Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-08-17

SURVIVORS vi Tie e cavalry unQer
Reno and Benteen, he buried the dead
where they fell and marked each grave
with a stake. 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-
dairy of the summit Of the ridge. The
place where his Lody lay was originally
marked by a large marble s.one,
which, however, has been entirely car
ried away by vandals. Nearly every
visitor to the place knocked off a chip,
until the headstone was destroyed and
a plain wooden cross had been substi-
tuted for it.
Around Custer lay the bodies of
some thirty soldiers, including his two
brothers, and it is apparent that he
was n of the last to fall. You can
see clearly by the location Of the mar
BILE slabs over the field where attempts
were 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-
deavoredfto escape and were shot down
by their pursuers. Each slab is
marked ~. S. Soldier 7th Cavalry;
rell Here June %, 1876
1T 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
congressman. Mackintosh's grave is
outside of the Enclosure 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 it,"
A peculiar mistake occurs in one
part of the letter of Mr.. Curtis, and
that is where he states that bodies oil
two officers of the regiment were
never found, those of DR.. Porter and
Lieut.. Harrington. If Mr.. Curtis had
stopped in Bismarck, he 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:
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 a horse were found in a cou.
lee about four miles from the battle.
field, which some people think might
have been Harrington's. This theory
is chiefly based upon a story told by
one of the Indians who was engaged in
the fight. Harrington rode the fast.
est horse in the regiment, a big stall
lion named "Sorrel Dan," and in theil
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 at.
tempted to escape. He was followed
several miles by the Indians, who sue.
ceeded in surrounding him, and at
tempted to take him alive, but as his
horse fell wounded he drew his re-
volver and fired 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 forebodings.
He felt that he would not return alive,
and illustrated his premonitions by
%sketching himself tied to a tree, with
a band of bowling savages throwing
knives at him. That, he said, would
be his fate, and it is perhaps true that,
failing to escape, he took his own life,
as related by the Indians. This let
ter and sketch, which unfortunately
fell into the hands of Mrs. Harrington,
were more than anything else the
cause of her insanity"
DIR. PORTER NOT LOST.
DR.. Porter vigorously disclaims the
statement that he has not been found
since the Custer massacre. While Dr.
Porter was not with Custer, he came
SO near being that it is hardly a pleas
ant recollection, considering the fate