Bismarck daily tribune., 1902-07-12
SHAM BATTLE.

FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATED
AT SHERIDAN, WYO.. WITH RE-
PRODUCTION OF CUSTER MAS
SACRE.
Asa Fisher sends the Tribune a
copy of a Denver paper, with the fol-
lowing dispatch from Sheridan, Wyo.,
showing how the Fourth of July was
celebrated at that place:
The widest sight and equally as wild
noises which have been seen and heard
in the west since that fearful day
twenty-six years ago when the Chey-
enne, Crow and Sioux Indians attack
ed and completely wiped out Of exist
ence General Custer and 26O men OF
the Seventh cavalry. took place here
today, when many of the same Indians,
reinforced by every warrior on the
Crow and Cheyenne reservation, re-
! produced that famous massacre in a
sham battle. Custer and his men being
represented by Major Saunders and 26O
| United States soldiers from Fort Nc
| Kenzie.
All the old leaders were represented,
Custer by Saunders; Gall. the leading
Indian in the field, by Spotted Horse;
Rain-in-the- Face by Iron Thunder.
and old Sitting Bull, high chief of the
Sioux nations, by Medicine Crow.
Every Indian on the reservation has
| been. camped around Sheridan for the
the sham, and for two weeks daily re-
hearsals were held under the super
vision of O. P. Hanna, formerly scout
connected with Clusters command and
familiar with all the details of the bat
tie. Probably go of these Indians
took part in the real fight, and each
of these repeated in today's battle, as
near as possible, the part he took in
the massacre. They also did every
thing possible to instruct the other In
dians, as we'll as to teach the soldiers
their parts.
The smaller details of the battle
| have never been brought out so clearly
before. Every white man connected
with the massacre was killed and the
Indians have always refused to talk
or have told untruthful stories of the
affair. Therefore. the work of the
braves was watched closely, and, when
sifted down, the story told today in
action, may some day appear as the
most authentic history of that battle.
1T has always been said that all of
! Clusters men were killed, although in
Sitting Bulls camp in after years, the
story was told that half-breed scout
managed to escape. Some of the
Crows, their tongues at last loosened
oE the subject by the excitement of the
past two weeks Of rehearsing. confirm
eG that report, and say that a half
breed Grow, who was scouting for
Custer, was among those who entered
the ravine in which the massacre oc-
| CURED. Custer expected to find LOCO
Pawnees; instead he was attacked by
1000 Sioux. Crows and Cheyenne war.
| riors as well armed as his own men.
When this scout saw the Crows. and
before the other Indians rounded the
Dill ln view, he guessed that the three
tribes had consolidated against the
troops and knowing the band to be
doomed, retreated before the real bat
tie begun. He never returned to the
whites, and the Indians say he wert
westward after the battle.
Today the Indians fought like de-
mons, and woe unto the soldiers had
they been supplied with ball cartrid-
ges. The red men were excited be-
yond description. The Crow reserva-
ton, until few years ago when the
Burlington built it's Pacific line in the
territory, was SO inaccessible that few
| visitors and tourists came that way.
| They are, therefore, probably the least
! used to civilized ways of any Of the
/ northwestern Indians, and are held in
subjugation more by the fear than the
love OF the whites. In the excitement
/ OF the sham battle, they would prob
1 ably have forgotten this fear.
| ------------------------t i5
/ NOTICE.
4 The Rebekahs will give a dime So
cial Wednesday, July 1G, from Z o'clock