The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-06-14
A FAMOUS INDIAN FIGHT
REPULSE OF RED CLOUD AND BAND
BY SMALL WAGON TRAIN GUARD.
General Andrew Burt Describes This
Remarkable Incident-Hnd Breech-
Loading Guns.


issue all the orders he may desire changing |
the hish-sounding and peculiar Indian |
names TO the names of civilization, but in |
doing so he cannot change the character or
Red Cloud. chief typical of those of the |
frontier days of long ago.
Poor old Red Cloud. how unhappy the old |
devil must be in these days of peace, when |
there flashes across his memory the from
tier days of long ago, a recollection of the |
time when, as a gallant warrior, painted |
and decorated for war, he rode at the head |
of his braves in assault on a wagon |
train of military supplies destined for the |
Phil Kearney post Those were the days |
of bloo6shed in the West, and Red Cloud |
the bloodiest chief among all the tribes.
Red Cloud in his time was one of the |
most successful, daring, savage chiefs of |
the great Sioux Nation. During the hostili- |
ties waged so brutally on the plains against |
the encroachment of the whites. his name |
was the dreaded one every emigrants
tongue. / knew him personally quite well. !
1 have had many talks with him about old
times. Possibly our relations were the
more friendly in that had had skirmish
with him and his war party my march
into the Big Horn country in the fall of
1867, on Crazy Woman's Fork, Wyoming.
Red Cloud was the big chief command
ing the hostile Sioux forces that attacked
Brevet Major Jim Powells command.
Several times l asked the old fellow to give
me an account of his side of that battle. I
never succeeded in making him talk freely
about it. The reason may have been that
he was defeated in this, one of the most
desperate of our Indian engagements. Red
Clouds prominence among the Sioux was
owing to bitter declaration of war to the
death against the whites. All the disaf-
fected of the tribe joined his band
Although / could not get Red Cloud to
talk of his attack on Major Powell, had
been well posted on that fight by several
members of the Twenty-seventh Infantry
who were in the engagement The old chief
verified many of the details of the Indian
side of the story. such as had been told me
about the approximate number of Sioux
gagged, their losses in killed and wounded
and the terrifying effect on the attacking
Indians of the much talk gun, the then
new, to them, breech-loading rife. Major
Powell and his soldiers were guarding a
wood contractors party of citizens who
supplied the Fort Phil Kearney garrison
with wood. Powell, knowing that he would
be attacked at any time. had fortified his
camp by building "hasty intrenchments.
His foresight stood him in his hour of great
peril, for on the morning of Aug. 2. 1867, 500
warriors, splendidly mounted. the best and
bravest of the Sioux nation, appeared in
hostile array before the camp of this little
band of white men-two officers, twenty-six
private soldiers and four citizens. These
determined men knew this was a fight to
the death. There would be nothing between
them and torture at the stake II driven
from the hastily constructed fort. That
these warriors advanced openly on this lit
tie band of white men, contrary to the In
dian well-known secret tactics, showed the
utter contempt in which Powell's force was
held. On they came, shrieking their war
cry, firing a voley of bullets. The reply
was deadly and continuous stream Of shot
from the little band. The warriors could
not face that deadly fire. They were driven
back in confusion and amazement. The Sc
cret Of the white mans success was that
but short time before the Fort Phil Kear-
ney soldiers had been armed with a new
breech-loading rifle, fact at that time I'M
known to the Indians. They were calculat-
ing on the old-time Misunderstanding guns in
the hands of the troops Red Cloud and his
principal chiefs held hurried consultation.
They determined to launch their whole
fighting force on foot against the little fort
on the hill. Major Powells lieutenant, Jen-
ness, CALAMITY and, as he thought neces-
sarily, exposing himself during the first at
tack had been killed; one or two men had
been killed or wounded and the attack had
developed certain weak points of his de-
lenses, which were promptly strengthened
with whatever was at hand. The firing was
so rapid that the gun barrels became over
heated; spare guns were placed in each
wagon bed. Some of the men were poor
shots and fired wildly; they were ordered
not to fire, but to load and pass guns to the
selected marksmen. Now from the hills
swarmed a semi-circle of warriors at least
1900 strong. When within about 500 yards
the order to charge was given. The whole
line dashed on to the corral, to be, when
they had almost touched it, hurled back in
confusion and dismay. Again and again did
the gallant line rally and charge to be
again broken, discounted and driven back;
and 1t was only after three continuous
hours" of almost superhuman effort against
this unseen, intangible foe that the line be-
came utterly demoralized and fed in con-
sternation to the hills.
Red Cloud and some of the older of his
principal chiefs, had watched the whole
action. For a long time they thought the
wonderfully continuous fire was due to the
fact that there were more men in the cor
raj than it would appear to hold: but on
the final repulse of the long succession of
desperate charges, they concluded that the
white had some medicine guns
which would fire all the time,' without
the aid of human hands, and that their
best plan was to stop the conflict.
When the demoralzed host had reached
the safety of the hills they were ordered
not to fight any more, but to recover the
bodies of the killed and wounded A cloud
of skirnishers were sent out to cover this
operation. with orders to keep Up a con-
tinuous fire. All the killed and wounded
nearest the hills were soon taken to the
rear and cared for, but to recover those
nearer to the corral was exceedingly diffi-
cult and dangerous. Taking one end of a
long rope, formed by tying together many
lariats, a warrior ran out into the open
as far as he dared. then, throwing him
self forward on the ground and covering
himself with shield Of thick buffalo hide.
he crawled to the nearest dead or wounded
man and fastened the rope around his
ankles. The men in the woods or at the