Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1909-08-25
ii VICTORY.
s!oTy Of Indian Battle Told
in Old Letter. y

There has recently come into olr
hands a letter which possesses SO
much Interest as a reminder Of old
times in the West that it seems worth
re-printing for present day readers,
less perhaps Tor those resident in the
East than for those who live in t.le
prosperous and growing State of Mon
tana.
The letter was writtento his young
er brothers just out of college back in
tho East by a young nan who was a.c-
companyilg an exploring expedition
as naturalist. While lacking in de-
tails il yet paints a picture of incl
dents that in those days happened in
theSWest rot very uncomnonly. The
Charley Reynolds spoken of in the
letter is t3..at celebrated scout and
gentleman - sometimes known as
Lonesome Charley who for some
years was chief of scouts at Fort Lin
coin, NED, and who less than a year
after tie date of this letter was killed
by the Siou:.;; and Cheyennes on the
banks 9: the Little Big Horn River
when Clusters command was wiped
out OF existence and Reno's suffered
so severely.
At the,timc this letter was written
Camp EaEsr ard Fort Lewis were
militarg posts, each garrisoned By a
single &C npany Of soldiers. They are
now tao cue fourishing town on
Big Trout Creek, e fork OF the Judith
III Fsii:,s:. -, AID thc ether q military resnr-
vat..on aDollt forty miles cast Of Hell
era. Mont.
Tie letter, GATED at Camp Baker
August i, 1875, reads as follows:
Wife you have been Staying the
woelccck right and left and now
while vou are loading cartridges for
the rail nave rot been idle. l have
had ~ srst regular grouse shooting.
The yong starp-tailcd grouse ere
about IS large as banties, the young
sage grouse as large as common hens
and the youns blue or dusky grouse
about tiao size cf partridges. All Of
them a-e delicious eating, and I have
done wiat I could to keep the camp
supplied with them. l suppose that
in all I nave killed between seventy
i've aid 100 Of them, and of these not
SIX have been shot on the ground. OF
course have missed a great deal, but
! On the whole with properly loaced
gun think / can stop them three
Iimes out of FIVE. / have not taken
many birds as yet owing to lack of
time. I have, however, managed to
take TWO Sceclmens Of the rare N.o-
coeys spragueii and two or three OF
Aegial.t..s asiaticus var, 5montanus,
Ceuss. Almost ell my grouse have
besn killed with cartridges loaded Cor
snail bi:;is, and I can assure you it
seems somewhat absurd to see full
grown sage grouse at twenty-five
yards f2il 20 half ounce of dust. i
killed my first dusky a week or so
ago. Have only sot three or. four
skins.
TIE Gay. before we got to Camp
Lewis a. small party CT Sioux came to
that post in the evening before sun set
and tried to run off the herd. Now
it 60 happened that there were
,campsa near Lewis about ESQ lodges
OF the Mountain Crows, q tribe friend
ly to the Whites and bitterly hostile
to the siou:=-. AS soon as they saw
the ho5tilss they started after them.
The Sioux ran and at 6ark the trail
was lost ard about three-ouarters of
the C-ows-300 innumber-returned
to camp. The other 100 camped on a
mountain side and sent out scouts on
the highest hills to watch for the en-
emy. Next morning the scouts re-
ported that the Sioux thinking all the
Crows 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
Sioux came right up to where the
Crows were ambushed and the latter
fred and killed five,g and then charg-.
ing killed two more before they could
get into the timber. The Crows lost
one man, but he was great chief in
fact, one OF their principal war chiefs.
He was named Long Horse. A Sioux
shot him il 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.
@Wc had been about an hour IN
camp and Charley Reynolds and I
,were taking bath in Trout Creek,
near the post, when we heard several
shots and whoops, and as three men
had been killed few days before
within quarter OF 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 was naked and car
sfied in one hand pole, at the end OF
which dangled 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
A. loru, 4bo hill n II