The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-02-06

are eaten warm and raw, and if the buck
is in high feather he smears his face with
the blood. The liver and heart of the
steer are eaten by tribesmen Of lesser de-
gree, while the squaws squeeze out the
intestines and proceed to devour them
with gusto. cleaning by water even being
dispensed with
EVEN SCHOOLED INDIANS BARBA-
RAMS.
Engaged in this sort of barbaric gusta-
tory pastime will be found Indians VINO
nave been schooled at Carlisle and else
where, and who ought to know better Ana
right here, under the shadow of the hand
soonest, best equipped agency in the West
and under the eye of the finest cavalry
barracks outside of San Antonio, Tex,
these Indians dispose of their dead by
hanging them up in tree tops. l saw with
In five miles of the fort Crow corpse In
a tree-a very becoming place for a crow
and l could not regret the scarcity of trees
and similar ornamentation. 1t is somewhat
satisfying to know that these Indians who
cling so tenderly to the skirts of barbar-
ism are not fructifying. Their census
shows an annual decrease of from so to
100 Their general worthlessness and the
vices and diseases kindly translated to
them by the whites may be depended on
to do the business, and the Crow Indian,
like the Irish wolf dog, will soon be
Renaissance
We approached the battlefield from the
"hen we had climbed to the browning
point where the monument stands, the
picture spread out before us complete.
had always supposed that Custer had led
his little band into some sort of deep
dark ravine, and had been hemmed in and
simply slaughtered. Nothing of the kind.
The field is a succession of brown rolling
hills. divided by gullies and immense
Drown aroyas, tending mainly to the little
river which sweeps around the bases.
standing at the monument we had a view
OF the bottom lands in which the Indians
previous to the battle, had pitched their
villages. These We're hidden from the
view OF Custer as he came around the point
OF mighty hog back until he was actually
engaged.
IheSe elephantine hills, 1t may be re-
marked, bold and bleak and destitute of
shruppery, are SO convoluted and inter-
tWined mat an army such as Alexander
led into Phoenica, might be hid behind any
one OF them without attracting the atten-
uon OF scout hundred yards away No
pen picture can adequately describe the
formation of the field upon which the fight
ing look place. But the story is plainly
toiu' lhouSh no living witness has told it,
foor custer was the victim of misinfOrma-
tion, but 1t is unjust to his momory to say
that he was reckless or foolish He had
peen major general of volunteers with
a splendid reputation as a cavalry fighter
anu on this expedition he was lieutenant
colonel and in command of the seventh
cavalry He was in disfavor at Washing
Ton, ana was anxious to distinguish him
SELF IN battle. In the advance of Terry's
expedition he had been pushing for some
uays On the trail Of a band Of southern
wyoming Indians marching to join Sitting
Bulls uprising. He knew from the size of
the trail that he had from 1900 to 1.5OO hos
tlles TO deal with. His scouting must have
been poor, for when the Indian village was
located he determined not only to attack
out to capture the entire band
THE PLAN OF BATTLE.
Reservlng five companies to himself, he
paced four companies under command of
Maj. Reno to move on his left flank and
TWO companies under Capt. Benteen, who
was to work around to the Indian right
ana was to bag the enemy when the STAN
peoe began With these dispositions he
moved around the point of the range which
brought him into the view of the enemy
1orded the creek and was at once engaged
instead of finding himself confronted with
LOO Pawnees under Santana he found him
sell In a death grapple with not less than
o,UOO Sioux and Cheyenne warriors 1t is in
evidence that the Indians had broken up
their village and were preparing to decamp
when they discovered that they only had
horse soldiers to deal with At the very
outset Custer threw out a strong skirmish
hne Every member of the gallant band
was slain and the little marble stones which
mark the spots where these brave men fell
are beautifully aligned. AS the main body
moved into acton great masses of the enemy
rose in front of Custer and swung round to
his rear.
On the first hillside he divided his com
mand and sent two troops, numbering 60
men, down the left side of the confronting
ridge, while he kept to the right on almost
parallel lines, advancing into a dry ravine
Here he met with terrible opposition, and
from this time on he struggled to get upon
adj
MS thinned ranks-the slaughter became
terrfble-he reached the spot where he met
his death. AT this point the separated COM
mand could see him. and the poor doomed
fellows made heroic effort to reach him.
They fell in groups of tours, by twos and
slngly You can count the little marble
stones. 60 in number Could anything be
more pltiful? At the same time the little
group rallied around Custer was being ami
hilated. From the low ground in front of
the gallant leader rose a thousand fierce
Cheyennes under the satanic Rain-in- the
Face. Not life spared. BY Clusters
side his brother Tom fell. Then it was that
Rain-in-the-Face, who had sworn to eat
Tom Clusters heart, because, as officer of
the day at some camp, the lieutenant had
one day placed the villainous chief in the
guardhouse. ripped open the poor fellows
body and tearing therefrom the reeking
heart made good his savage oath.
THE BATTLE WAS OVER.
All was now silent save for the demoniacal
and exultant cries of the savages The re-
mains of the brave Custer were not dis
turbed, but every other body upon that
field was hacked and mutilated in the most
horrible manner.
This is the story of that battle as inter-
preted by the insensible records. It was no
more a butchery than was Thermopylae.
1t was battle-a mistaken one, but never
theless battle fought tactically and with
intelligence on Clusters part. We talk of
Balaklava and it's record of heroism but
of the Four Hundred of the Light Brigade
who charged the Russian batteries on that
day more than one-half returned un-
scathed Two hundred and sixty-two rode
with Custer and 262 died overwhelmed
With the last shot was silence The re-
port might have been written-"Ncne
wounded; none missing; all dead No
living tongue of all that heroic band was
left to tell the story. The miserable half
bred scout, "Curley," who may yet be seen
hanging around FIT. Custer, claims to have
been with Custer when the engagement be-
gan, but he pulled Sioux blanket over
his head, mingled with the enemy and ran
away at the first fire. He could only tell
that there had been battle.
AS to the duration of the battle little Is
known. One Indian told Scout Campbell
that the fight lasted about as long as it
takes a hungry Indian to eat his dinner.
and another said that it lasted as long as
d candle would burn about quarter of an
inch. From this it is inferred that the
struggle lasted about Is minutes And