The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-23
CHAPTER ". s-,,>.a :,
Following Clusters Old Trail.

7 HAI morning raul turned out at reveiIe, an
~ hour later having made his farewells in camp
ne jumped into the wagon beside Jim and started
of toward the valley Of the Rosebud with the avowed
site Of the Little Big Horn massacre. 49, :
:, Paul had letter to Major Wyman, Indian agent at
the Crow reservation who promptly assigned to his
pretty daughter Lizzie the duty Of escortng the
newspaper man to the heights Of the Little Big Horn
They arranged to the next morning, and the way
to Monument hill, the battle ground is now called
Miss Lizzie suggested they pay visit to White Swan
former Crow scout who was with Reno in the famous
retreat When Paul learned that Curly brother-in-
law OF White Swan lived with the latter his interest
unbounded
unbounded for Curly was the Grow scout with Custer
until that fatal moment when the dashing general dis
the nnexpssted strength Of the allied Indians
White Swan, crippled old Indian, who was wounded
in dozen places during that to be forgotten re-
Puse at the tord when Reno forced to retreat
called out, :tHow how!' when Lizzie tapped at the
door of his mud chinked hut. =. !: =
in which he not disappointed. Gurlys once black
locks were gray and grizzed and the skin shook
nose was wrinkled and dull - 10y: -" ~ :. >.>>:.:
Curly had been interviewed so often by correspond.
ents anxious to get good story, that rather than
disappont them the tender old reprobate has
RECALLED them thru interpreters with wonderful stories
of his marvellous escape from the battle on the heights
That this is pure fiction all authorities agree for it
is pretty generally understood that the willy indian did
not Custer in his the apex Of the
Little Big Horn, whence neither he nor any of his
devoted officers and men descended Instead, Curly
near the river and at dark after all over puroined
Sioux blanket from dead brave wrapped himself in
1t and joined the bowling exutng Sioux and Cheyenne
warriors in unchalenged security That he was the
last to the intrepid alive is unouestioned
In this lies his chief claim to fame. s =. = ::
He did not attempt to deceive Paul. shrewdly argu-
ing that the agents daughter would promptly undeceye
him in that event Leaving the two old crones to
enjoy their smoke Paul and his bright escort
remounted their horses and rode thru the village
up to the heights of the Little Big Horn which Uncle
Sam now has turned into national buryng place for
all soldiers whode In the service at any Of the
posts.
Dismounting, they tied horses to the iron picket
fence surrounding the Custer monument and while his
companion picked wild flowers the sdehil Paul stood
on the crest of the ridge and surveyed the scene of the
historic massacre AS his eye swept battlefield
he mentally reviewed the tragic connected with
the killing of the rash but gallant and his devoted
troopers of the Seventh cavalry who met their deaths
Like heroes, fighting horde Of savages that out
numbered them twenty to ~ ~.
Not soul escaped to tell the tale Over $50 brave
officers and men, together with the intrepid Custer,
found the battlefield days the fight
was Captain Keogh's horse Comanche, whose gaping
wounds rendered the dumb brute useless prize.
And what scene it that met the eyes of the
relief column that fair June day! All the dead, with
the exception of Custer had been fghtfuly mutilated
The bodies lay mostly in groups of tours scattered up
and down the ridge the summit of which Custer made
his last stand =, . 49,. .--,' ~.
It the eliminating act of the renegades who for
several years had been committing depredations all
along the frontier the white settlers hostiles
were mostly of the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes that had
reservations
warpath 1t to put stop the outrages committed
by these restless bands break up their drive
them back to their reservations that Generals Terry
Crook, Glbbon and Custer took the field early in the
spring Of 1876. =, Il: II Ill.,. - - 1&
In this campaign Custer assumed command Of his
regiment the gallant Seventh and under General
Terry set out from Fort Abraham Lincoln, North
Dakota, May IT, for the rendezvous at the Yellowstone
which point was. reached two weeks later Here
Terry's command soon after joined by General
Gibbons forces, and active operations were begun
against the maraudng Sioux. 80. - -
rtinr n1or NfoSor d
camp after week IS absence with the news Of large
trail leading toward the Little Big Horn. Generals
Terry and Gibbon determined send Custer with his
regiment to follow this TRAIL keep between the Indians
and the Big Horn mountains and cut off their retreat
to force them north toward the Yellowstone where
they would be met by Gibbon and Terry, and taught
salutary lesson. <as
With twelve troops Of the Seventh cavalry, Custer
broke camp the Rosebud and by>forced marches adj
yanced toward the trail discovered by Reno Three days
later the morning of June 25 Custer suddenly came in
SIGHT of the combined forces Of Gall Crazy Horse Rain