The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-05-11
TRIBUTE
TO GEN. CUSTER
WHIP PLACED ACROSS HIS FACE
AFTER FIGHT WAS ovER-.TER-
.RlBLE REVENGE on BROTHER.

Spokane. Wash. May l0.-Passing
the evening OF his eventful life IN
peace and comfort at his orchard home
In Klickitat county. Wash, southwest
OF SpOkone. is Benjamin Gallentine,
frontiersman and Indian fighter with
the United States regulars in Dako-
IA. Montana ard Wyoming from 1870
TO 1876 He enlisted In Wheeling Va.
in 1870. and with company OF re-
then located at Bismark. y. D.. being
afterward shifted TO Fort Lincoln
where General Custer was in command
Of the Seventh cavalry. composed OF
twelve companies.
Gallentine was on the battlefield
the day after the custer massacre. on
June %. 1876. and this is his version
OF the affair
When the Sioux broke over the lin
its Of their reservation and were com
mit,ing rayages in Wyomiug and Mon
tana the government sent out a force
OF regulars from St. Paul under the
command of Generals Terry and
Crook. There were nineteen compan-
/ les OF infantry in the command.
was placed with the Seventeenth in
fantry.
The Seventh cavalry and companies
OF infantry left Fort Lincoln in June,
/ 1876. with General Terry in command.
for the Little Big Horn country. where
several thousand Indians, led by Sit
/ ting Bull. were on the warpath, and
/ crowded back against the Big Horn
mountains and river.
We crossed the Yellowstone river
on a steamboat at a point where the
Northern Pacific is now bridged and
went into camp. There is where Gen
eral Terry ordered Custer and Reno
to 90 ahead with the cavalry and dis.
cover the rendezvous of the Indians
\ day was set for the big battle. The
Seventh cavalry was divided between
]
Being with Terry was not far
from the scene of the Custer battle.
Evidently Custer was led into trap.
After advancing nearly the entire
legnth of the Indian camp, thousands
OF yelling Sioux and other tribes ap-
peared from ambush and started their
deadly work against the little band of
cavalrymen. The battle lasted nearly
two hours. and of Clusters command
/ not soul escaped death.
While the battle was going on Reno
and Bentine We're fortifying on the
: bluffs at the head of the Indian vii
/ laGe After wiping out Clusters band
The Indians. carrying Clusters battle
/ flags. made a rush for the fortifica.
tions and killed all but fifteen or twen-
~ cavalrymen in each company.
Il was on the battle ground with
/ Terry the second day after the mas
sacre and was detailed to help bTry
the dead, which took us two days. we
found every soldier stripped and NUT
Hated in the most horrible manner.
Custer evidently was not touched af'
ter he fell. We found a small riding
whip placed across his nose, probably
an Acknowledgement of the lndiau
faith in his bravery.
However. his brother, Capt. Tom
Custer, Jared differently. His heart
had been cut out and laid across his
breast. 1t was the belief that this
act was perpetrated by Rain-ln-the
Face, a Sioux chief, and thereby hangs
a tale:
"Rain-in-the-Face killed an English
lord and veterinary surgeon OF the
Seventh cavalry in 1873. He
kept under cover for year, but was
finolly captured by Tom Custer at
Standing Rock, $. d., and taken TO Fl.
Lincoln for trial. While in the hos
pital he made the threat that he would
cut Toms heart out before he died.
lie escaped, and two years later TN
doubtedly made good his threat on the
historic battle ground"