, 1900-07-17

within a half hour, decided that to get
the arrow out of his mouth the tongue
must be, and was, cut out. The poor
fellow returned to camp with us. and
at this late date l am unable to say
whether he lived or died. Another
man, a sergeant in the signal corps,
by the name of Charles NJ. Latham,
was shot in the heel. He had been
through the entire war in the army OF
the Potomac, and wore a medal for
his bravery, had passed through many
| battles and escaped unframed. This
shot in the heel caused his death; nc
died a few days afterward with lock-
| law. The Indians made a brave stand
trying to save their families and sue
| ceeded in getting away with a large
majority Of their women and children
leaving behind nearly all Of their plum
| der. They fed up a stream now called
| Wolf creek, General Conner in close
pursuit. Soon after we left the village
General Conner advised me to instruct
| Captain North to take his Indians and
/ get all the stock he could possibly
gather. This was done, and with a few
stragglers l followed a small band of
Indians up the main Tongue river
| about three miles, until they gathered
recruits enough to turn upon us and
force us back. General Conner pur-
sued the fleeing savages fully ten miles
from camp, when he found himself ac-
companied by only fourteen men; our
horses had all become so fatigued and
worn out it was impossible to keep up.
The general halted his small squad
and attempted to take the names of his
brave comrades, when the Indians,
noticing the paucity of his numbers,
Immediately turned Upon him and made
a desperate attempt to surround him
and his small squad Of soldiers. They
fell back as rapidly as possible, con
testing every inch, and reinforced
every few moments by some stragglers
who had endeavored to keep up. With
this help they managed to return to
camp, where Captain North and my
self had succeeded in corraling about
100 head of ponies. One piece of ar
tillery had become disabled. The axle
tree Of the gun carriage, a mountain
howitzer, was broken. We left the
wheels and broken axle neaar the river
and saved the cannon The command
rendezvoused in the village and the
men were set to work destroying In
dian property. Scores Of buffalo robes
blankets and furs were heaped up on
lodge poles, with tepee covers and dried
buffalo meat piled on top and burned.
On n Of these piles we placed our
dead and burned their bodies to keep
the Indians from mutilating them.
During the halt the Indians pressed
close up to the camp, made several des-
perate attempts to recover their stock.
when the mountain howitzer, under
tho skillful management Of Nick
O'Brien, prevented them from complet-
ing their aims. Our attack upon the
village commenced about 9 o'clock p.
m. The rendezvous in the village end
ed about 2:30; in the intervening time
we destroyed an immense amount of
Indian property-fully $50 Indian
lodges and contents. At 2:3O we took
up the line Of march for the train.
Captain North, with his eighty Indians,
undertook to drive the stock; they
they were soon far ahead, while the
rest of the force was employed in beat
ing back the Indians. The Indians
pressed us on every side, sometimes
charged up to within fifty feet Of our
rear guard. They seemed to have
plenty Of ammunition, but did most of
their fighting with arrows, although
there were some of them armed with
muskets, with which they could send
lead in dangerous proximity to our
men. Before dark we were reduced to
forty men who had any ammunition,
and these only a few rounds apiece
The Indians showed no signs Of stop.
ping the fight, but kept on pressing us,
charging upon us, dashing away at the
stock. keeping US constantly on the
move until Has, when the last shot
was fired by our pursuers. At this
time I had gone ahead to communi-
cate an order from General C0nnNr IN
Captain North relative to handling the
stock. Having completed my work l
halted by the side Of the trail and
waited for the general, who was with
the rear guard. I remember as l wal
getting from my horse I heard the last
shot fired two or three miles in the
rear. After l had dismounted 1 re-
allied that l was fearfully tired. so
tired that 1 could not stand up. sat
down on the ground, and In a moment
in spite Of myself, was in a sound
sleep, and was only awakened by being
dragged by my horse, which was an
Indian pony that l had saddled f-om
the captured stock. Nearly all our
men had remounted themselves while
We were rendezvousing' in the Indian
village. otherwise we would not have
been able TO keep out Of the way Of the
pursuing Indians. NJ lafaat was wrap
ped around my right arm, and, with
this the pony was dragging me across