Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-10-23
Il'IIE III TN All CJjsTERFEf.ll


! The real facts about the death 81
len. Custer were ought out Il 4
lew days ago att Boston is ali inter-
!: view between Isl ting Bull and Sergeans
ohn Ryan OF Newt on, ass, whss
fought under Gen. Reno in the las; q
battle between Clusters Regiment and
{ the Indians When Serge Ry an was
4 4 intro iced to the chief, Sitting Bull
4 showed no dIspo to talk, but
i presently Ryan drew from his pocket
$a blood-s tered Nalrg gufdoSh and
! asked Sitting Bull whether he hid ever
! seen q flag like that before. The Indian
\ !; showed sudden awakening interest
i Yes, he said. 81 ss.# u
When WASH? asked Sergeant Ryan.
When we had the fight and killet::
i Custer men, said Sitting Bull through
\ the interpreter, We got a number al
them Where did you get it?'''' &
i%ss On the second day ofthe fight, z ar
sWered Ryan I saw an Indian rid il:..,,
up and down in front of our lines dis.
1 playing this flag. Another man and
myself who had long range rifles, fired
at him repeatedly, and finally dropped
him of his horse. When night came |
crawledout ard brought the flag IN. &.
/ ''When we struck your trail, s Ser.
geant Ryan continued, land Just be-
fore the fight, wefound four lodges with
dead Indians In them" s1 s:saa* '<e#
tWho were they?'' :>S r. Y
| ''"They were Sioux Shawnee scouts
replied Sitting Bull, ''lzilled by men OF
Gen. Crooks's command On the Rose
bud on June IT. On the first day's
fight, do you recoIlect an Indian
{. mounted on q black horse who was
armed with a camp stick IAN Indian
! lance, and was cheering and urging on
his mem" ...,.. =. : ~-..
'That was when you were trying to
break our skirn1ish line" said Ryan.
'"The chiefwas 200 or,3OOyards away.
and fired on him a number Of times. -
Sitting Bull with much merriment)
said: 9TH at was I. Soon after that
| went to the scene OF the fight with
Custer and WAS not in the battle after
that day. [ remember when two OF
your pack mules charged down to the
water from your camp on the bluff.
They were loaded with ammunition.
and we used that ammunition as well as
what we got from Custer, III the second
days fight. When l went to take
charge of the battle at the other end O;
the valley, where Custer made his at
tack, I left Crazy horse in command
OF my young men who were fighting
you and Reno"
"Was the fight going on when you
got there?" asked Ryan.
ooh, yes; we had them surrounded"
at has been said that Rain-jn-the-
Face asserted that he killed Custer.
Did he?"
s:No. There is no truth in it. So 4
many were firing at Custer at the same
time that no one could tell whether
he hit him or not"
"You are telling the truth there"
said Ryan II was in command of the
detail that. buried Custer after Gen.
Terry came up. There were number
a newspaper man named Kelly were
the only ones whose bodies had not
been mutilated. Who was it that
crushed the head of Capt. Tom Custer,
and what became of the prisoners?"
II don't know about that" answer
ed Sitting Bull ''The young men and
squaws had to do with that. There
were 4 1000 warriors and there were in
the camp from 5000 to 1000 women
and children, and the camp was four
or five miles long, all in the valley OF
the Little Big Horn" ~
Chow many men did you have?"
"Six hundred all told, OF whom 2O7
were killed with CUSTER -
The two men exchanged many cam
paignIreminiscences. Ryan was in Gus. /.
ter's regiment on the plains for ten
years, and often skirmished with Sit.
ting Bull and his tribe when they were
on the war path.