The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1906-01-12
EARLY
An Interesting Account By Capt. Grant
Marsh of the Trip of the Boat,
THE Far West"
Ed. OF The LEADER

times. one would think [ was a his
torian or a correspondent Of thu
London Times, but to come RICH
down to business, l thought i
would not be amiss to tell OF the
trip of the steamer Far West. The
Custer affair has been written upse
much that it has been worn thread
bare, but the most important trl1
ever made bya Missouri riversteam
boat has never been told. l was IL
command of the supply boat on ev'
cry Indian expedition ever made
up the Yellowstone river, and Ialse
had the honor to command the boat
that explored the Yellowstone river
in 1873.
By order of Gen. Sheridan, Gen
G. H. Forsythe was in military com
mand to learn if the river was nav
agable in order to supply the army
by river transportation. The army
was necessary to protect the survey
ors of the N. P. r. r. The trip
was successful, and on Gen. For
sythe's report the first Custer expe-
dition was made in 1873 from Ft.
Rice to a point above the Big Horn
river. 1 was in command OF the
supply boat. Clusters first battle
with the Sioux Indians took place
a short distance from the mouth OF
the Big Horn river. Lieut.. Braden
of the 9TH Cavalry,was wounded and
is a cripple to this day. had him
on the boat after he was wounded,
and brought him to Bismarck.
The Indians gave the soldiers so
much trouble that they could not
protect the surveyors. Gen, Rosser
was the engineer in charge Of the
surveying party. The expedition
was gone all summer and in 1874,
there was a small expedition to
the Powder river. In the winter Of
1874 and 1875, the government de-
cided to settle the Indian question
for all time, and in the spring of
rs, my boat, steamer Josephine,
was chartered to make a complete
exploration Of the Yellowstone river
We started from Yankton in April
and on reaching Bismarck, took on
board Gen. Forsythe. Col. Fred
Grant of Gen. Sheridan's staff,
Charley Reynolds, who was Gen.
Clusters favorite scout, and several
others.
We made a very successful trip
to a point about 80 miles above the
Big Horn river to Pompey's Pillar,
the result Of which was that as soon
as Gen. Forsythe made his report,
they commenced to organize the ex-
petition of 1876. [ lived at Yank-
ton, S. D which was the headquar-
tiers for all boats, and I was ordered
to select any boat that I thought
most suitable for the trip, I selected
the Far West, a powerful, light
draft craft, with but a small cabin
to bother it in the high winds which
~prevail'in that country. We left
Yankton in the early part Of April,
1876, with government stores for
Fort Lincoln, which was the head
quarters for the 7th. Cavalry, Gen.
Clusters regiment. Nothing of in
terest occurred on the up-river trip
and when We arrived at Ft. Lincoln
we learned that the expedition had
been gone about ten days to march
to Powder river, where they were
to meet the supply boat. While we
unloaded our cargo, Mrs. Custer
and all Of the officers wives came
on board; this was the custom in
those days as the forts were lone
some places at best and the arrival
of a boat was almost as good as a
Fourth Of July celebration. Dur
ing the afternoon, while they we're
on the boat, the steward prepared
coffee and lunch for them. 1 was
busy attending to the loading Of
supplies for the cavalry, and when
lunch was ready, Mrs. Custer called
to me to come and eat with them.
While we were enjoying the lunch,
Mrs. Custer remarked to me that
the General had said that if 1 were
wi11;pn che and NJ T C-:ll.