The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1901-02-07
GEN. CUSTER'S LAST FIGHT.
Story of the Battle as Cleaned From Indians
Who Participated.

UAhCA PcoSSo AoAN "
years ago, and, as singular as it may
appear, interesting facts concerning that
terrible chapter in the Indian wars of the
plains are now developing, a quarter of
a century after the battle and when most
Of the principles in the ~sanguinary con-
test have passed beyond.
1t is no secret that for many years af-
ter the wiping out Of Gen. Custer and his
three companies not an Indian could be
found who would admit having taken part
in the battle. AS no white man survived
that terrible onslaught it was with the
greatest difficulty that the facts leading
up to the battle were learned. OF course,
from the position of the bodies strewn
over the plains the average plainsman
would read
The Bloody Details of the Fight
sufficient to show the desperate resistance
of the troopers and show that the SOL
diers were outnumbered probably five
hundred to one, yet the truth could not
be known except from the tongue of the
Indians who participated in the fight. The
vastness of the victory they had won
actually frightened the Indians and pre-
vented them for years from Boosting of
their part in the awful butchery.
Now, it begins to look as if the minute
details were about to be given to the
world through Frank Gourard, the vet
Gran scout, Indian fighter and pioneer
plainsman. Gourard receives his in
formation absolutely from Indian sources.
In fact, it is fitting that the public should
learn the real story of the battle through
old Frank Gourard, because, as the
grizzled old plainsman admits, by rights
his bones ought to lie among the little
white headstones that glisten to-day in
the sunlight on
The Custer Battlefield.
Frank Gourard was scouting for Custer
at that time and but for an accident
would have been with Clusters forces in
stead Of Reno's at the time of the fight,
and Of course Gourard would have been
killed, as were all Of Clusters men.
Secretary of War Meiklejohn had a long
talk with Gourard on the subject of in
cooperating his story in the government
story of the Custer affair, soon to be is
sued. The conversation occurred this
week and Meiklejohn met the veteran
scout and Indian fighter in Omaha. Gou-
rard had just returned from Pine Ridge
agency, where he had
Discussed the Custer Battle
with many of the survivors,. The
Indians have known Gourard so long hat
they trust him, even though they know
the unerring aim Of the swarthy scout
is responsible for many of their braves
being sent to the happy hunting grounds.
II was a happy accident that resulted in
two persons who participated in the cam
paign which resulted in the tragic af-
fair Of the Little Big Horn meeting Secre-
tary Meiklejohn. The other was Capt.
Arrasmith, now on his way to join the
Twenty-second in Manila. Gourard and
Arrasmith were with Crook through that
memorable campaign, and their meeting
in Omaha was the first that had occurred
since they met in c~onverging columns
near the Custer battlefield a quarter of
a century ago. Gourard contributed ma
terially to the story he had to tell to
the representative of the war depart
ment by narrating an experience he had
a few weeks ago on the reservation at
Pine Ridge.
The Fight I'm Picture.
He met an Indian who had fifty water
colors of the famous fighting indian
characters that could not be duplicated.
The Indian who exhibited them to Gou-
rard said they had long been in posses
sion of the Pine Ridge Indians, and no
white man had ever seen them before.
1t was a perfect picture story of the ia
nous battle, showing Custer through all
SN~A SAHSt WILL
the final struggle of a handful of troopers
and the dramatic finale, with the brave
general blowing out his own brains rather
than submit to capture and torture at
the hands of his savage enemies.
Secretary Meiklcjohn has written The
war department suggesting that DR.. Nc
Gillicuddy, the ex-Pine Ridge indian
agent and the most likely person to APP
proach the Indians on such a delicate
subject, be commissioned to make an
effort to induce the Indians to permit the
department to copy this remarkable pic
ture of the fight that It may be incor-
porated in the government history.
Story of the Fight.
Discussing the subject, Frank Gourard
said:
GAS to the story, I can give it 10 you
in brief and tell you many things you
never heard before. You know, of course,
of the concerted effort made by the half
dozen converging columns to hem the In
dams in and cow them out of their tellig-
erent attitude. You know of how Custer
struck the trail one summer morning in
'76 and how he, according to his usual
tactics, divided his forces with Maj. Reno
at the crossing of the Rosebud creek,
which, by the way, we old fellows call
Reno creek. His idea was to hem the
Indians in. Custer never considered the
numbers of his foe. He would have gone
out with a single mpan in just the
same way to combat the whole bowling
Indian nation, dividing his forces and
fighting them from both sides at once.
'"You know the story of Reno's march
down the creek, his crossing of the river
and his sudden appearance before the