The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1909-04-24

ting. made his force as effective as
light horse cavalry. However. the In.
ventive genius and commercial spirit
Of the white man In shop and factory
was actively engaged In producing fire.
arms so improved that. like the needle
gun In the Prussians' hands In the Eu.
ropean wars Of 1866 to 1872. they Gre
ated In his simple mind an astonish-
ment that he could not believe or
dream Of until he suffered from a fear
ful demonstration Of the fact. Myself
and others. Of course. kept up our per-
sonal pull" by adopting every I'M
provement from the old muzzle loader
to the breechloading Springfield and
the repeaters-Henry. Remington and
which gave US often the
necessary protective advantage. This
Improvement IN arms was destined a
little over year after the Fetterman
massacre to give Red Cloud and MIR.
Injun" the surprise Of their lives and
something to think Of as bad medl
cine"
Savage as We have called him, the
hAo cNdtS was utOSt
loyal In his belief and appeal under
all circumstances and conditions to the
Supreme Being, always appealing for
guidance. assistance and success to the
Great Spirit. Whether 1t was In fol-
lowing the chase for subsistence, sue
cess In war, for rapine, murder. plum
der or horse stealing. for abundance
In crops ard grasses or In conquests
in love. he was stflk.ngly imbued with
the necessity Of the Great Rulers
friendly assistance, or Good Medi-
cine" Failure In all these pursuits he
attributed to the preponderating in
iluence of the Evil Spirit" or bad
Medicine" So. after several CAM
paigns of continued success. the reader
can imagine the surprise, not to say
CONSERVATION and depression. that re-
suited from his audacious attempt to
At last annih,ate the garrison at Fort
Phil Kearny. He assembled nearly
1900 warriors for this purpose, all
well equipped with carbines and muz-
zle leaders. but was unaware that the
fort had been supplied with the new
Allen modification Of the Springfield
breechloadins rifle. Besides the rifles.
carbines. etc, the Indians were
mighty well equipped for close-in
lighting with the bow and arrow
With the latter In time Of war and In
a close fight with the whites an ex-
pert archer could keep up stream Of
these death dealing missiles with a
rapidity equaling the best Winchester
Of today and limited only to the num-
Der of arrows. a hundred or more. that
his quivers held. In the scheme Of
battle that Red Cloud had designed on
this occasion he had Intended to over
whelm. even ut great loss. the ability
Of niuzzle loading enemy to with
stand bis attack. backed with the ar
row experts, whose work would be far
superior to that Of the revolver. This
had been done In minor engagements
successfully. but had never been tried
on as complete o scale as RED" In
tended It on this occasion, though the
idea just simply happened little too
late. Suddenly investing the fort. he
found the wood train. as he thought.
In exactly the same condition as It had
been under Fetterman. but experience
had taught the troops. who. armed
magnifcently and under the capable
lead Of Captain James W. Powell and
Lieutenant Jenness. had been long pre-
pairing for defense IN case OF surprise.
In hauling the timber and wood for
winter use the wagon beds were not
used. the wood and timber being car
ried upon the running gears and the
wagon beds were used to form an OBJ.
long corral. with openings at each end.
30 that In emergency they could be
closed by wagons which had the beds
on them. The wagon beds were used
to store all tho camp equipage. cloth
ing. commissaries. ETC.. while re-eu-
forced with sandbags and anything
that would stop bullet, and. II re-
member correctly. they were lined
with boiler iron. with ride loopholea
A preliminary to the attack on the
fort. Red Cloud thought to repeat the
Fstterman result and sent about 500
picked men to surround the little cor
raj. to which Powell and the woodmen
had retreated. numbering thirty-two 10
all. Wagon sheets were thrown over
the tops Of the wagon beds to screen
the defenders from observation and
save them perhaps from the III effects
Of the arrow dre at close quarters.
There was plenty Of ammunition and
plenty Of rides. Every man had at
least three and some no fewer than
eight. Some men who were not con-
sidered deadly shots were told OF to
keep cleaning up for the others There
was q quartet Of old frontiersmen. led
by one renowned as q dead shot. Joe
Merivflle, and others whose names at
the present time I sincerely regret that
cannot remember. who averaged
eight or ten weapons apiece. Powell
himself took one end Of the corral and
Jenness the other, and everything was
prepared to give the naughty Sioux Z
s==sa In the range, power and wcn-
ierful rapidity Of IRE which the new
rite permitted. At the same time. the
indians had really surprised them aud
appeared In such numbers that the lit
tie garrison. from coRmander down.
on hasty consultation decided that It
was forlorn hope to think Of escape,
though all were determined to fight to
the last breath
The Indians spread out and CALAMITY
charged. while the main body Of In
dams between them and the fort look
ed on exultantly. fully prepared to take