St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-08-07
THE DEATH OF GENERAL CUSTER.

Never realizing, as l believe, the
fearful odds against him, believing
that he would find the village ION
the rum" and that between himself
and Reno he could double them up"
in short order, Custer had jauntily
trotted down to his death. 1t was
a long fve-mile ride from where he
sighted the northern end of the vii
lage to where he struck its centre
around that bold point of bluff, and
from the start to the moment his
guidons whirled into view, and his
troopers came galloping front into
line" down near the ford. he never
fairly saw the great village-never
dreamed of its depth and extent.
Rounding the bluff. he suddenly found
himself face to face with thousands
of the boldest and most skilful war
riOrs of the prairies. He had hoped
to charge at once into the heart of
the village, to hear the cheers of
Reno's men from the south. Instead
he was greeted with a perfect fury of
flame and kissing lead from the dense
thicket of willow and cottonwood, a
fire that had to be answered at once.
Quickly he dismounted his men and
threw them forward on the run, each
fourth man holding, cavalry ashton,
the horses of the other three. The
line seems to have swept in paral-
lei very nearly with the general course
of the stream, but to no purpose.
The foe was ten to one in their front.
Boys and squaws were shooting
from the willows ooh, we had plenty
gunSi" said our StOry-tellerS; and
worse than that, hundreds of young
warriors had mounted their ponies
and swarmed across the stream be-
low him, hundreds more were follow
then it was that Custer, the hero of
a hundred daring charges seems to
have realized that he must cut his
way out. "Mountl'' rang the
trumpets, and leaving many poor
fellow on the ground, the troopers
ran for their horses. Instantly from
lodge and willow Ogalallas and
Brules sprang to horse and rushed
to the ford in mad pursuit. MAKE
for the heights !" must have been the
order, for the first rush was east
ward; then more to the left, as they
found their progress barred. Then,
as they reached higher ground, all
they could see, far as they could see,
circling, swooping, yelling like de
mons, and all the time keeping up
their furious fire, were thousands of
the mounted Sioux. Hemmed in, cut
off, dropping fast from their saddles,
Clusters men saw that retreat was
impossible. They sprang to the
ground, turned their horses loose"
said the Indians, and by that time
half their number had fallen. A
skirmish line was thrown out down
the slope, and there they dropped at
five yards interval there their COM
rades found them two days after.
Every instant the foe rode closer and
gained in numbers; every instant
some poor fellow bit the dust. At
last, on a mound that stands at the
northern end of little ridge, Custer,
with Cook, Yates, and gallant
"Brother Tom" and some dozen sol
diers, all that were left by this time,
gathered in the last rally. They sold
their lives dearly, brave fellows that
they were; but they were as dozen
to the leaves of the forest at the end
of twenty minutes, and in less than
twenty-five-ali was over.-[ From
"Custer's Last Battle" by Capt.
Charles King, in Harper's Magazine
for August.