Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1900-08-10
who was with Reno in the fght, lives
in the same neighbo borhood. He was

~ LIE 5SdlIlb ilSlSIIDOIllOOu.S48 5f1e{ WAS
badly wounded and draws a pension
from the government.
Fred 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
$oattle, keeps the hotel at the agency
and is probably the best posted man
in this neighborho concerning that
disastrous campaign. Serber was also
"a member Of Gen Greely's exploring
party in the arctics. 4ss IA #
When Gen. Terry arrived at the.
battlefield the Indians had scattered
over the country and, assisted by the.
survivors Of the Seventh cavalry under
Reno and Benteen, he buried the dead
where they fell and marked each grave.
with a stake. .SNs Where the bodies could
be identified the names were given,
and afterward marble slabs were
erected. The field at present is in
closed by a wire fence, and Clusters
last stand is near the northern boun-
Diary OF the summit of the ridge. The
place where his Lody lay was originally!
marked by a large marble spone,.
which, however, has been entirely car
ried away by yandals. Nearly every
visitor TO the place knocked off chip,
until the headstone was destroyed and
a plain wooden cross had been subsEi-.
futed for it. sI ;:
Around Custer lay the bodies of.
some thirty soldiers, including his two
brothers, and it is apparent that he
was one of the last to fall. You can
see clearly by the llocation of the mar
BILE slabs over the field where attempts
We're made to rally and drive back the
savages. AT several spots are groups
of thirty and forty headstones stand
ing closely together. Then there will
be an interval with a few scattering
stones showing where the men dropped
in retreat, one, two and sometimes
three together. Far from their fell
lows in remote parts of the field are
white stones standing alone. These
indicate that some Of the soldiers en-
deaVored to escape and were shot down
by their pursuers Each slab is
marked ~. S. Soldier, eth Cavalry;
r:ell Here June 25, 1876. @.
Tt is a singular fact that the far
thest grave is that Of Lieut.. Donald
Macintosh, who must have been one
Of the first to fall. He was an Indian,
a Cherokee, educated in one of the mis-
sionary schools in Indian Territory
and sent to West Point by a Kansas
congress- Mackintosh's grave is
outside of the inclosure and has been
sadly neglected, but Fred Serber and
other old soldiers around the agency
have recently fixed it up carefully and
built an Enclosure to protect il. Z
81 a peculiar mistake occurs in one
part of the letter of Mr.. Curtis, and
that is where he states that bodies of
two officers of the regiment we're
never found. those Of Dr.. Porter and
Lieut.. Harrin ngton. If Mr.. Curtis had
stopped in Bismarck, ne might have
seen the doctor, who has been a resi-
dent Of the city a greater part of the
time since the massacre, when he was
with Reno's command and did gallant
work as a surgeon in treating woun-
ded men under fire.
OF Lieut.. Harrington Mr. Curtis
says: n
Mrs. Harrington became insane,
with a mania that her husband was a
prisoner among the Indians, and Wis
tied several OF the agencies in the
northwest searching for him. She
came here and went over the battle
field without discovering any cleW, but
several years ago the skeletons of a
man and q horse were found III a cou-
lee about four miles from the battle
field, which some people think might
have been Harringt gton's. This theory
is chiefly based upon story told BY
one Of the Indians who was engaged In
the fight. Harrington rode the fast
est horse in the regiment big stall
lion named .'Sorrel Dan. & and in their
gossip about the battle after the IN
dians had returned to Standing Rock
agency it came out that an officer
mounted upon a large sorrel horse att
tempted to escape. He was followed
several miles by the Indians, who sue
|sceeded in surrounding him, and at
tempted to take him alive. but as his
horse fell wounded he drew his re-
volver and fred a bullet into his own
brain
Shortly after the Custer expedition
started from Fort Lincoln, Lieut. Har-
rington wrote a melancholy letter to a
friend in the east, full of ferebodings
He felt that he would not return alive,