Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1898-03-25
lyl -! EIlNd SEgEgn,
Connection Of Dr.. H. z. Porter With
that Historic Campaign Against
the Indians.

IuC AuOlauSs /.
Correspondent Of the Pioneer Is
"reminiscences 1nts4 ,tingly Of the
Custer Msss2cte.
-- - =
aReminiscences u theycuster Massacre
Special correspondence Of the Sunday
Pioneer Press: The report in the
Pioneer Press a few da ago Of the
offer of DR.. H. r. Porter 81 Bismarck to
present $4,000 to the government and
either join the army as a surgeon Or
Serve in the ranks proves that the doc
tor comes of fighting blood. DR.. Porter
is one of the best known. residents Of
Bismarck and achieved note through his
connection with the Custer massacre.
He was n of the physicians with the
command, one Of the youngest of them,
and yet the older men have stated that
never was there a cooler man on the
field, and when Indian bullets weretfy-
ing thick and fast about the regulars,
Porter was everywhere attending to the
injuriaeof the men, and ven in n Or
two instances rescuing men from, posi-
tions Of danger after they had been
wounded, at the risk Of his own life.
He earned the plandits of the entire
command to which be was attached, and
all of the survivors of the commands
which escaped massacre have a hearty
good word for DR.. Porter.
In the excitement and Consideration
which was created at the time Of the
massacre ofthe Custer command, The
incids of the great Indian fight were
subordinated to the general horror Of
the catastrophe. But as the first horror
of the news wore away, the details Of
the subsequent fights of RenoB COM
mand came to light, and of their pass
age down the river onThe little steamer
Far West. The STEAMER was a little
boat of 700 tons burden, and under the
command of Captain Grant Marsh, who
drove the little vessel for sixty-four
miles up the Little, Big Horn, an n
plored river, to the mouth of the Little
Hprn, where he was about fifteen miles
from the scene Of the fighting, and it
has been said by the men who were with
him'on thesboat.that there must have
been some1pecifa providence watching
over and guiding the vessel, as it seemed
at the time as if the boat had sailed
over sand bars and dry land, so shallow
and so treacherous was the stream.
Marsh himself said afterward he did not
believe he could go over the same. route
in a skif.
Being thus close to the scene of action,
Marsh received the wounded from Re-
nos command at O'Clock a. m. Of the
2Sth of June, itsbeing necessary only to
convey themsdown fifteen miles. of the
Little Hornyalley instead of tofty miles
across a rough praiiillf would have
been the case had Mash not Been there
with his boat. TheSnight was so dark
that General Terry caused fires to be
built to light the way of litter-bearers
over the rough and steep places, in order
that the wounded might be conveyed to
the boat. And while the Far West lay
at the mouth of the Little Horn on the
morning of the 9th, the day after the
fight, and before the news of the slaugh-
ter of Clusters command had been
l%earnedEby General Terry o. any of the
command, and before they had been adj
vised of the perilous position of Reno,
Curly, a Grow scout, and the only
survivor Of the massacre came out of
the bushes near the boat and was rec
ognized as Custer's guide. Curly's ex-
element was intense and he could not
mako himself. understood in English, so
he secured a pencil and drew a correct
sketch, as it was afterwards proven, of
the battlefield. Making q few dots on
the paper, he managed to convey by
signs and gestures that he intended
them to represent the Indians, and then
he went though the motions of shooting
until the white men had all been killed.
Then he made motions to signify scalp:
ing, and wound up with the statement
in broken English, white men all dead
me got. two ponies" This is. the
manner in which the first news of the
massacre Of the Custer command was
given to the army and the world. Curly
said he saw that the whites were certain
to be massacreedssa and SO he managed to
reach the river, washed of his Crow
paint, mingled with the Sioux in their
charges to disarm suspicion, and then
made hisescaps and struck out for the
mouth of the Little Big Horn river,
where he knew Terry would be en-
camped.
Terry started for the scene of battle.
and came in sight Of Reno's command,
which had been engaged in a desperate
struggle with the Indians. Reno had +