The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1893-08-04
EVADING INDIANS.
STORY or THE "sIBLEY SCOUT AID
ITS NARROW ESCAPE.

An Exciting Chase OF the Disastrous Gus
ter Canpaign-A Recital Of the Retreat
and Pursuit by the Hero OF the Affair.
Days without Food.
The "Sibley scout" is famous among In
dian fighters as being one of the narrowest
escapes from savages now ON record. The
hero of that hazardous encounter with the
dreaded Sioux passed the winter in COM
pany with the writer and favored him with
sketch Of that memorable action Of a
handful Of troopers away up in the Big Horn
mountains, far from the main command.
It was in 1875, at the time of Clusters mas
sacre, when F. w. Sibley of General Crook q
column, then u young lieutenant, was Or
dered out with IS mounted men to look
about the country and see what was going
On. Frank Grouard, half breed, and one
Of the best scouts living, accompanied Sib-
ley. The young officer was fresh from
West Point and rather inexperienced in
frontier warfare, so cautious General Crook
babe him heed the scouts advice should
emergency arise and off the troopers start
ed almost at the very hour when Custer,
100 miles or so away, was being cut to pieces
by the cutthroats of Sitting Bull
The scouting party was ignorant Of this,
however, and Travelled for two days with
out incident. AS they neared the noun
tains, Grouard, who always travelled ahead
Of the soldiers. suddenly signaled to halt.
Indian signs were seen From an eminence
commanding a vast area of rolling coun-
try little specks could be seen here and
there. The glass proved that each speck
was a squad of several Sioux in war COS
tune. The specks began to concentrate.
They moved toward the trail made by the
troopers, but without discovering it for a
long time The Indians were ignorant of
the presence Of soldiers. After holding a
powwow one of the savages rode toward
the telltale trail. By chance he discovered
1t and returned TO his comrades, waving
his blanket and gesticulating.
It then seemed to the young cavalry Of
ficer as If Indians sprang from the earth In
all directions to see what had been discov-
cred. There were swarms OF them. But
happily they were miles away. Then be-
gan the race for life. The mountains Of
fered the only refuge. Up and up scram-
bled the horses. On came the Indians.
They were seen occasionally along canyons
In the rear. The band had divided and
was trying to head off the soldiers and sur
round them. Suddenly, as the soldiers as
cended the side Of gulch and gained a
small plateau, a party Of redskins sprang
at them, firing their rifles and yelling
1.-THE men scattered like sheep" says
Captain Sibley. land confess that for the
moment my heart was in my mouth. Ny
horse fell down an embankment, which
added to my discomfort. ordered the men
to fire even il they did not aim at the en-.
envy, for n rife made noise like cannon
amid those hills. Finally the men got to.
gether, and we retreated up slope to bit
of wooded ground which protected us from
the Indians fire. This was about 8 O'Clock
| in the morning. The Indians began to
| gather about us rapidly. The situation was
growing more serious every minute. Ny
men were doing good work with their rifles.
ut pleased me to see one man shoot g
noted Sioux chief right through the heart,
| That old sinner never twitehed a muscle
| after the lead hit him. We never knew how
many we killed, because when an Indian Is
| shot his comrades keep him out of sight
| Well, we held them off for four hours, ani
| they were four hours of redhot work, | car
| tell YOU My scout then told me that the
| Indians were on three sides of Us. We haG
| one chance left TO retreat, and this chancs
| was fast lessening. because fresh Indian.
| were coming.
~ did not like to abandon our horses
| but 1t was that or die. So the retreat wa
| ordered. inspected each man personally
| to see that his equipment was all right
| but owing to my inexperience and the ex
| element of the moment / forgot the IA
| tions Only one man in the command tool
| his rations. 1t was an hour or SO befor,
| the Indians discovered that we had fled
| By that time we were up in the mountain
| In places so steep that one man had to hell
the other up Horses could not follow us
| SO for the time being the Sioux would
| not strike US. Grouard took q mountain
trail, which we follasged ON foot for s
hours without mouthful to eat.
"Such fearfully vigorous exercise withou
| food nearly killed u.s. Toward the end o
this perilous march we all became 81
| weakened that we marched for 10 minute
and then would lie down and rest. Severa
of the mort robust men became insane, an,
one or two never regained their wits
When we reached Crooks camp, slept 70
"a hours without waking, and during tina
time the camp was sharply attacked by tn
Indians Even the roar of the musketr
did not disturb my sleep in the least. No
single man was lost on this trip"
Remarking Oh the peculiarities of plain
life, Captain Sibley said that 1t scenes
wonderful to him what remarkable In
stincts a half breed scout possessed. !
scout had led him across a trackless vast
on dark night when the snow was fallin
and the wind blowing. There was not
Landmark to guide the scout. The horse
were continually drifting to windward, a
it were, in the effort to get their faces ava
from the cutting blast. Yet in the face G
all these difficulties the scout would lea
the troopers after marching all night t
the exact spot for which they started, an
he never failed.
A surprising popularity Of Indians
their carelessness about posting sentinel
when they 20 into camp, even when the
know that an enemy is near. Captain Sill
ley has seen a large Indian village con
pletely surrounded by soldiers in the earl
morning without an alarm being giveI
In fact. the only movement in the India
; camp as late as o'clock in the mornin
} was the appearance OF an old squaw, VIII
! came out Of wigwam to change the pos
ton of a tethered horse.-Cor. New Yor
} Tribune.