The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-03

So with proper guard to insure the
camps security 1t was arranged that
all should remain on guard until moon
rise, which was about 10 o'clock. After
that one-half should sleep. 1t is doubt
full, however, if any one of the little
band closed an eye that night TherA
were frequent cracks of rifles in the
hands of the guards who aimed at NOV
ing objects outside the camp. The In
dams We're trying to remove their dead
and by morning, in spite of the vigil
lance Of the guards, they had sue
ceeded in removing about one-half of
the so dead bodies which they had left
on the hillside.
The Indians had been dancing until
2 o'clock in the morning. and after that
time nothing could be heard of them
until about o'clock. Then they be-
gan preparations for another assault.
This time they all massed in one body
and climbed steadily UP the hill. The
| band of white men again waited until
the assaulting force was within easy
range and then again they fired with
| effect that was telling Every one of
man felt that he was fighting in a des-
| perate last chance for his life, and ev-
| cry shot told. The carnage was awful,
but still up the hill came the surging
mass. At longer range the braves were
| usually only wounded, but when they
were within 100 yards of the men be-
hind the guns nearly every warrior
| who was hit was killed.
! Nothing human could long withstand
| that terrible fire, and after struggling
| up to within SO yards of the breast
works most of the attacking horde
| broke and ran from the hill. A few
| daring leaders, however, with about so
| braves, charged right up to the de-
! lenses. They only rushed to their doom,
| for only few succeeded in climbing
| the works, and for these the whites
had their loaded pistols in reserve
1t was like the final charge on Gus
ter's little band at the scene of the last
stand. But in this case the Crows did
not succeed in annihilating their hated
white foes, but those Of the reds in
'trepid enough to engage in that ter
rible death struggle were almost an
| initiated themselves. Scarcely a man
| who succeeded in elm bling over the
earthworks got away with his life. The
Indians, dead and wounded, were piled
up in heaps, while the whites, grimy,
| blood-stained desperate, fought like
men who only cared to send to eternity
as many foes as possible before the bull
| let intended for them should strike
home. In this final, fierce. hand-to-
| hand conflict the losses were not all on
one side. When the last red foe was
bleeding on the ground or had vanished
down the hill the sturdy defenders
| counted their losses. Four of their
number We're dead and II had been
| wounded.
| That is the story of the fierce and
| bloody battle fought within sight of
! Anaconda-a battle where the odds
| were perhaps as overwhelming against
! the whites as at Clusters battlefield or
| in any Indian battle of western war
fare. With the last charge the Grows
had had enough and the whites We're
much rejoiced that they did not want
any more. The surviving Crows, still
IL,
to the valley. Soon some of them ad-
vanced with a flag Of truce and asked
permission to remove their dead from
the hill. Captain Mckenzie, big and
brave, perfect whirlwind in the fight
advanced to meet them and granted
the permission. He stipulated, how
ever, that only 100 of them should en-
gage in this work, that they should be
unarmed and that only 20 Of them
should come inside the 50-yard range
After the Indians had removed their
dead they marched away and disap-
peared through Silver Bow canyon.
That afternoon the whites went down
through the valley, made a detour and
then again climbed from the opposite
side the hill which to them had proven
such a friend in time of need. They
suspected that the Indians had merely
drawn away as a decoy and that they.