The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-09-08

officer as Though the Indians fairly
| sprang from the earth in all directions
! to see what had been discovered. There
We're swarms of them but happily
they We're miles away. Then began
the race for life
| The horses were urged M the noun
| tain. On came the Indians. They
We're seen occasionally, along the
canons in the rear, The band had
divided and was trying to head off the
soldiers and surround them Sudden
- IS the soldiers assembled the side OF
I @Ulch and gained a small plateau, a
n2rFy of redskins sprang at them fir
in- their rifles and yelling The men
scattered like sheep. Lieutenant Sib-
ley ordered the men 10 fire even if
neg Gid not aim at the enemy. for a
rlie made Il noise like a cannon amid
those hills Finally the men GOT to-
ðer and Lieutenant Siblev ordered
a retreat up a slope to d bit of wood
ed ground which projected them from
the fire OF the Indians. This was about
nine O'Clock in the morning Mr.. Sib-
ley describes the situation as follows:
The Indians began to gather about
us more rapidly. The situation was
growing more serious every minute.
My men were doing good work with
their rifles. 1t pleased me to see one
man shoot noted Sioux chief right
through the heart. The old sinner
never twitched a muscle after the lead
hit him. We never knew how MANY
we Killed because when an Indian
IS shot his comrades keep him out of
sight. Well, we held them off for four
hours. and they were four hours OF
not work, | can tell you My scout
then told me that the Indians were on
three sides OF us. We had one chance
lett to retreat, and this chance was
tast leSsenng because fresh Indians
were coming"
Both Finerty and De Barthe relate
the story with much more elaboration
and both say that Lieutenant Sibey at
FIRST hesitated in taking to fight even
under those circumstances but Grouard
convinced him that it meant terrible
death to all and no good could possibly
come of it if they stayed
Il did not like to abandon our
horses, relates Major Sibley, but it
was that or die. 50 the retreat was
ordered. | inspected each man per-
sonally to see that his equipment was
right. but owing to my ineXperience
ana the excitement Of the moment |
forgot the rations Only one man in
The command took his rations. Only
one man in the command took his ra-
ions. 1t was an hour or so before the
lndlans discovered that we had fed.
BY that time we were up on the noun
am IN places so steep that one man
had to help the other up. The horses
;ould not follow u.s. So for the time
)e,ng the Sioux would not strike us.
'rolard took a mountain trail which
We followed on foot for fifty hours
VT hout mouthful to eat Such fear
uiiy vigorous exercise without food
nearly killed us.
toward the end of this perilOus
march We all became so weakened that
We marched for ten minutes and then
'ouid lie down and rest Several of
Ne NEST robust men became insane.
M one or two never regained their
ats. When we reached Crook camp
slept Tor twenty-fo hours without
'aking, and during that time the camp
'as sharply attacked by Indians. Even
he roar of musketry did not disturb
ny sleep in the least. Not single
IAN was lost on the trip
Remarking on his experience OF
lalns life, Major Sibley said that it
eemed wonderful to him what re-
aarkable instincts the halfbreed scout
assessed. A scout had led him across
trackless waste on dark night
hen the snow was falling and the
ind blowing. The horses were con-
nually drifting to windward to get
heir faces away from the cutting
last.
lhere was not landmark to guide
le scout Yet in the face of all these
ftlculties the scout would lead the
oopers, after marching all night. to
lie exact SPOT from which they started