The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1910-03-11

mountain; whirn AAR,
Of very high hills, ~~S%
filled with ravines, thickly timbered
and we'll watered. Situated on a
branch of the Little Missouri river.
the prairie in front of the camp was
very rolling, and all the way. as we
approached there were hills to the
right and left of US and at the base of
the mountain were many hillOcks. In
front of these on the prairie the In
dians were posted. There were over
500 lodges, and at least 5000 or
5000 WARRIORS. The whole of M
force on the field, numbered about
2.2OO men. The few wagons we had |
closed up, and the rear guard, com
posed Ofthree companies followed. In
this order we advanced. driving the
Indians back until We reached TN,
plain between the hills andmountain>.
Here. large bodies of Indians tanked
me The Second cavalry drove them
from the left. A very large body Of
Indians collected on my right for d
charge. directed Brackets battalion
to charge them. This they did. gal
lantly driving them in a circle for
about three miles to the base of the
mountain and beyond my line OF
skirmishers, killing many of them.
The total number of Indians killed.
judging from what We saw. was from
100 to 40. saw them carry off a
great many during the fight. which
were either killed or wounded. can
Indian will run the risk of the lives OF
two or three to carry off the dead
wa J.rlDrS ThnN thit, l. - n li-rn,,., .,
let their dead fall into the hands OF
the enemy.) We slept on the battle
field that night. The next morning
our train which was cOrrelled on
horses and men being pretty well tired
went into camp for the night
Here occurred a serious affair. our
boys being surprised while doing
picket duty: (Our movements being
watched by the IndianS.) two Of the
guards were killed by the red skins.
Both were members of Co ID. of our
regiment. The next morning when we
went out to bury them. we found them
and one was buried with fifteen ar
A'No II lie ''NtN. we buIltu Nun III
that condition rather than tear his
flesh to pieces in removing them. The
graves OF those poor boys have been
kept track of, and the state Of North
Dakota CONCENTRATES placing a monu.
ment to mark their last resting place.
(lhat the monument was to be put up,
learned two years ago when on a
visit in that state.)
" - 1taarhnI ann .r,i,, -, 9,, .;,,,
and took up our line of march toward
the Yellowstone river. but the Indians
kept track of us and attacked US on
the Little Missouri river. We were
surrounded all day and marched
twelve miles in the bad lands. fighting
every inch of the way. It wa, Satur-
day. August l.. 1864. and it was hot.
hotter. hottest. All the water we had
TO drink a what we got from little
pools. and then we would have to rob
the pol y-WOg>-l felt sorry for them.
Along about shutdown we came to a
small pond of water. 1t covered
a halt acre of ground. and a puard
was Immediately placed around it,
with instructions to keep everyone
away until the teamsters could carry
water to the suffering animals. hap
pNiN" w w IA VI VIC SudINS. L liz
guard next to me halted a poor fellow
on horse, and ordered him no to ride
out in the water. He paid no atten-
ton to the order, but replied, ''Shoot
n be ID, am going to have some
water:' And he got it. | was re-
lleved from the water-hole about sun
down and went into camp. The boys
had had their supper SO | went to the
rnaSS "a nd .r>f n n,,n IS x> So. ,~ ~,
bareback and proceeded to a my
supper. After drinking my coffee
there was a half inch of mud in my
cup. The water used for the coffee
was taken from the above mentioned
pond. Went on picket duty thatnigh'
but the next day | was taken dowr
with typhoid fever. We struck the
Yellowstone river, and was put onto
a hospital boat and taken to For
Rice where | remained until the expe
dition came along, when | was able t(
ride a horse, and we crossed from the
Missouri river to Fort Wadswortl
where we stayed through the winter OF
1864 and 1865.
One incident that happened during
this time was the loss of my brother
who died from typhoid fever, on the
march from the river to Fort Wads
worth. His body was taken through
and buried, his grave being the frs
to be made at the fort. That was tn,
most hea~rt-rending scene of all my lif'
to see my only brother, wrapped il
his army blanket, the body placed il
a rough board box and lowered into
lonely grave-2O O miles from civiliza
ton. The tongue fails to describe tn.
horrors of war.
H. J. BENEDICT,
Eco. G I'd Minnesota Cav
(NOTE-Another installment of thi
article will appear in an early mum