The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1901-02-06
s. Little Bat
AND THE
Sibley Fight.
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THE long haired man from the west
may be all right. but there are Others"
remarked n dark, swarthy, stout man
In this city yesterday. He was Frank
Grouard. eN-chef of scouts of the
United States army, the hero of n hun
dred Indian fights and hairbreadth
escapes. There is nothing romantic In
tho appearance of this big. brawny
man, his black hair now well streaked
with silver. but his exploits are llber-
ally blazoned on the army reports by
Crook and Sheridan. Born on an Is
land IN the south Pacific In 1850, the
son of missionary, through stress of
circumstance Mt the age of 8 he was
left to shift for himself. Doing chores
about the California mining camps and
driving an GRO wagon were his training
for carrying mail over lonely star
route. He was captured ms youth
by Indians and adopted as son by
the famous Sioux chief Crazy Horse,
living five years In Indian camps, eat
Ing his meat without salt, forgetting
the taste of bread, and intrusted with
the mysteries of medicine making by
Sitting Bull. This school Injured him
to hardship and eventually led him to
meet and overcome dangers that few
men have experienced.
When he saw the telegram In the
newspaper of yesterday relating the
tragedy at Crawford. Nch., that sound
cd taps for Baptlstc Gaunler, better
known rs the famous scout Little Bat,
he quito forgot the oYcrhauglng Won
der Of the elevated road and the tall
buildings 10 tell his regret Mt the puss-
Ing of one who had shared with him
many perils. Did you ever hear of the
Sibley iight9' he asked. IF You have
not, John Finerty can tell you one live
| iy side of It. Little Bat might hnve
| told you some more about 1t, md |
might say something myself. Yes. we
were all In 1t up to our chlns, and ms
an all round close shave | think all ne
counts agree that ii was about the lin
II. The idea OF n man living on II diet
Of that kind and then getting Killed II
u saloon fight 1t seems tough Pool
Little Bat! Bad whisky was worst
medicine than Sitting Bull ever made
In all his years Of deyiltry.
"But yen want me 10 tell about The
Slbley fight, do you? 1t was about 81
years ago last July, Just about n week
before the battle that wiped out Gen
| cral Gust II and his entire command.
| General crook assigned Little Bat and
myself to go north on the Tongue river
and meet body of friendly Crows that
were Joining us TO fight against the
Sioux. Much 10 my regret, Lieutenant
L.. w. Siblcy and - picked men of the
Second cavalry were detailed MS mn es-
cOrt The men were splendid fellows,
but all more or less new IN Indian fight
Ing. We had been moving north two
days when In the dawn of the third
morning | discovered the Sioux moving
toward the Tongue river thicker than
buffalocs In the valley Of the Platte
I called Bat softly, and when he saw
the great painted procession stealing
over the plains he said, My God, We
are gone!
II waited until saw them strike our
trail. Immediately the discovcrcr be
gan clrclng his horse and waving his
blanket, aud about ten minutes later
every Indian In that section knew that
white mrn were somewhere about.
thought We might possibly get away
from them h( getting up into the
mountains | told Eat to follow me
with the men rs fast aa lac could. my
idea being to get beyond where the
Twin creek lrail crossed our own In
the mountains. knowing that the In
dlans would naturally make n run to
cut us off at that point. ! suppose |
went up the hills rather fast, for ut
length | got tired waiting mt the trail
crossing and went back for the sol
dlers. Imagine my surprise when |
| learned that the party Ind stopped to
make coffee. Lieutenant Sibley admit.
ted his ineXperience In II running fight
and had yielded to the importunlngs of
his men, who wanted breakfast I told
him the chances were that none Of as
would eat any more between that time
and kingdom come, as the Indians
were probably waiting for us ut the
point we should have passed long ago.
| madc a wide dctoUr from the trail as
we toled up the mountain. Very for
tunatcly, for they were ambushed for
us Mt tile crossing Of the trails between
two high tree crowned buttcs II we
had passed through that natural gate,
none Of us would have been left TO tell
about H. AS we passed up the noun
tAln 10 the left they got on To our
curves, aud about 200 did some wild
target practice In our direction. Strange
TO say, not man was hit. Correspond
ent John Finerty's horse was shot, md
he came up and joined me in leading
the line The horses were inclined 10
stampede at the first Ore, SO nj the be
ginning Of the thick timber | ordered
the stock tied In bunch. The indians
tried In every way to draw our lire,
but sibley, at my suggestion, ordered
no firing unless they charged up to us,
which Is not the way an Indian fights.
ave got to the timber at 10 o'clock
In the morning, and we did not fire
shot until 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
Every man had his tree, and lie stuck
to 1t closer than n brother. Early In
the day a leather lunged Sioux yelled
at me that he knew Bat and myself
were there, and they We're going to
have great fun with particularly
me. / knew what that meant without
q map, 50 / told every soldier to save
good cartridge for himself before