Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1898-11-16
CLUSTERS LAST FIGHT.
How the Brave Cavalry Leader and
HIS Heroic Band OF Soldiers Met
Death at Leach Lake.

had possibly been obliterated by the
Pillager band of the Chippewas, the
mind OF the old-timer turned instinct
iVely TO the bleak hills and dangerous
gulches of the Little Big Horn. If a
student of Indian warfare, ne would
then recur to the slaughter of Yellow
Jacket pass, in Colorado, when the
trea cherous Utes ambushed and near
~ destroyed the column under Thorn
burgh.
Caster dashed TO his death on the
morning of June %, 1876; Thornburph
ran into an a sbuscade on September
Y, 1879. Both officers, gallant men,
lost their lives in the fierce battle
which followed. Thorn burgh's death
and the manner in which 1T was ac-
complished. is known TO all; no sur
Nivor or eye witness of Clusters last
tght-unless he be an Indian--nas
been discovered to tell the tale OF the
massacre Of nearly three hundred
brave soldiers in the mad fight
against Sitting Bill, Crazy Horse and
the chiefs of the allied Cheyennes.
No red skin who ever donned war
bonnet hated the paleface with such
bitter luminosity as Sitting Bull,
medicine man, prophet and war
chief. No Indian in the last so years
did more to demonstrate this hatred.
Clusters downfall was the precursor
and prognosticator of the short,
sharp and bloody fight up near
Standing Rock, when Red Tomahawk
and Bull Head pumped Lead into the
vitals of the leader of the ghost
dance uprising among the Sioux
eight years ago. Few warriors have
shown the generalship that the great
priest and medicine man displayed
i'll the Big Horn campaign. He slew
his enemy and went off free.
Sitting Bull and Crazy HORSE, una
BILE to incite the tribes of Montana,
Wyoming and Dakota to revolt, be-
gan a systematic attack upon the
friendlies early in 1876. Crook from
Montana and Terry from Dakota and
the Platte were sent out to suppress
the restless hostiles. With Terry
we're Custer and his regiment, the
Seventh cavalry. Though but Sec
ond in rank, the dashing cavalry
leader was in command of the
Seventh. General John Gibbons, with
400 OF his regiment; Custer, with 700,
and Terry with a force about an
large, met at the mouth of the Big
Horn ON June 9. From this point
Terry decided on his campaign.
Gibbons was to course to the north
and west. Terry was to follow on a
shorter line and Custer was to plunge
into the bad lands" leading from
the Rosebud westward. The three
columns were to unite ON or abouA
June q. Terry and Gibbons did unite
N1t u,
over the great divide" with nearly 300
men OF his command. Major Reno,
with the remainder in badly shaken
vance. On June 25, in the Little Big
Horn country, Clusters scout report
ed a big Indian village, and an i'm
mediate attack was decided upon.
The unwisdom of this attack is be-
yond dispute. The gallantry and
headlong bravery of officer and MAJ
Is equally a matter of history. Gus
ter divided his command. He sent
Reno with six troops to cross the
river and come in the valley where
the gulch gave him a good opening.
Custer himself, with four troops, was
to dash straight in. Benteen and Mo-
DougaH, captains, with a troop each,
were to circle to the left and form
junction when the time for attack
had been reached. This is the plan
as related by the three officers in
command after the fight.
Reno eSSayed to carry out his or
ders, but was soundly thraShed and
forced to retreat back across the
river, his men falling at every step.
Benteen and McDougall joined him
with great difficulty, and the entire
force thus united battled valiaRtly
against feaful odds during the entire
day. That night Reno succeeded in
drawing off his command and hold.
Ing it in safety until joined by Terry
the second day after the battle. But
what of Custer?
Silently the little band stole up the
hill above the Indian camp. Inside
the limits were between 1000 and
1000 painted and savage bucks. In
the attacking column there were
fewer than 400 men, but men eager
for the fray, men who held the red
roe an contempt, men who had won
with the odds in the favor of the In
dams on many a hot field. When
discovered by the Indians the charge
was sounded and the unbroken line
swept down into the valley of death.
At first the willy Indians schooled by
Sitting Bull, fell back before that i'm
petuous charge. Then came the end
Dead troopers and Indians strewed
the way, clearly marking the course
OF the fight. Then the troopers took
position on a small hill and fought il
out to the death. Horses and men
were mingled in strange confusion.
Dead Indians, too many to be carried
away by the survivors-for their rum
ners reported the coming of Terry
were piled in winrows about the hill.
How long that fight ragged about
that knoll will never be known. But
one by one the brave men went to
their dooms. Step by step the horde
of circling saVages drew nearer in
their wild career about it. True to
the Sioux plan of skirmish. they ap-
preached in ever shortening circles
until at last a headlong forwa I'd
charge was made. In that TO-
charge many brave man went TO
the happy hunting grounds. but when
out of the rufhe and fierce struggle
OF the conflict the huge war bonnet
OF Sitting Bull emerged not a "yel-
low leg" was standing. All were
down, their yells of defiance hushed
in eternal sleep.
Crazy Horse was captured. Sitting
Bull, the real instigator of the upris-
ing, sneaked away to Canada, where
ne waited md ,x,otobaxJ g.. - =.