The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-01

what was left.
In the meantime General Terry's
command went into camp a short
distance from where we were To-
Gated. General Terry was operat-
ing near his base of supplies, and had
wagon train with him and plenty to eat. In
the evening he invited General Crook and
his staff to supper. We sat down at a long
table under canvas and were RECALLED with
roast beef, potatoes, pie and all the luXu-
ries that we desired.
When the two commands reached the
mouth of Powder river, on the Yellowstone,
General Terry's troops located their camp
on the right bank of the stream and Gen.
Crooks force pitched their tents on the left
bank One afternoon General Terry rode
over to General Crooks headquarters to
make a CALL 1 was the only person around
at the time. Just before General Terrys
arrival I had noticed General Crook walk
ing toward the Yellowstone river, and as
he could not have been far away l asked
General Terry to wait. 1 talked with Gen.
Terry about the campaign and many other
things, doing all in my power to entertain
him until the return of General Crook.
Finally the visitor appeared to be i'm
patient, 1 asked him to remain few min
utes, saying 1 would find General Crook.
L went down to the bank of the Yellow
stone and there found General Crook lying
naked in the warm sand, his clothing,
which he had just washed, hanging upon
the limb of a tree to dry. L told him that
General Terry was waiting to see him.
The old man put on his half-dried clothes
and went to his headquarters, where the
two generals had their conference.
MADE A FRESH START.
the YellOwstOna the commands refit-
ted and started again in pursuit of the In
dams. General Crooks command marched
east by way of the Little Missouri, and
when near that point it was discovered
that Sitting Bull had divided his forces, ne
taking command of large number which
Travelled to the northward, while Crazy
Horse, Roman Nose and other chiefs, with
the remainder, went south toward the
Black Hills. General Crooks troops fol-
lowed the latter band. While camping in
the arc of the amphitheater formed by
Slim Buttes the Indians attacked the sol
diers in force When the attack began the
troops were pushed out in a fan-like shape
to meet the enemy. In command of the
scouts, l was sent forward to the front of
the amphitheater. We were in an open
plain, and the Indians from the Duties
were firing in a CALLING way at US. They
and came down from the buttes and met us
on the plains. They seemed SO persistent
that a column of infantry, under the COM
mand of Capt A. S. Burt, was formed and
pushed out upon our left. This force sue
ceeded in driving the Indians back in splen
did style, and the battle was soon won.
The result of the fight was that all Of the
Minnecoujons, Ogalallas and Brule Sioux
and renegades finally surrendered and were
returned to the Red Cloud Agency.
AT the beginning of the campaign there
were about two thousand Cheyennes at Red
Cloud, who wished to go north and join Sit
| ting Bull. General Merritt, with the Fifth
| Cavalry, was sent into that country to pre-
vent their departure. When it seemed GER
tain that the Cheyennes would not join in
| the hostile movements General Merritt
started to join General Crook, under the
| orders of General Sheridan. Marching out
| from the Black Hills by the route which
| the Cheyennes had intended to follow, Gen.
| Merritt received word that these Indians
| had left for the north and proposed to join
| Sitting Bull and engage in the war against
| the whites. General Merritt was then
about one hundred miles from the Red
! Cloud Agency, near mountain known as
| Rawhide Butte He Immediately sent for
| Red Cloud Agency and learn the true state
| of affairs. With four scouts, 1 left our
| camping place at 70 o'clock noon and start
| ed for Camp Robinson, at the agency. We
| carried as little weight as possible. OF
course we had our musketS and pistols a
| hand, because we were passing through a
hostile country and there was no telling
when we might run across a band of In
dians Mile after mile across the plains
we rode, stopping only to give our horses
d drink I carried a compass, but did not
use it, because l knew the country, and in
any event it would have been useless after
dark Twelve hours after leaving General
Merritts command we dashed into Camp
| Robinson. Our horses were pretty well
| knocked up, of course, but they were still
in fair condition, we having taken care of
| them as much as possible during the jour
ney -
STOPPED THE CHEYENNES.
L was just twenty minutes in learning the
| true state of affairs on the reservation. 1
| learned that the Cheyennes had left the
agency that afternoon to go north. I i'm.
medately wrote dispatch TO General Mer-
rift and gave it to two haIf-obreed scouts,
| with instructions to deliver it into the
hands of General Merritt as rapidly as pos.
sible. In order that they might make the
| distance as quickly as possible they were
provided with led horses. They arrived at
| their destination at IL o'clock the next
morning. Upon the receipt of the informa-
| ton General Merritt at once started north
ward to intercept the Indians He encoun~
| tered them on War Bonnet creek and drove
them back into the agency, where they
were disarmed and dismounted In the
hope of throwing sand in the eyes of the
whites the Cheyennes had refrained from
holding dances of any character and had
remained unusually quiet, and their be-
havior had induced General Sheridan to or
der General Merritt to join General Crook
Great privation was experienced by the
soldiers during these campaigns. The sup
plies and munitions for the troops were car
ried by means of pack train. We had no
wagons. On the march south from Little
Missouri toward the Black Hills it rained
necessarily and the ration of hard bread
sugar and salt was soon unfit to eat. The
ration was then reduced to one-half, then
to a quarter, and finally it was completely
stopped. When this condition arose the
troops subsisted on DID, WORKOUT cavalry
horses, which were driven into camp at
night, slaughtered and issued to the troops
One of the worst features of this part of
the campaign was the fact that for about
four days on the march no wood was avail
a HE fO h1If1d fire and the maaf had r.