The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-09-10

wounded :
|
On the left face is the simple inscrip-
ton: Erected by the United States
| The opposite side bears the following:
TO the officers and soldiers of the
! army and citizens of Montana. who
| fell at the Big Hole. August 8, 1877.
| in battle with the Nez Perez Indians"
The back face contains complete
| list of the killed and wounded. The
material from which the monument
| is built is New Hampshire granite from
| Concord. 1t was shipped to Dillon and
| taken from there to the battle ground
| by OK teams. 1t is a simple but fitting
| monument and commentaries one of
| the most splendid battles in the mill
tary history of this country. Fortu-
nately the relic hunter has not seri-
ously marred this monument. He has
committed some sacrilege is shown
by few pieces that have been knocked
of the edge, but the damage is not so
| much as to mar the appearance of the
shaft.
This must have been about 9 o'clock
in the morning. This position we held
all day. The firing was fierce much Of
the time. We killed a few and We lost
some. 1t was an awful position. From
above the Indians were shooting from
the shelter afforded by the trees and
from below they shot from the dense
willow thicket. Lynde Elliott and My
ron Lockwood had dug their pit on the
very brink of the bluff in a small draw.
1t afforded them good protection from
the fire from above, but they We're ex-
posed to the aim of the Indians in the
willows. 1t was here that Elliott was
killed. The shot that killed him wound
ed his partner. Myron Lockwood, who
was the ranchman whose house had
been looted by the Indians in the val
ley.
1T was a terrible day. No man
could show any portion of his body
without there being an instant crack
of an Indian rifle. The trees were rid
died with bullets and the piles of shells
that We're left where the Indians had
been stationed behind logs and rocks
and trees showed how much ammuni-
ton they had used. There was some
splendid shooting done on both sides.
One soldier fired at an Indian who had
been picking off a good many men and
whose position was such that he had
escaped all shots fired at him. This SOL
der fired so that his bullet struck one
of the fiat rocks behind which the In
dian lay and glanced off through the
loop hole opening, hitting the red sharp
shooter in the head and killing him in
stantly.
The day passed with some of the |
hottest fighting that l ever saw all day |
long. We had no water and no rations. |
My men had taken the cartridge belts |
from all of the dead soldiers that they |
had passed in falling back to the bluff, |
and thus had plenty of ammunition. In !
the afternoon an attempt was made to |
drive us from our position by setting
fire to the grass, but this failed on &C
count of q change in the wind. The
smoke added to the suffering of the
men, but it was not till after dark that
it was deemed safe to send a party
down to the stream for water. 1t was
in sight of us all day, but We could get
none of it. AS soon as it was dark
three men went down to a pool at the
foot of the bluff and filled canteens, I'M
der cover of a guard. The men had cut
up General Gibbons horse, which had
fallen within the lines, and ate the
meat, cooking it in the rife pits.
THE firing from the Indians contin-
ued till dark and after that it was less
severe. At II o'clock a voIley was fired
into the air from long range, the bull
let's whistling through the trees above
our heads. This was the last of the
shooting and We afterward supposed
that this was from the rear guard of
the Indian column as it left the field
and started down the valley. We did
not know it at the time. however.
Shortly after dark that night General
Gibbons asked for a volunteer to carry
to Deer Lodge, thinking that