Omaha daily bee., 1891-12-27

available man who could lit a gun W or
dered into instant and active serNic w il
all these hurried preparations were gong IN
not "a sound came from the battle hold.
There was an omiuous aud dcathlike
silence. For "A while it seemed as If every
man held his breath to catch the tulntcst
sound that might come from the scene where
our comrades were engaged, in perhaps a
death struggle, with the most relentless and
treacherous foe OF human kind. We could ut
intervals, as the breeze blew from that di.
reCtiOn, catch q chorus of dcmoniac vclls:
they were very faint, but the trained ears of
tho garrison * iew That they did not como
from the lips of white men.
Forward, - came the grim command from
Colonel Darlington, aud the rcliot party hlel
out of the post on Il dou ole quick. ABOUT
twenty available mon aud the sick were left
behind to hold the garrison. We were soon
across the PlnCy and up on the ridge. Field
glasses were brought into requlSitlOn To got
some glimpse OF Fottermau's party, but the
only thing that sped across the range OF their
vision was a vast horde of Struggling lndinns
moving Off toward the north and east. We
struck the trail of the party and followed 1t
about a mile and a half. 1t led right into tho
broken country. Tho command was halted
for awhile. in order that some Ineligible re-
connoisance could be made. The command
ing officers orderly, a nervy young fello% by
the name of Sample, asked leave to go on
ahead, as he had Il very feet horse, and he
would ride to an eminGnCc about Il quarter OF
II mile distant ana make Il reconnaissance from
that point. Others were sent to points
equally cons %picuous ana we awaited results.
All the Couriers returned except Sample
in a short while. Finally he was observed
riding as if for his life from the direction
that Fettermaa's command had taken, as in
dictated by tho trail. He was waving his hat
and was evidently under the stimulus oil the
| greatest excitement. Neither OF che other
courlcrs had discovered anything, but the re.
markabie actions OF Sample were sufficient
for the command to fall in ana await his re-
pert. He was with us in a very few mo-
ments and his first uttcrance was ~ have
FOUND them and
THEY ARE ALL DEAD"
His attitude and every aspect of fear and
horror gave credcnce TO his report. They
are all dead" he kept repeating, and for
some moments seemed unable to control him
sell. Forward, quick step, march" was
the ominous command. The Command was
IN a moment drifting along with a deter
mined stride. The moInted men of the party
g~allopeu on fearlessly ahead. They seemed
TO be gone an age, when one of them calle
Uar41 to the marching command and begged
US to double quick, as Samples report was
only too true.
At / o'clock we reached the scene. There
were men in that party who had faced death
on many Il battlefield during the war, nut
none hat ever seen IL sight hkt this. The
a1nihilatlon of an entire command, and all of
them lying dead and inde5criDably mutllated,
within the compass of s~oventy-tve yards.
The massaCred party had been
DECoYED INTO A TYPICAL AMBUSH,
a canon about 100 yards in length, which
bore much the semblanCe of a railroad cut,
carrying the illusion so far aS TO Indicate the
road-bed grade through its entire length. On
either side of this grade was a dense growth
OF choke cherry and blackberry brush. The
canon at its widest part was not more than
100 feet. The dead men, all except the citi-
zens, lay inside this Canon, and mostly on the
natural road-bed. They were huddled close
,--NtI 1, 40 ( 6 ,niU np tnFn "a n1lyAt aud had
made the stand for their lives back to back,
| so as TO present a continuous tront to their
assailants. Lying alongside of each man
we're scores Of emnty cartridge
not given their lives away without
| some return il kind. Just outside the canon
lay live citizens close together, and right
| among them were not less than 300 Empty
cartridge shells, which tod the story of what
their lives cost the foe. Just inside the
canon, but lying q little apart from the main
body of the dead, lay Colonel tetterman
and Captain "Baldyn Brown. They were
lying alongside OF each other. A blackeled,
powder burned bullet hole in Brown right
temple, ana a like one in F~etterman's left
| temple, told too plainly and sadly that. when
all hope had fled, Fetterman and Brown had
fulfilled their often repeated threat, that
when it came to the last, and all hope was
gone, in case of a fight with Indians,
THEY WOULD KILL THEMSELVES.
A short distance from these two officers
Law Trumpeter Bergiu OF the Second cavalry.
He was lying on his back, his hands gently
folded across his breast, and on them had
been laid his battered, bent and broken
| trumpet. Lieutenant Grummond lay close to
tho main body of the dead, but slightly off
the grade, and partly in the brush.
Excepting BuGler Bergin, every man OF
the party was scalped and otherwise mu-
tilated. There was not a body but was a
perfect pincushion of arrows. The mutila-
| lions in most instances were too Indecent for
description. The clothing had been stripped
from most of the bodies entirely. the excep-
! ton being where a few were left with the
| battered and bloody remnants of u shirt or
palr of pants. Their post norton butchery
indicated that they had inflicted a terrible
punishment on the Indians, as the mutila-
tions Uore mute evidence of unsuitable re-
venge. Strange as 1T may seem, not a dead
Indian was to be seen. There were, how
ever, scores of dead Indian ponies lying just
outside the canon, both at the east and west
ends of the canon. rNar
The massacre was sudden and horribly
complete. Ninety three men--seVenty-three
of the Eighteenth infantry, twelve of the
Second cavalry, three officers and tiYo Citi-
zens-went out from the stockade of Fort Phil
Kcarney at 10 :45 that morning in the full
flush of courageous manhood and eager to
meet their treacnerous, murdcrous foe.
Niuety-three men, those Identical men, were
s~tiffened in death less than four hours later.
| All of them were present ana accounted for
on the carnage field of Phil kearney. His
tory has few parallels of so complete, speedy
and utter humiliation of "A command rs tins.
A detail was hurried back TO the post for
wagons and ambulances, and the removal Of
the bodies to the fort was begun at once.
Meanwhile the wood party had returned
WITHOUT THE LOSS OF A MAN.
The Indians had suddenly relinQuishod their
attacn on the wood train, ostensiOly TO par
ticlpate in the attack on t'etternan.
When the detail returned TO the fort for
for wagons and ambulances the
excitement there was intense and can
only be imagined. The horrible story of the
massacre was told. Mrs. GrummOnd, the
bride of Lieutenant Grummond, heard 1t and
tainted. The ladies of the other dead officers
were not at the post; in fact, | believe that
both Brown and Eetterman were unmarried.
In the enlisted mems quarters there was
meanings and wallings, for many of the dead
were married, and had families ut the fort.
1t took US two days and "A half TO get all the
bodies into the post. They were all laid out
in a temporary annex to the hospital. The
surviving members of the command contrib
uted from their scanty wardrobes, clothing
with which to dress the dead. The hardest
and most dlsagreeable Job was to extract the
arrows from the bodies. Some OF them mad
as many as
FIFTY ARROW STICKING FROM THEM,
when We first found them in Massacre
canon. Captain Brown was extremely bald
headed, hence his nick name Badly and
the Indians, unable 10 procure a scalp from
the top of his head, skinned off his long beard
from hiC lpuvnr law