The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-01-02
THE INOIANS FOUGHT LIKE DEMONS
And the Troops Gave No Quarter as
VoIIey Answered Voiley.
Story of the Battle TO the Death
With Big Foot's Band.
A Former Lewiston Boy Among the
Dead cavaIrymen.

PINE RIDGE AGENCY, S. D., via Rush.
Vile, Neb., January 1.-The story Of the
fight at Big Foot's camp has been but vague
ly told by the newspaper correspondents,
owing to the confusion which existed every
where, but 1t was fight In which no quarter
was asked or given, where the wounded
fought until killed, and where the living
seemed possessed Of the hatred Of fends and
gave battle so long as blood could be drawn.
Big Foot. who was sick from congestion
OF the lungs, had surrendered his band.
which consisted Of 100 able-bodied warriors
and go old men, women and children, and 1t
was thought that with these hostiles out Of
tbs way the last disturbing element among
the Sioux would be removed. The massing
OF the Indians outside their tepees in order
that their arms might be secur"d, has been
already described, as well as the treacherous
assault on the troops drawn up around them.
When the Indians fired that first terrible
volley, the muzzes OF some Of the guns
were pressed against the bodies Of the caval-
rymen so close were they to the redskins
There was a clicking Of shell electors, nd
then again and again sheet of fame sprang
from the rifles of the redskins. The de-
struction was awful. Some Of the troopers
were at the tepees, while others filled the
the rest of the soldiers who were hastily
preparing to come to the relief of their COM
rades.
Troops X and A wavered before the terri
BILE onslaught, and then fell back In disorder.
Contrary to all previous known methods OF
Indian warfare the handful Of redskins
fought with fendish audacity. They were
160 against 500 Of the best fighters OF the ar
my, who were backed up by improved ma
cnine guns and commanded by veteran OFF,
GERS.
iney must have known that they wsre to
die there and then, but it seemed to be the
purpose of each one to perish fighting
There was no running on their part after
the. first volley had been fired. With the
awful war-cry OF their tribes, the sayages
pressed forward against the remnants Of the
two shattered troops. Not a commissioned
officer was left In K troop. Captain Wallace
ay dead In the flaps of tepee, where he
and his skull beaten In with a stone war
club, and scattered all about him were his
men, many Of them dead, and others groan-
lag with the pain which their wounds gave
them.
The recoil came as sudden as did the
treacherous onslaught When the first vol
ley was fired, Captain Taylor, commanding
the scouts, ordered his Indians to throw
themselves upon the ground so that they
would not be mistaken by the troops for
hostiles. Taylor's force poured deadly FIRE
and brave. Within five minutes after the
first shot was fred, the whole regiment was
In action. The troops charged upon the saw
ages In the depression In the ground where
Dig Foot's village had been pitched, and
then ensued a hand to-hand encounter. The
Indian was demon In his delirlum to kill
and die. The soldier fought regardless Of
the sex or age Of his foe.
Through the SMOKE which hung over the
tepees and flied the draw, the 7th plunged
upon the bowling and paint-bedaubed saw
ages, who fought with rifles, pistols, blud-
ge0ns and knives. The ground was strewn
with the dead and wounded.
Within half an hour two-thirds Of the
hostile force lay upon the ground. Among
the warriors who had died In all kinds OF
contortions was the body of Big Foot, his
grim, merciless looking face besmeared with
blood. and his hands clutching dirty blan-
ket, which partly concealed the bullet
wounds In his breast. During the hand-to-
hand conflict he had been recognized by the
soldiers and killed as mercilessly as though
he had been wild animal. The remnant of
the band, appalled, at the slaughter, fled
through the ravines to the Small Hills. Only
a few OF the Indians escaped alive.