Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-03-25
BATTLE I il'l.. Z OF BIG HOLE [lli
"REMINISCENCES OF A MAN WHO WAS
IN THE FIGHT.

EMINlSCENCES OF A MAN WHO WAS
IN THE FIGHT.
Warm In His Praises of the Courage ant
Goodness of General Gibbon-Chief 10
seph Was Fighter Who Tested thu
Qualities of His Opponents.
William Woodcock was with the late
General Gibbon, the famous Indian fight
er. for more than five years while he was
the commander of the department of the
Dakotas. He was civilian in the serv-
ice and was made confdant of the gen.
eral and the other officers in some Of
the councils to which only the favored
few were admitted. Such council was
the one held the evening before the bat
tie of the Big Hole, when the command
Of General Gibbon engaged three times
the number of warriors under command
of Chief Joseph, the most crafty fighter
who ever crossed the path of Uncle Sam.
The battle was victory for the whites.
If anybody tells you that General
Gibbon wasn't a fighter, just tell him
he lies and charge it to me-" said Will
liam yesterday. General Gibbon was
all right. I remember the evening he
called the officers together and advised
with them about the battle of the next
day. He had sent out scouts, and they
had come back and said there were
heap Indians ahead. They hadn t found
as many tepees as usual, but they had
learned somehow that there were as
many as 16 men to the tepee, and they
estimated the Indians as several hun
dred, / don't remember just how many.
General Howard was expected in short
time, and General Gibbon called the Off
GERS together and said to them:
Boys, the Indians are out there
ahead of us and the question is whether
we will go after them or not. You
know, if we wait for General Howard
we may never have chance
"There wasn't man in the crowd
who didn't hold up his hand to show
that he was in favor of fight. That
was the kind Of man Gibbon was, and
that was the kind of men he had with
him. There were 26 or 81 citizens who
lived down in that country who were
following the command and camping
just a short distance from us. General
Gibbon called them in and asked them
what they wanted to do. He told them
that if they were going to go into the
fight there would be an understanding
that they would be under his command.
Out of the whole of them there were
about dozen who didn't turn back at
that, and it is a remarkable fact that
those who staid were nearly all killed.
There were ten dead civilians the next
day, and their leader was shot through
the hips, and never did recover entirely
from the wound. It was a real battle,
and we lost So killed and wounded, out
of part Of five companies of the Sew
enth regiment. There were 200 or $50
soldiers in the engagement.
General Gibbon was wounded
through the thigh that day, and was
taken to his tent, where I helped to
take care Of him. The battlefield was a
couple of miles from tho camp of the
evening before. At the time I was with
a party that had just lost mountain
hoWitzer to the Indians, but we never
got it back, though we tried hard
enough. The Indians had sense enough
to destroy it, and lot of ammunition
besides. Some things happened that day
that 1 wouldn't believe if I hadn t seen
them. We were out on a skirmish line
when just in front Of me saw an In
dian girl with her hand over her eyes,
just like she had been looking out to. see
who was coming.
Il called out to the officer near me
that there was a little girl in front.
All right, don't hurt her, says he.
And when we went up nearer we found
that she was dead. She had been shot
through and had died SO suddenly that
she hadn t moved a muscle. She looked
Eor all tho world as if she were alive.
And there was an officer shot SO that
The bullet went into his skin near one of
The soft ribs and came out in exactly the
'ame place it went in, after going
'round his body and keeping under the
kin all the way. The doctors ran a
ord through it, and they used to pull il |
Jack and forth every day to keep il |
rom healing too fast. He got we'll, and |
here was black ring around him the |
est OF his life, one of the prettiest
Kings you ever saw.
1--WE couldn't find any dead Indians tc |
peak Of after the fight, and we wonder.
I'd what we had done. One of the scouts
vent out and came back and said, sHeaE
MUM dead. We didn find any marks
+ it, but he showed us where there
we're bodies cached by the hundreds.
(ou know an Indian will bury his dead
he has to take all kinds Of chances tc
o it. There were over 100 bodies in one
ole we found on the side of the bank
f the river
cold Chief Joseph was a man to re-
aember. There was never general who
'as more brave than he was. He was
latch for some of the best of them.
When he was at the head, there was no
UGH thing as one soldier being good for
light or ten Indians, as you hear people
~.
General Gibbon was a mighty fine
ian. don't expect to meet better
ne. He was as brave as they make
1em, and he was always as good to his
len as father would have been. There
Ill be many man who still lives in
lis country who will be sorry that Glib
on is dead. Helena Independent.
Gender Epicene.
Nurse Ito vOunp hnshandl-A baout; |