Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-01
CHAPTER TX.
The Last Stand.

However daring the pen. II cannot but
falter when attempting to picture the events
of those hours of victorious defeat Out
from the scene of carnage there crept forth
no white survivor to recount the heroic
deeds of the 7th Cavalry. No voice can
ever repeat the story in its fullness. no eye
penetrate into the heart of its mystery,
Only in motionless lines of dead, officers
and men lying as they fell while facing the
foe; in emptied carbines strewing the prai
rie in scattered. mutilated bodies; in that
unbroken ring of dauntless souls whose
lifeless forms lay clustered about the figure
of their stricken chief on that slight emil
hence marking the final struggle-only in
such tokens can we trace the broken out
lines of the historic picture The actors in
the great tragedy have passed beyond
either the praise or the blame OF earth.
With moistened eyes and swelling hearts,
we vainly strive to imagine the whole
scene. This. at least. We know; no holder,
nobler deed of arms was ever cone
1t was shortly after o'clock in the after
noon when that compact column of cavalry
men moved silently forward down the con-
cealng coulee toward the more open ground
beyond. Clusters plan was surprise, the
sudden shifting of that village in the valley
from the rear by the quick charge of his
horsemen. From man to man the whis
pered purpose travelled down the ranks, the
eager troopers greeting the welcome mes
sage with KlndinR eyes II was the Olu
way of the 9TH, and they knew 1t well.
The very horses seemed to feel the electric
shock Worn with hard marches. bronzed
by long weeks of exposure on aikali plains,
they advanced now with the precision of
men on parade, under the observant eyes OF
the officers. Not canteen tinkled, not
saber ratified within its cabbard at
swift. noiseless walk those tried warriors
of the 18th pressed forward to strike once
more their old-time foes.
Above them a few stray, fieecy clouds
fiecked the blue of the arching sky, serving
only to reveal its depth of color. On every
side extended the rough irregularity of a
region neither mountain nor plain, land
of ridges and bluffs, depressions and
vines. Over all rested the golden sunlight
of late June: and in all the broad expanse
there was sign of human presence.
With Custer riding at the head of the col
umn and only little to the rear of the
advance scouts, his adjutant Cook. to
gether with a volunteer aid, beside him, the
five depleted troops filed reSolutely forward,
dreaming not Of possible defeat. Suddenly
distant shots were heard far off TO their
left and rear, and deepening into rumble,
evidencing a warm engagement. The in
terested troopers lifted their heads. listen
ing intently. while eager whispers ran
from man to man along the closed files.
Reno is going In, boys; it will be our
turn next.
CLOSE up! Quick there. lads quiet" off,
Ger after officer passed the word of COM
mand.
Yet there were those among them who felt
a strange dread-that firing sounded so far
up the stream from where Reno should have
been by that time. Still it might be that
those overhangiag bluffs would muffie and
defect the reports. Those fighting of
the 7th rode steadily on, unquestioningly
pressing forward at the word of their be-
loved leader. All about them lowered death
in dreadful guise. None among them saw
those cruel, spying eyes watching from dis
tant ridges. peering at them from concealed
ravines; none marked the rapidly masSing
hordes hideous in war paint, crowded into
nearby coulees and behind protecting hills.
1t burst upon them with wild yells. The
gloomy ridges blazed into their startled
faces, the dark ravines hurled at them
skurrying horsemen, while, wherever their
eyes turned, they beheld savage forms
leaping forth from hill and coulee. gulch
and rock shadow. Horses fell. ran about
died in that first awful minute of conster-
nation. and the little column seemed to
shrivel away If consumed by the fame
which struck 1t, front and flank and rear
1t was If those men had ridden into the
mouth of hell. God only knows the horror
of that first moment of shrinking sus-
pense-the screams of agony from wounded
men and horses. the cries of fear. the thun-
der of charging hoofs, the deafening roar
Of rifles
Yet 1t was for scarcely more than min
ute. Men trained strong. clear of brain,
were in those stricken lines-men who had
seen Indian battle before. The reco!l came /
swift as had been the surprise. Voice after
voice rang out in old familiar orders,
steadying instantly the startled nerves; dis
cipline conquered disorder, and the shat
tered column rolled out, as If by magic.
into the semblance of a battle line. On foot
and on horseback the troopers of the 7th
turned desperately at bay.
1t was magnificently- done. Custer and
his troop commanders brought their sorely