The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-08-04
A CROW VICTORY.
Story of Indian Battle Told
in Old Letter. - -

lluCu luLSiSSt dS d lSlAltluSt L oiN
times in the West that it seems worth
re-printing for present day readers,
less perhaps for those resident in the
East than for those who live in the
prosperous and growing State Of Mon
tana.
The letter was writtento his young
er brothers just out of college back in
the East by a young man who was &C
companying an exploring expedition
as naturalist. While lacking in de-
tails it yet paints a picture of Incl
dents that in those days happened in
the West not very uncommonly. The
Charley Reynolds spoken Of in the
letter is that celebrated scout ana
gentleman - sometimes known as
Lonesome Charley - who for some
years was chief of scouts at Fort Lin
coin, Neb., and who less than a year
after the date of this letter was killed
by the Sioux and Cheyennes on the
banks of the Little Big Horn River
when Clusters command was wiped
out of existence and Reno's suffered
so severely.
At the time this letter was written
Camp Baker and Fort Lewis were
military posts. each garrisoned by a
single company of soldiers. They are
now the one a flourishing town on
Big Trout Creek, a fork of the Judith
River, and the other a military reser-
walton about forty miles east of Hell
ena, Mont.
The letter, dated at Camp Baker
August /, 1875, reads as follows:
While you have been Staying the
woodcock right and left and now
while you are loading cartridges for
the rail I have not been idle. I have
had my first regular grouse shooting.
The young sharp-tailed grouse are
about as large as banties, the young
sage grouse as large as common hens
and the young blue or dusky grouse
about the size of cartridges. All of
them are delicious eating, and I have
done what I could to keep the camp
supplied with them. I suppose that
in all I have killed between seventy
five and 100 of them, and of these not
six have been shot on the ground. OF
course I have missed a great deal, but
on the whole with a properly loaded
gun I think I can stop them three
times out of five. I have not taken
many birds as yet owing to lack Of
time. I have, however, managed to
take two specimens of the are Neo-
corys Spragueii and two or three of
Aegialitis asiaticus var, m%ontanus,
Coues. Almost all my grouse have
been killed with cartridges loaded for
small birds, and I can assure you it
seems somewhat absurd to see a full
grown sage grouse at twenty-five
yards fall to a half ounce of dust. l
killed my first dusky a week or so
ago. Have only got three or four
skins.
The day before we got to Camp
Lewis a small party of Sioux came to
that post in the evening before sunset
and tried to run off the herd. Now
it so happened that there were
.camped near Lewis about $50 lodges
of the Mountain Crows, a tribe friend
ly to the whites and bitterly hostile
to the Sioux. AS Don as they saw
the hostiles they started after them.
The Sioux ran and at dark the trail
was lost and about three-Quarters of
the Crows-300 in number-returned
to camp. The other 100 camped on a
mountain side and sent out scouts on
the highest hills to watch for the en-
envy. Next morning the scouts re-
ported that the Sioux thinking all the
Grows had gone back were returning
to make another attempt on the post,
and before long the main body Of the
Crows could see the enemy coming
directly toward them. The unlucky
Crows were ambushed and the latter
fired and killed five, and then charg-
ing killed two more before they could
get into the timber. The Crows lost
one man, but he was a great chief; in
fact, m of their principal war chiefs.
He was named Long Horse. A Sioux
shot him in the side just below the
ribs, the ball passing just in front Of
the spine and coming out at the other
side. Long Horse fell, but managed
to raise up again and to shoot dead
the Indian who had wounded him.
Then he died.
I'VE had been about an hour in
camp and Charley Reynolds and I
were taking a bath in Trout Creek
nea the post, when we heard several
shots and whoops, and as three men
had been killed a few days before
within a quarter of a mile where we
were swimming, We crawled up the
bank and looked about. We saw four
Indians riding down the bluffs sing
ing and yelping and occasionally firing
a shot. Three of them were nicely
dressed and had war bonnets trimmed
with the tail feathers of the golden
eagle; the fourth vas naked and car
ried in one hand a pole, at the end of
which dangled a bunch of long black
hair. We had heard about the chase
after the Sioux and saw that this
must be the Crow party returning.
We hurried into our clothes and soon
saw the women and children coming
out to meet the party. Pretty soon
the procession came down the hill all
dressed out in the finest wal costume.
They were all in black paint and some
of them had splendid bonnets reach
ing from their head away down to