St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1897-06-12

been known as the hardest ever trod
by man or beast. The order of march
was that Of an advanced guard well to
the front, and a rear guard following up
and blocking the trai!by cutting down
trees and rolling rocks from the nloun-
tain side to choke up the narrow pas
sages. The last was SO successful that
Howard was baffied and gave up the
pursuit.
''The first obstacle metCwith was an
army post near Missoula pass, where
Capt. Rawn was stationed with small
company. The post was as defensible
as Thermopylae, and Capt. Rawn
thought that he could bring the Indians
to terras.,~-He refused to allow them to
pass unless they surrendered their
arms. This they refused to do, and the
captain adopted a ruse to detain them
until Gen. Howard's troops or another
force under Col. Gibbon, which was
moving from the east, should arrive.
But Chief Joseph was equally willy, and
he fanleed the barrier by having his peo-
pie climb the hills and scatter in all di-
rections, meeting in rendezvous in
Bitter Root valley. Meanwhile Glib
bon's forces reached Missoula to find
the Indians gone eastward, and after
five days of terrible climbing over the
rugged broken country, they came up
to the Indian village at Big Hole Basin
in Montana. The soldiers made their
way in the darkness through the herds
of ponies without5alar1ning the savages,
and lag down close to the village, and
in sight of the tepees, to watch for the
dawn of day. At daybreak the line
moved forward in silence, and at a sig
nal opened fire upon the tepees where
the Indianswere sleeping. The startled
braves rushed from their lodges in every
direction, and finding cover in the brush
as well as behind the bank of creek,
poured a terrible fire into the troops
the moment the soldiers got out into
open ground. In 20 minutes Gibbons
men were in possession of the camp and
had set fire to the lodges, but the officers
and soldiers fell rapidly, and Gibbons
gave orders to retire for shelter in the
timber. The fight continued all day,
and soon after nightfall the Indians
gave the troops q parting volley and dis
appeared.
from the battle of Big Horn basin
Joseph marched on across the main di-
Edeof the Rockies. He left behind him
SO dead Indians, while Gibbons loss was
only 50 killed and wounded. The In
dams crossed the Rockies, then turned
and recrossed, closely pursued all the
way by Howards troops and a detach-
ment Of Gibbons command. Howard
had telegraphed eastward, and called
into the-feld thepommand of Col. stur-
gis. Sturgis set gut, first sending cour-
iers to Col. Miles on Tongue river, no
tifying him of the course the Nez Per-
ces were following, in the belief that
he might, by rapid and direct march,
intercept the hostiles further to the
first day, and came up with the Indians
at Canyon creek. The Indians occupied
both the canyon and the high ground
on each side of it, but they were steadily
driven off in an all-tlay fight, losing 81
braves killed and about / 1000 ponies cap
.tured. Then followed running fight
of 100 miles, but the soldiers were with
out ratiens, and the limit of endurance
of both men and animals had been
reached. Sturgis gave it up and wait
ed for Howard to join him.
"Col. Miles first learned of the trouble
afoot on the night of September II, and
marched rapidly northwest. Hisscom-
mand consisted of portions Of the Sec
ond and Seventh cavalry, five companies
of the Fifth infantry (mounted), two
pieces of artillery and detachment of
white and Indian scouts. I was placed
in command of the scouts. we struck
the. trail of the Nez Perces' on Septe1n-
ber 80, and the whole column advanced
at rapid gait. The Second cavalry
made detour to the rear of the In
dians, and in a gallant attack cut off a
herd of 800 ponies. The Seventh cavalry
and Fifth infantry charged, mounted,
direct upon the village. The Indians
fought as savages will when cornered,
but we soon secured command Of their
whole position, excepting the beds of
the ravines where some of the war
riors took shelter. In order to dis
and Charged on foot. + was wounded
in that charge, and nearly every other
man, that is, about one in every two
who went forward, was hit. The re-
call was then sounded and Col. Miles de
cided that, as he had the Indians sur
rounded, it was best to let well enough
alone. Next day parley began under
a flag of truce. The Indians appeared
willing to surrender, but were suspi-
cious about the future. That night a
terrible snowstorm set in, and the In
dams, being without food or blankets
surrender. Out tof the 400 warriors who
had. started from the reservation to
follow Joseph on this wonderful cam
pafgn, only 81 survived.
:. eAnd what is still more to the credit
of. Chief JOSEPH, his warriors on all that
march were not guilty OF a single act
of scalping or other form Of savagery,
and all the women taken captives by
them at the settlements through which
they passed were Immediately set free. !"
N. Y. Sun.
-AsmaG often wears poor clothes just
to show his wife how e1travagant she
is Washington Democrat
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