, 1879-01-16
MAJ. RENO.
Third Days Session of the Court
of Inquiry.
Testimony of Lieut.. Wallace, Of
the Seventh.
What lie Saw md Heard About the
Battle.
Condition nf tho Troops--Possibflfty OF
Kcjofnfng Custer.

Hcj0tnthE Cnsler~
The Reno Court Of Inquiry commenced their
third davis lnbnrs at II o'clock yesterday snortl-
inE at the Paimer.l1o,,ae, Mr. Palmer having al-
luwcd their to change their quarters from the
small nnd chccrfcss room In the cntTesol TO tic
lighter and moro eanocious ono 10 tic north
west cs,s,lcr of tho second Goor frnm the oi!tcc.
Tho three mctupcrs Of Tho Court, Col. King,
Got. Merritt. aud Ma] ltoynl, were In their
tlaces, M wcro tho Recorder, Lieut.. Lee. and
thc witness of tho day before. Lieut.. Mc0nirc,
tho latter to ll.tea to tho shorthand writer's
report Of hts testimony. Mnt Reno and his
counsel were not present. There was abOnt
tho same number OF spectators that there was
On tic first day.
Col, King, WIN was rrn1.g uewspancr, re-
marked that. as tbs time had cumc tn open
thu Court, IL would como to or1er aud proceed
wifi the business.
Lieut.. Leo .tntc,l that neither Maj. lscno nor
hts counsel had arrived.
t'oi. Klnc-Wo won't wait for Reno; II Ia Ills
place 10 be here.
Lieut.. i.cc nskca II tho roll should be called,
ami the Court replied In the negative.
The Recorder then stated that lie desired tho
sturthand writer TO proceed to rcnl the tcsti-
many OF Lieut.. Atcs'uIrc, tho witness Of
thu day before, suggesting tint oil tho
proceedings be- read from BEGINNING to
c1,tl Of Tuesdays session. The stenoRraphcr
coupled will, the request. and began to rcati
n" Ind scarcely donn so when Mai. Reno and
h!s counsel walked tnto The rom. The former
a;u,log!zed to the Court for the lclny, stating
that llu was standing outside the door, anil dbl
not know that the assembly had come to order.
Coz. King replied, without looking tip from
hts paper. that tue Court was called 10 order at
II o'clock.
Inc ttenographcr proceeded with his reading
Of tho minutes and the testimony Of Mcclure.
The latter made few corrections. and mention
cd distances between scycral points upon tho
map, which It was allowed that hc should do
Tucsday afternoon. He stated tint the tlIs-
iuneo from the river to tic point whcro
Reno made his staHd was alout four
truths Of milo: the skiriaish.ltnc
ot lseno was nbo,,t eigbt-tenths Of q milo III
lruEt!l; fran Rrnu'a right Of skirnisl.llne on
the left side 81 the river, III direct limo to where
1e had sent Lieut.. Weir. after the stan.l on tlc
h!i ~ the right side r the river, wis about ono
Previous to the rcading Of Lieut.. McGuirc'a
trstman,. MI utlIcr witnesses were ordered to
leave tho room.
Liul!t. leu asked the defense II they desired
to rcrull Lieut.. AIct1ulre to the witucRs-stauo,
alal Mr.. Gilbrrt replied tlat they did not.
Lieut.. Leo ss,EGcascd TINT the corrections o!
tl,e witness ba recorded separately lnstcud of
being Incorporated into tic report.
Thr examination at new witnesses Was then
declared to bt In drtlcr. nntl
LtEuT. GEORGE D. WALLACE,
Flrst.1.tcutcnant IN the Seventh Cavalry, was
stating his futl nhnsa and position, and that hn
VIVA ut prrscnt on duty Mt Fort Abraham Lln-
ct.ln, Dal;osn, he was askcd by tho Recorder
wilyre hu waa IN the 2jth daY Of June, 18TH
ti.At1. ktk 4f.
