Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1879-05-08

MY "a S1oupo VI IouTS, anu lflally CuS-
ter and a number of officers inside Il circle
OF forty men, surrounded by slain horses,
placed head to tail. Curly, the Crow scout,
who escaped by wrapping himself in a
blanket, indian fashion, and who afterwards
joined US, says that here the fight was the
Dittefest; that the continuous discharge of
the rifles he can liken to nothing so much as
the sound of the tearing OF strong cloth.
and only when their ammunition was gone
dld the Sioux swarm upon them like a host
OF bowling wolves. Then he jumped on a
horse and made his escape, swimming the
Big Horn, and going direct to the Crow
camp, which was turned into a community
of mourners by the terrible intelligence of
which he was the bearer.
The Crows, fearing that tie victorious
Sioux would follow up their success bv an
attack Oh them, at once hastened to- leave
their camp ground on Prior's Fork and seek
the protection of their agency. They be-
leved that all of the 9TH cavalry had been
Killed, and were fully convinced that our
little force would share the same fate. Their
generalization was complete when the de-
serting scouts arrived in a body and corrob-
rated Curly's story. How these scouts
managed to obtain such accurate lnforma-
ton as they impaired to us on the 26th. is a
puzzle.
All the bodies save those Of Custer and
keogh are more or less mutilated. Hands.
heads, feet and legs are cut off and scattered
here and there. The squaws finished the
wounded by knocking them in the head
with axes furnished by the United States
government. Custer was shot through the
temple, evidently while lying on the ground.
Hls face is as placid as it he were sleeping.
heogh was probably saved from mutilation
by the discovery, when the squaws stripped
him, of an agnus del suspended from his
neck. All the bodies except Clusters were
stripped.
Before the scene of Reno's fight I rode IN
to the top of the hills, about three hundred
yards, to obtain a better idea and view OF
the ground than could be had from where
we were camped.
Their hospital was in a slight depression,
surrounded by a number of dead horses
placed head to tail in a circle. After a good
look, | was about to descend when I saw.
just over the brow of a ridge, the whisk of
a horses tail. Thinking [ had found a
prize rode over the ridge and found an
Indian pony. A bullet had broken one of
MS hmd legs just below the hip, ana with
his every motion the leg swung back aand
1ortn. AS soon as he saw my horse he be-
gan to whinny. Nearing him, he hobbled
up and rested his head against the flank of
my morse. Riding of and looking back, /
saw the poor creature striving to follow.
lie could only obtain water by crossing the
steep bluffs that stood between him and the
river. The wounded leg was badly swollen.
tormenting flies We're about him in
sWarms. knowinm. that he must die there
q lingering death, l rode back and again he
up, this time laying his head on nv
horses rump, looking straight at rae, as if
pleading for help. Drawing my revolver.
leld it within a few inches of his forehead
md pulled the trigger. Lightning could
lot have finished him sooner. Better thus
han the days Of lingering agony that must
follow if left to himself.
On my return, l marked more carefully
he embankment from which Reno's horse
nen lumpeefinto the river as they retreateh.
Inc vertica! bank was not less than ten feet
high. From there they jumped into water
four or five feet deep, then crossing
he stream, climbed the hills which were too
Tor a direct ascent. The marvel is
hat with such a multitude of Indians around
hem SO manyf escaped. The retreat was a
mad race to a place Of safety While wind
ng up the steep hillside the fugitives were