The Minneapolis journal., 1902-06-13
HEW AS WITHCUSTER
w. w. MCGEE Left the Command
Just Before the Fight.
HE WAS SENT WITH WORD TO RENO
His companion, Who Took Another
Trail, Was Ambushed
and Killed.

Clusters last fight, one Of the great
tragedies in the winning Of the west, was
graphically described at the Hotel Allen
this morning by w. w. McGee, Of St.
Louis, who claims to be the only survivor
OF the Seventh Cavalry, the gallant troop
massacred in the valley of the Little Big
Horn river, June Is, 1876.
History records that not a. man escaped
from that ill-starred pursuit of Sitting
Bulls braves, but Mr.. McGee-" Orderly"
MCGEE. as he was then known-is a liv-
Ing refutation of that report
Mr. McGee was born in Ludlow, KY. in
1857. He end his mother left Cincinnati
and moved to the Texas frontier in the
latter COS. In 1874 he joined the regulars
at Quincy, ILL.,, and went soon after to
st. Louis. whence he Joined his regiment
In the south, and two years later was de-
tached as orderly with the Seventh. "..
Before Custer and Reno parted COM
pany the day of,the fight" said Mr.. Nc
Gee, they decided to attempt flank
movement on the hostiles, whose position
was we'll known to all of us. The two Of
hcers compared watches and set them
alike. did not overhear their conversa-
tion at the time, but afterwards learned
that the agreement or understanding was
to make the onslaught at a certain prear-
ranged time - ,-.'..; III
"As orderly, I was. keeping close to
General Custer. Before we had gone a
mile. he found that he would be unable
to make the point agreed upon in that
time, and calling to me he said: Orderly,
go back to General Reno and tell him to
wait twenty minutes longer
He asked me If thought could find
the way. replied that I could as the
trail was very plain He called the trum-
peter, German named Wagner and gave
him the same order. He then made us
both repeat our orders We di so and
as we started off he pointed out what he
thought was a short cut, and suggested
that we go that way instead of following
the regular trail.
Wagner decided to take the short cut
because the general told him to- but I
was afraid of falling in with Indians of
the beaten path, and so I stuck to the
old trail. The short cut lay through the
woods along the river. had not. gone
more than 300 yards when the Indians
commenced their onslaught on the Sew
enth. Wagner was in their path. 1t
seemed as II all the imps of hell had
broken loose. &" .@ :.
To my dying day I will never forget the
wild chorus of discordant, blood curdling
yells which broke upon my ears, mingled
with the crack of carbines. I knew it
was all up with Wagner He was riddled.
If you ever read in history about the man
| OF Clusters command found three-quar-
ters of a mile away you may be sure 1t
was Wagner-the poor, good natured
German trumpeter. -. ST..
Fearful that like fate awaited me,
hurried along the old trail and was il
sight OF Reno's troops, when my horse
| was shot under me. AS the horse fell
my carbine, which was in my sling at my
side, was discharged, the bullet striking
me in the left leg, near the knee Al.
| though shot through the lungs, my horse
regained his feet and kept on at a SLOW
| pace. By this time several Indians who
| had opened fire on me were within plair
view. LE.-e e5s| :i5
They kept blazing away at me. I let gc
| with my carbine at a buck who had just
tried to wing me- I'm not sure whether
hit him or not, 1but he dropped, and
soon another man appeared in his place,
It may'vel BEEN the; same fellow, but
| am good shot and in those days wouldn't
| miss a. man flftyryards away one time out
Of thousand. ~ =, <a...
II managed to stick it out until got in
|. the lines. and the answering fire of Re-
| nos men sent the reds flying over the
| prairie. shouted my orders at him al
soon as came within hailing distance
He replied: It's too late, orderly. take
care Of yourselfs q. =:
"By that time, although I scarcely
| knew it, I was shot in the right and lef,
legs and side. It was all over with Gus.
| ter and his command. was the last
| man he spoke to,sor, rather, the last liv-
| ing man he said anything to on that fata
afternoon. ~ -- =
| "Custer, was d brave man, but he was
too foolhardy. These popular pictures Of
| the fight are mostly misleading. The SOL
diers didn't wear sabers, nor did we have
any wagons within a hundred miles Of US
81 fought under General Miles in sub
sequent Indian campaigns. He was the
man for Indian fighting. He knew the
treaoherous Indian nature, and fought
them On the theory that the only good In
dian is the dead one r. :"