In the Valley nI the i.ttt1s Big lfor., near It's
mouth. I.icut.-CoE, Custer was in command,
and lseno was tic Second officer. Tho to,ops
were nll together at thut time. IL Has at about
quarter past Il o'clock on that day whrn Custer
divided up his command, which consisted OF
twelve companies of ths Seycitth Cavalry, civ.
lug three s9snpanIes t, Ksno nni tllrec COM
left 10 GIiartt tho pnck.tTatn, and Custer
touk cnnln,and Of Tie remaining five companies.
Cupt Henscen was sent tu The left, With tnstruc-
tto,s to feel about III that dIrcctuu for tho
enemy.
Kcuo had about 113 men, Including Indian
scouts; Hentccr's fhrtc was something larger.
amt Euster's coln,at'd numbered IL tho s'clEl1-
hnrht,ol Ut 9415. After Dcntccn llaA ROnc on to
the lult, Custer md Kcno started down Oh zach
h!.lu uf lutte stream tawar1l tho nurth. After
they had gone aeyvral miles. moving In parallel
lnes with each other, they cuEnc across q tcpco
At this point
THE ApluTANr cAAs FROM crsTEH TO RESo,
AMI told him Tint tbs Indians were about two
mtics oil, nnll ordered Reno to Charge upon
tl'eni, a.ld he would bc SUPPORTED.
In nHswsr 10 a question by Lieut.. Zee, Wit
ness stated that thu It'll. stream spoken of by
h!u wits tributary to tho Little Dtg ilorn.
The frat thu WitiCss saw 0f Runo III person
att'r Custsr's order iad been gtysn to charge was
ordGr llc hat hcart glycN wns this 0uo to clarge
on thc lnltans. The two columns were still
moving lu parallel dE1ecsions up to that tt.lp,
ht,.1v tt+f. ts.
Custer went nlf to the north. on the right ol
tho Little Bsg Horn, olM was lost sight oi.
Wien Reno received his command to charge
tho Indians. he believed. US nesr as he could =.
Inrnllct, tho Ut1cls were Us follows: "Tta In.
1lIans afe ubOut two mtEcs aud hslf ahead
Cknrgu ~ fast az you Gun, and We Will support
you.n Wit'!css was not exactly, pusstlve ae II
Guster raw thu village befts he did htmseif OF
mt. He waa unable 10 teil the length " thr
breadth of the village. a. tho tt1it'rr conccaied
1t fran view.
Lieut.. Lcu-D!d you sec any !ndians1
Witncss-fcs, | saw plenty vi lndtuus. A
smlie trptn the SPECTATOR.
Witncrs, continuing his testimony. SAID thai
un,l lo El,luid judgo II was about ti.rcu nile,
long, aud VARYING III width tfoIn al eighth to
quarter hf u ntle.
Rccorler-sfiut, IN your judgment, was
TltH cosp1rloN OF TUE TAoors
at tho time Of tho cbarRel
"EH taAA Wh4p &Llk Aut
fnrrcl marches, had been up ucariy I'll night
were oyeFHoskcd, am! were very Tired. lh
y Eses wrre completely worn out, aud The mel
lnl.
The witness was asked to describe In detai
lhr ground, tlle condition Ut Rano's command
auu tac nature of tho orders received BY him.
He stated thut. when tlle command Was flrf
tNen, Mai. Reno moved forward Al trut
Alter crosa!nH tho little stream they cotnc to
=! s!nala i"td wh[ch had been used by The iudiaus
ahsf then proceeded II q trut until tbs rive
~as Reached, alter crossing wh!ct, they fortnc.
.nas meSo sompanles front, with one company III II
!eat; Nun trulr into q Katlop tor u cons!,i
ssah'e dtstaucu toward ths village Tue
anousat W the cloud VI du4
Mai. Reno ordered twU Of Gls tlrer co,npsujs
~ a,, a'ose forward on ths right to sut them oh
"ts "tss ehasl"; t III that direction fur J. few tntn
,s, u.Ss, my discovered thst the Indians wc1
,o'Alng back toward them. Tie tlir,l compau
nas cunning up behind OH trot. The horse
, WIRE - donn ina little bel. Of timber tha
s",s .ossls" the ootton Of what WAS once tho rive
sGMnrss, aud which was nov 1ry, the wool