the enter
prise of the Sioux until he saw them in
action. This lack of approaching their
prowess made him somewhat careless in
the posting of pickets on June 8, when
we were surprised in camp on Tongue
River, but we repulsed the Indians in
quick time, having only a few men and
horses wounded.
THE ROSEBUD FIGHT
on June II was not a surprise. 1t is
true we were unsaddled when the Snake
and Crow videttes came rushing over
the hills to tell us that the Sioux were
advancing. The firing was audible for
at least ten minutes before the advance
of the Sioux came in sight of us at long
range. We had %unsaddled for the rea-
son that we had made a forty-tive mile
march, under a hot sun, the previous
day, and on the night of the 10th the
horses had been half-starved, ~ we
were obliged to bivouac in a circle, with
them in the centre, for fear of a noe
turnal stampede. They were ''half-
lariated," and had not decent grass
even at that. The hostiles occupied a
line Of heights beyond us, varying in
distance from eight hundred to three
hundred yards, and both lines
MAINTAINED A CONTINUOUS FIRE
for over an hour-the Snake and Crow
Indians engaging the Sioux rightunder
our noses, which compelled our men to
cease firing until the excited frisndlies
could be got back to the lines. This the
Sioux finally accomplished, but at a
heavy loss, for they exposed themselves
in a reckless manner and came right up
after the Crows and Snakes, yelling like
a pack of devils.
This was where the error of the bat
tie commenced. The soldiers chafed
on the skirmish-line, and the officers
said to each other, why the devil
don't he order us to mount and carry
the other heights?" So we lay there,
popping at the Sioux for another hour,
without much satisfaction to either
side. Seeing that they could make no
impression on our wing, the enemy
drew quietly off, leaving a few score
warriors to amuse us while they wheel
ed around on Henry's battalion and
opened a fire, the volume of which was
truly astonishing considering the num-
beers engaged. They s lowed themselves
in immense numbers, circling around on
their ponies, as hawks circle in the air
before they pounce upon their game,
and coming close up to Royal in SIC
cessive charges. That sturdy old Off
Ger, however, held his own, although
the gallant Cheyennes-Ihe flower of
the hostile tribes-came up to his SOL
diers hand to hand and killed and
wounded over thirty of Henry's men in
a very short time.
But Crook had his eyes fixed on the
Indian village, which he had very ear
ly located, and this was why we were
kept in the skirmish line until the In
dams got tired Of is.
Whether Crook handled his men in
the engagement with judgment or 9TH