Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-02-28
BADLY BOUNCED.
An Open Letter to Major RenO-A
Very Pointed and Sarcastic Com.
muDIcaTiGn frOEn InterpFe
ter +. +. Girard.

BISMARCK, ID. l., February 23.-Ihe fol-
lowing open letter to Major Reno appears in
the Bismarck Tribune:
To Major Marcus A. Reno:
MAJOR In the issue of the Chicago Times
of January 9th you are represented as tes.i-
tying IN your effort to acquit yourself Of the
charge of Cowardice, that you discharged
Girard from the government service IN the
latter part of 1876 because you believed hum
10 be guilty Of stealing. Those who do not
know you, sir. may make due allowance for
you, and may do me- the injustice TO place alb
solute confidence 10 your Veracity, and to
guard against such an error | take the liberty
of confronting you with your worst enemy
a statement of facts. You did discharge me
as post interpreter May 6, 1876, assigning as
a reason that you expected to go
cut IN command of the Lincoln
column, and that you must econo-
mize, aud that you could employ three team
stefs for my salary. | can now understand
tha economy in dischargIng an interpreter, as
Vt. probably tOresaw that there would be no
occasion for one SO far as your relations with
the Indians were concerned. General Gus
ter, contrary to your plans and expectations,
returned and assumed command; and alter
hearing your reason for my discharge from
yourself, ne restored me to my position on the
twenty-third OF the same month. Why did
you not make an official complaint to your
superior, or institute proceedings against me
4
character, always associated with that which
| distinguished you at the battle of the Little
| Big dOrn-p-tty tyranny. Custer you could
| not harm, but you could his humble friends,
| 50 you discharged Glrard. Major, what evil
| genius tempted you to suggest COM
parlson OF character between you and
me! You, whom too generous cOuu-
| try educated and trained for an hon
| orabie profession, to see you conspicuous
| only for a meauness and unrlanlness
| in your capacity Of commanding officer at
| AbercrOmbrie, where your insults and perse-
cutions of brother officers wife aroused the
| indignation of whole country, and culmi-
| mated in your dismissal from the military SER
vice for conduct unbecoming an officer and
gentleman. You, say, do yourself an IN
Justice IN contrasting yourself with an hum
| bic interpreter, whose simple ambition never
arose beyond the humble discharge OF his
humble duty. Your name, since this tasc1,
| has secured to itself some prominence by its
association with a chief whom you betrayed,
and this has ended in an inquiry into your
conduct at the Little Big Horn. | commend
your prudence IL. this course, if not IN Others
as more than two years and a half elapsed
before your wounded honor asserted itself
and asked for d court of inquiry. You are
safe at last, SIR, and safety is the goal you
have been striving for most of your life; but
remember, Major, you once secured a certain
kind of safety, but was it worth the price?
Your mOdesty would not allow you to imagine
that your feat OF hOrsemanship on that coca
sion would excite such profound interest in
the minds of your conntrymen. Nor did YOU
believe, when behind the barbados on the
hill, where you SO strategically eluded the
sight OF your command and the fire of the
Indians, that you would be exposed and pill
loried as you have been in Chicago. Pity
TOR you prevented your comrades from charg-
ing you with a quality of which the public
~ -. 7
your condition, and gladly award you all the
benefit of the doubt implied by the Scotch
verdict mot proved" You are not nv ideal
of representative American officer. | can
not recall any illustrious person in our mill
tary history to whom you bear any resem-
bance, and yet am informed you some
times assume NapoieOnIc attitudes, but they
are only attitudes, and are not significant Of
anything warlike. Major, among the
other amusing elements of your state
ment before the court was your attempt
to criticise Clusters military abilities. What
must his comrades, especially General Mer- !
ritz have thought as you, with your limited |
capacity and narrow, beclouded horizon, at |
tempted to criticlse soldier whose life Is a |
challenge to your own dead level, and whose |
death you will never emulate? In answer to |
a question by Recorder Lee you state that |
you heard was at Little Big Horn. Was |
this the source Of your information? Per- |
lection of the memorable twenty-ffth of |
June, 1867, and you swore you would not be- |
lieve any report brought to you by me on
that occasion. MAJOR, the question will nat
urally suggest itself, upon what have you
been feeding that you have grown so great
In your own esteem2 You forget, Major,
that you were not being tried by snobs, but
by an American constituency, who will place
a Just estimate on your snobbish as
sumption of superiority, and with that con-
stituency l leave the question as to who did
his duty, you or |, on the occasion referred
to. In leaving you, Major, let me correct
any impression you may have that am ar
guing with you on points of fact, not match
ing my veracity against yours. My respect
for myself and friends will not permit me to
do my reputation such injustice l merely
call your attention to few naked truths with
which you are, perhaps, already familiar, but
which, with characteristic modesty, wherever
the truth is concerned, leave for some one
else to push forward. F.F GIRARD.