The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-12-17

ter is the only word that fifty describes
| what took place, battle being entirely
Inadequate was something horrible in
i the extreme. approximately 500 red
men. women and children were hurled
| into eternity between sunrise and sun
| set and their camp wiped off the face of
the earth. am quite familiar with the
| history of Indian warfare in the west,
1 but l think it affords no parallel to the
| Chivington or Sand Greek massacre.
The column to which I was attached
! rode down to the creek, dismounted in
the bed of it, which at that season of
| the year was dry, and there made active
preparations for the attack. We stripped
our horses and ourselves of everything
save our arms and ammunition, and then
/ remounting set out at gallop through
the outskirts Of the deserted camp, fol-
lowing the east bank of the creek up to
a point where We had seen a large num-
Der of Indians drop out of sight some
time before
The Work or Slaughter.
Realizing that an attack was immi-
nent, many Of the Indians had deserted
their camp when they saw us come up
over the brow of the hill and concealed
themselves in the sand along the banks
/ and in the bed Of the creek and wherever
else they could find hiding places. The
t creek at that point was nearly a quar-
ter Of a mile in width and it's banks were
/ sis tn oh iIriy on
| the point for which we had set out, we
/ discovered about so of the savages hud-
| died together in trenches, or holes which
| they had dug in the east bank of the
/ creek. We could not see them, but we
1 knew they We're there; and holding our
guns over the bank as far as possible,
muzzles down, we proceeded to shoot
1 into them. A member Of the company to
| which | belonged met his death here.
| He was firing over the bank, when a. bull
| let from the rifle of one of the redskins
| ploWed through his arm, causing death
| a short time afterWard from loss Of
| blood. He was the first man of my COM
| pany killed that day.
| Every Indian concealed in the trencfl-
| es at this point was Killed within short
| time. Then remounting, we set out at
| a gallop up the creek, several hundred
| Indians having been seen going in that
| direction. We rode by twos, and as we
were passing a little clump of bushy
grass in which lay an apparently dead
| savage, our horses SHE'D and the captain
called halt elf I am not much mis-
| TAKEN" he said, "that Indian back there
| is not dead, but only shamming death =
Riding back he fired at the motionless
| body, and the commissions that followed
| proved his suspicious to have been COR
rect and his aim good We discovered
! that the. redskin had been a chief He
/ had a string Of flattened-out Mexican
silver dollars attached to his sca1p-Iock
and a lot of other trumpery on his per-
son. It didn't take US long to dispose
CT his adornments
The country for Is miles around the
camp was secured and the slaughter
complete. An order had been given
| when we set out to let no Indian escape,
and it was executed mercilessly and lit
orally. The savages who had not con-
eealed themselves in the sand along the
banks and in the bed of the creek had
scattered over the hills round about the
camp, and we hunted and shot them
down like wild beasts. Men, women and
| chiIdren-all met the same fate. Few
of the redskins were armed with rifles,
and the result was that not many of our
own men were killed or seriously wound
ed. # they had been armed as we were
might have been to us.
Duel to Death.
Many bloody and desperate hand-to-
hand conflicts took place. One Of oLr
men had recently lost his whole family
at the hands of the Indians, and when
the slaughter began he seemed to lose
his reason entirely. He rode about with
his hat off and his hair streaming in
the breeze, exposing himself to danger
everywhere and lighting like a madman.
After the battle had been going forward
several hours his dead body was dis
covered lying in a great pool of his own
blood close beside that of a stalwart
Indian. 1t was evident that a terrible
conflict had been waged between the two
dead men. The white man had been
armed with rifle and a bowie knife,
while the Indian had only bunch Of
stee1-pointed arrows. How long they
had struggled it was of course imsos-
sible to determine, but how desperately
and ferociously it was plain to see. The
soldier had ended the life of his adj
Versary by plunging a bowie knife into
his heart, while he himself had died
from countless wounds inflicted with
the arrows. His back had been literally
hacked to pieces.
My narrative has been conined large
" to the part the detachment to which
I belonged took in the massacre. Other
detachments, of course, had been doing
precisely what We had, and with the
same results There was no regular
plan of battle, for none was possible
under the circumstances. We simply
rode over the country and hunted and
shot down the savages wherever we
could find them.
Slain in the Sand.
Completing the slaughter at the point
to which we had ridden from down the
creek, We rode further " the stream