Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1878-01-24
An Unvarnished Tale.
Adventures Of t.ae Maxwell Party
A Heroic Party af Six Attack.
ed by Indians, and kept in
State Of Siege for
Nearly q Week

Nearly . Week ~
. We are indebted to our friend White
Calfee for the following:
e Mr.. A. j. Maxwell started from Miles
City Dec. 7, 1877, for the Stanley crossing
OF the Little Missouri river, with the in
g tention of locating there. He was accom-
panied by Mrs. A. NJ. Maxwell and laugh
ter May, Mr.. Bo ten, George Darland,
Matt. -, and Jester Pruden.
On the evening of the 18th of December
i while travelling over the divide between
4 the O'FallOn creeks, Mr.. and Mrs. Max
well went ahead of the teams, and discov-
, cred, as they thought, two antelope, a
short distance ahead of them. On Mr..
Bouten coming forward and using his field
glass, the objects were ascertained to be
Indians, and he also discovered near by
about forty lodges. Some OF the company
became quite excited, and on watching the
Indians, the party soon became sat SIZED
J that they had run on to camp OF hos
tiles.
By mutual action. the party began to re-
treat and agreed to fall back about fifteen
miles to water and there make prepare
! tons to withstand an attack from the In
dams.
They succeeded in reaching the water
without being mOlested. They camped on
a high point, which was almost surround
ed by deep ravine. There was no tim
Der nearer them than 200 yards, and water
was about the same distance from them.
No Indians being near, they rested until
daylight, when they began to build log
and earth breastwOrks. About IL a. IN.
that day Sunday the Indians were dis
covered in the vicinity. The party kept
at work on their fertilization, however,
until evening, and were unmolested. The
cattle were being kept in the deep ravine
near by, and al evening left the mouth OF
it for water when the Indians rushed up
the creek, took possession of the cattle and
drove them off without firing shot.
The n1en kept busy at work and dared
not follow the Indians. About II O'Clock
that night they had their Notifications
completed. 1t consisted in part OF the
wagons, and the rest was formed of logs,
earth and gunny sacks filled with sand
The Indians did not care to make an at
tack, but used endeavors to draw the men
from behi I'd their breastworks by scatter
ing the cattle in the vicinity.
The men heard the cattle believing dur
ing the next day, and had no doubt that
they were separated by the Indians, and
that the Indians thought the white men.
hearing the cattle. would think some of
them had broken away from the Indians
and got left. No Indians were seen during
the day, and the men were careful to keep
themselves concealed. At night one man
started to Fort Keogh tor help, which left
the force reduced to tour men, one woman ,
and one girl.
About o'clock at night the guard heard
the Indians coming up the creek. The In
dians dismounted, lett their stock ut the !
creek, and attempted to crawl upon the
party through the grass. Tie moon was
shining brightly and the party could see
them. They allowed the Indians to get !
within sixty yards of them when the men
fired. wounding one Indian. The Indian
cried out to them in broken English not
to shoot any more, that he was wounded,
that he was a good Indian, and asked them
to come to him. They told him to come
up to them and they would not shoot him
any more, but would give him grub. The
Indian said, Ugh! ugh! ugh! Can't see
it,"
The Indian waited for the men to come
to him, but they stayed inside their fortiti-
cations. Getting tired of waiting, he said,
''How! how! Me go.' The other Indi-
ans waited near by for the wounded one
and assisted him in getting away. The
Indians then mounted their ponies and
made dash on each side of the works, fir
ing into them as they passed. Repeating
this experiment several times, and finding
that the white men would not expose them
selves. the Indians retired to a point close
by and fired several signal shots, which
were answered from Il distance, and in
about two hours assistance evidently ar
rived. The Indians then came forward
and shouted ''How! how! Come outr'
The white men refused to comply with the
request, and the Indians then commenced
shooting and kept up the fire constantly
for about two hours. They then left their
horses and built five large fires and camp
ed. Being neighborly inclined. they came
on foot within a safe distance and asked
the men to talk with them. The men were
not inclined to be sociable, and refused to
answer questions or. by exposing them
selves, let the Indians know how few there
were in the party. The Indians did not
dare come up to the breastworks, and each
man had to keep watch and be ready to
fight. Mrs. Maxwell cooked their meals,
her daughter May carried the grub to the
men, and the men cat with their guns over
the breastworks, ready to fire at any mo-
ment.
On Tuesday morning (1Sth) the Indians
made determined attack, surrounding the
little band of white men and shooting from
their bows SO that the arrows would drop
down inside the breastworks. The men
seemed very cool, and fired at every Indian
that came within shooting distance. One
Indian sat taking a good medicine smoke.
He had nice red scarf on his head. A
bright idea seemed to strike him, and with
the pipe in his mouth, he walked down
within GO yards of the Notifications and
began to take a survey of things. A shot
from one of the men sent him tO-a warm
er climate.
The bow and arrow brigade now fell
back and some OF the Indians crawled up,
watching to see head above the top Of
They saw one and fired. :
hitting pony in the head and killing it
The men kept close watch and
never missed an opportunity to shoot
when the chances for hitting IN Indian &