Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-08-17
CURTIS ON CUSTER
William E. Curtis Visits the Custer
Battlefield and Describes 1t as
It Is.
Some Incidents of the Massacre as re-
lated to Him by Custodian and
Others.
Says DR.. Porter was Never Found after
the Battle, which the Doctor
Stoutly Denies.

OF the chicago ReCOrQ,
who recently passed through the city
returning from a trip to Billings via
the Burlington, publishes an article in
the Record descriptive OF the Custer
battlefield, part Of which follows:
"The Custer battlefield needs atten-
ton. The national cemetery, which
occupies the scene of the massacre of
fifteen officers and PAT men of the Sew
enth cavalry, is about two miles from
the Grow agency, and the stone house
erected for the custodian and the grim
shaft of granite which marks the spot
where Custer made his last stand are
visible from the Burlington railway
station and the agency buildings. I
drove over there this morning behind
a sturdy team and in a handsome
wagon hired from Bear Claws, who
keeps a livery stable at the agency.
THE cemetery is at the summit of
a ridge 800 feet above the level of the
Little Big Horn river, and the soil is
as dry as a bone. Mr.. Grover, the
custodian, is compelled to haul nearly
all the water he uses because the gov
eminent has left him at the mercy of
a cistern and Tie rainfall is i%nfrequent
and uncertain. Congress might make
an appropriation to drive a we'll and
erect a windmill so that there might
be. a supply of water to irrigate the
soil of the cemetery and sustain a few
trees to relieve the barren and lifeless
monotony of the place. 1t is intended
to be a permanent military cemetery,
and not only the victims of the Custer
massacre, but the bodies of all the SOL
diers killed by the Indians in this part
of the country have been brought here
from various abandoned posts. Among
the dead are the victims of the mas
sacre at Fort Phil Kearny in 1SGGtthe
Fetterman massacre, it was called.
This cemetery is governed by the same
regulations as those at Arlington, Chic
amauga, Vicksburg and West Point,
only those who lie here, nearly 800 in
number, were all slain by che savage
wards of the nation.
"The landscape is Of the familiar
type, not unlike that of hundreds of
square miles in what is known as the
arid area of the west, a heavy rolling
prairie-1ong high ridges following
one after another and cut by numerous
gulches, where the heavy rains that
fe.- before the country was inhabited
by white men washed the soil into the
river bottoms. The Little Big Horn
is a constant and respectable stream
fell before the country was inhabited
and it's course is marked by a fringe of
cottonwood trees as it flows through a
noble valley that is being cultivated
with gratifying success by the Grow
Indians. On the south side of the
Wolf mountains. and on the west of
the Big Horn range, whose peaks are
SCARED by deep ravines and frightened
by an occasional patch of snow.
Gen. Terry, in June, .o7G, was able
10 bring the f1atbottom steamer Far
West up the Big Horn river within a
few miles Of the battlefield, where, two
days after the massacre, he learned
from the lips of Curley. the Grow
scout, that Custer had been annihi-
lated. AS soon as the numbers of the
Indians were disclosed Gen. Custer
sent Curley to notify General Reno and
Col. Benteen, IL commanded the
other battalions, OF the situation and
order them to join his force as soon as
possible. There has always been a
question as to Curley's courage. Many
think he might have made his way
through the lines of the enemy and de-
livered his orders, but when he saw the
avalanche of warriors bearing down
upon Clusters little command he fled
for the nearest shelter and remained
concealed until the day after the fight,
when the saw the smoke of the steamer
COLuluS up Luc IlVeI. he mel maze
his way to Gen. Terry and remained
with him.
"Curley is now living on a farm near
the agency, having nearly 200 acres OF
land under cultivation and quite a herd
of cattle. He is a sober, Industrious,
well-behaved Indian. He saves his
money and is a credit to his race.
White Swan, another Grow scout,
who wa with Reno in the fight, lives
in the same neighborhood. He was
badly wounded and draws a pension
from the government.
Fired Serber, who was a first SER
geant in the Second cavalry for seven
teen years and commanded the Indian
scouts under Terry at the time of the
Dattle, keeps the hotel at the agency
and is probably the best posted man
in this neighborhood concerning that
disastrous campaign. Serber was also