Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1886-07-29

diers early IN the morning crossing the
divide When Reno and Custer separated
we watched them un til they came down into
the valley. The cry was raised that the
white soldiers were coming, and orders were
given for the village to move. Reno swept
down SO rapidly upon the upper end that
the Indians were forced to fight Sitting
Bull and l were at the point where Reno at
tackled. Sitting Bull was the big medicine
man. The women and children were hastily
moved down the stream where the Cheyennes
were encamped The Sioux attacked Reno
and the Cheyennes Custer, and then all be-
came mixed up. When Reno made his at
tack at the upper end he killed my two
squaws and three children, which made my
heart bad. l then fought with hatchet
(meaning that he mutilated the soldiers.)
From other portions of his graphic de-
scription of the dght one of the chief causes
of Custer's disaster Is determined He says
that some of the horses stood on their heads
from fright at the Indians yelling and shak-
ing vari-colored blankets at them. The SOL
diers then abandoned their horses to fight on
foot, leaving the horses in charge of q few
men. These were soon dispatched by the
Indians, and the already frightened horses
stampeded, carrying in their saddles the re-
pended. The wiley redmen knew all this,
and drew the fire from the white soldier un-
til his ammunition wss exhausted, when
they closed right in and killed them with
hatchets. This account of the disaster is
born out by the known fact that most Of the
Seventh cavalry had, just previous to the
battle, been remounted on fiery young Ken
lucky horses, unframed to the yells and ex-
citement of Indian fighting.
Gall, however, pays high tribute to the
bravery of Clusters command. "The In
dians," he said, "were in couples behind and
in front of Custer as he moved up the ridge,
and were as many as the grass on the plains.
The first two companies (Keogh's and Cal
houn's) dismounted and fought on foot
They never broke, but retired step by step
until forced back to the ridge, upon which
all finally died. They were shot down in
line where they stood. Keogh's company
rallied and were all killed in bunch (This
statement seems borne out by the facts, as
thirty eight bodies of Keogh's troopers were
found piled in heap)
"The soldiers fought desperately and never
surrendered. They fought standing along in
line on the right As fast as the men fell the
horses were herded and driven toward the
squaws and old men, who gathered them up
When Reno attempted to find Custer by
throwing out skirmish line, Custer and all
who were with him were dead. When the
skirmishers reached a high point overlooking
Clusters field, the Inc ans were galloping
around and over the wounded, dying and
dead. popping bullets "a arrows into them.
Forty-three Indians vera killed that day,
but many more died subsequently from
wounds"
Gall has with his own hand killed many
soldiers and settlers in the twenty years that
he was on the warpath prior to 1876. At
ono time party of soldiers overlook him on
the prairie, near Fort Sully, D. I. They shot
him half dozen times through the body,
and to make sure that he was dead Indian,
they bayoneted him several times through
the chest, but he lived to retaliate ON the
Little Big Horn battlefield.
Gall is magnificent specimen Of Indian
humanity He is full six feet in height,
with an immense chest and lithe active
body. He, like Sitting Bull and the major
part of his tribe, are now sincere Christians,
and that they are proud Of their religion is
evidenced by tho cross which they wear.
Though born leader, Gall has become ons
Of the meekest Of followers