The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-04
ARE R0BB|NG THE DEAD
Vandalism on the Historic Gus
ter Battlefield.
IT WAS NOT A MASSACRE
Clusters Brave Men Fought Like Heroes
to the Last-They Made Des-
perate and Sublime
.s Defense.

Clusters Battlefield, May Silt is too
bad that Memorial day is not set
month later in this part of the country.
Apparently those who are responsible
for the naming of May 80 as Memorial
day had no thought that Montana and
other states in the Northwest would
desire to unite with the rest of the
country in decorating the graves of
the country's heroic dead. Yet while
many hundreds of people visited these
grounds for the exercises of Memorial
day, yet there were scarcely any flow
ers left here in honor of the dead. A
small boy could carry under one arm
all the flowers that were placed around
the Custer monument This is not oW-
ing to any neglect on the part of the
people of this section, but merely oW-
ing to the fact that flowers here are not
yet in bloom. Had the day been a
month or six weeks later carloads of
flowers might have been heaped on
the graves of the Custer heroes, as are
| heaped each year on the graves of those
who sleep at Gettysburg.
Unless the vandalism is stopped there
will in ten years time be nothing but
stumps left of the marble headstones
and wooden crosses which mark where
the soldiers and officers fell on the Gus
ter battlefield. Most of the stones are
| already badly Clipped and splinteres
have been whitfield off from all the
crosses. Some of this work was done
| on this Memorial day, ror the sacrilegi-
| Gus defacements are recently made.
and more of it is done each year. Most
| of the relic-hunters were satisfied with
| gathering wild flowers for mementoes
of the battlefield, but a few vandals
can bring discredit on a great many
people. One relic-hunter found hui
man tooth and rusty suspender
buckle near where Captain Keogh fell.
and another found an arrow head. But
the vandalism should be stopped.
| There was never a battlefield where
more is left to the imagination than
| is the case with the Custer battlefield.
| The authentic testimony regarding the
| fight is SO slight that one can give free
| rein to the imagination and picture the
fight to suit himself. There were no
| survivors among the defeated, and the
reports of the victors are so contradic-
tory that little reliance can be placed
! on them. The white stones which mark
where each soldier fell are practically
| the sole testimony as to the progress
of the battle, and with these stones in
| view one can imagine the details of
| the battle as best suits himself. He
| is free to mark Clusters course from
Reno's camp as he pleases; he can suit
himself as to where Custer first saw
the Sioux or the Indians first saw the
whites as to where the attack began,
| and what directions it took up to the
tragic finale when Custer and his small
band of followers were wiped out al
the last stand.
AS a, further aid to the Imagination
the field has been left as it was on tins
day of the great battle. There are nc
fences or stone walls. There is not a
tree on the hills or in the hollows The
only additions to the scene are the
monument, the marble stones and the
house of the cemetery keeper. There
are no gardens or flower plants Oh
fountains or trees.
| Across the river west of the Custer
battlefield is little camp of Chey-
| ennes. One of them, breed
dressed in citizens clothing, said that
he visited the battlefield four days after
the fight occurred. He expressed the
view that the Indians attacked from
the south instead of the west, that thu
soldiers gradually retreated until a
the time of Clusters last stand they
were completely surrounded. At the
time of his original visit the dead sol
diers were being buried. They were
first buried just where they lay, but
only little dirt was thrown over thu
bodies, and soon the wolves and coyotes
had unearthed the bodies and further
mutilated them. Subsequently the bod
les were dug up and all were buried
together under the big monument, the
white headstones being erected to mari
where each soldier had fallen. The bod.
of Custer is buried at West Point.
1t is more seldom now that one hear:
the Custer battlefield designated as thu
Custer massacre. Annihilation is no
, massacre. As we'll might one designate
5 Dewey's humiliation of Cervera's flee
b as a massacre as to. so style the ex
7 termination of Clusters force by tn
Sioux. The soldiers were armed ant
trained for warfare, marching on th
Sioux with the intention of defeating
and chastising them. Had Custer ex
f terminated the band of Sioux on thi
battlefield instead of being himself ex
terminated, the battle would not hay
, been called a massacre, but a gloriou
victory. Evidently the troops under
estimated the fighting qualities of tn
red men, they were so self-confident a
to be foolhardy, they We're overwhelm
ed and wiped out of existence
, would be an insult to their memory t
say that they were massacred. The
fought like heroes to the last mar
? Their defence was too desperate, to
heroic, too sublime to suffer by bein