Omaha daily bee., 1911-04-30
hot BATTLE OF THE WASHTTA
An Incident in the Border Annals Of
Bleeding Kansas.
BLACK KETTLES BAND BROKEN UP
The Band Played "GarryOwen" and
the Fight Was On, with General
Custer Leading seventh
Cavalry.

Washita is now part OF prosperous 1
farm and the death OF Black Kettle and his
band Of Cheyennes at the hand OF Custer
and his troops fast becoming tradition.
Yet It was that thrashing and others later
which made Oklahoma a reality today.
In a recent chat with Bat Masterson,
who was one Of Clusters scouts in the
campaign OF 1S6s-69, / had the story Of the
all-day fight at first hand from one Of
the participants. And, so far as he knows
save Ben Clark Of FL Reno, Okl., one Of
the heroes of the Beecher island fight, he
is the sole survivor OF the white scouts.
Cbeyennes Comanches Kiowas, Arapahoes
and Sioux raided the department Of the
Missouri during the summer and fau OF
1865 BY way of expressing their resent
ment against the building of the Kansas
Pacific railroad across their lands, war
parties of the fiercest braves among the
l75OOO Indians in the region spread havoc
broadcast, killing and muulating scores of
settlers and dragging away their women
and children to torture and hideous cap
tivity
Lieutenant General Philip H Sheridan
sent out three columns against the hostiles,
of which the largest was commanded by
General George A. Custer. II included
eleven troops of the Seventh cavalry and
Volunteer cavalry, four companies of the
Third and Fifth infantry, mounted. includ-
ing a company Of scouts, commanded by
Lieutenant Frank d. Baldwin, among
whom were Ben Clark and Bat" Master
son.
Hot Work on Cold Day.
The thermometer registered seven degrees
below zero and there was nearly two feet
of snow on the ground on Thanksgiving
day morning of 1868 when Major Elliott,
scoutinR up the north bank of the Canadian
river found the trail Of a war party of
16O Indians. He sent a scout to report to
General Custer.
Custer gave the scout q fresh horse and
sent him to rejoin Elliott, with instructions
20 follow the trail until o'clock that
night, then to go into camp and there walt
the arrival of the main body of troops,
who would follow as fast possible.
The men took one days ration of coffee
and bareback, 100 rounds of ammunition
and q little forage for their horses. The
snow crust had melted and the advance
was difficult. Several troops Of cavalry
broke the trail for the command, which
was marching in column Of fours. Custer
wished to save his horses as much as pos
sible, having no desire to have his force
0nn1nuated, as was fetJerEnAn
rounded, as was Sandy Forsythe's.
They followed the trail until O'Clock
without overtaking Elliott and his men.
They went into camp for two hours to rest
and feed the horses. give the men q chance
TO nibble bareback, and to wait for the ris-
Eng of the moon. At 10 o'clock the march
was resumed with two Usage scouts from
Little Beavers band-California Joe Cor
bin, and half-breed negro Indian, named
Romero, who was called Romeo by the
troops because he was 80 hideous, as skir-
mishing scouts
Then came Custer and his staff, followed
by the column. About three miles from
camp Little Beaver declared he smelled
smoke. The troops halted when Custer
threw up his hand. Cautiously the beau
sGbreur Of the army went ahead, with Lit
tie Beaver and two scouts. For a mile
they wormed their way through the snow
until they came across the embers of a
fire built during the day by the Indian
boys who were herding the ponies.
Sighting the Foe.
With nerves tingling with the knowledge
that they were near their foes, the troops
took off their sabres and overcoats and
forged ahead. Half an hour after midnight
little Beaver. from the crest of a small
hill, waved the signal to halt. Custer
peered through the moonlight and saw q
slowly circling black mass on the snow
Tho scouts pronounced them ponies
The watching troops soon heard the bark
ing Of dogs, and later the cry of a child
They knew then that they were near the
village of a war party returning from tn,
porth-whether Cheyennes under BLACK
Kettle, Arapahoes under Little Raven, Of
1iowss under Satana, they could not de.
termine
Closer inspection showed that II was tn,
camp Of Black Kettle, head chief of tn
Cheyennes since the killing of Roman
Nose, one of the cruelist, craftiest anC
best fighters among the Indians.
Custer divided his command into fou
squardrons, with orders to attack at day
break when the band started to pla,
''Garryowen," which to this day is tn
battle tune OF the Seventh cavalry. Majo
Elliott, who had found the trail, was Riyel
command of troops C, H and NJ of tn
Seventh cavalry, with orders to circle I
the left and get in rear of the Indians
camp. Captain Thompson. with troop
and +. was to make a detour to tn
right and join Elliott. Captain Myers, wit
troops q and I, was ordered to 20
shorter distance to the right and take u
position TO the left OF Thompson. Custer
with four troops OF cavalry Capital
Hamilton In command of A and c, an
Captain West with d and X. together wit
the Usage Indians under Little Beave
and Adjutant Cook with forty sharpshoot
Srs. were TO attack from the opposite hill
The camp was in deep, sheltered, d,
preston on the banks OF the half froze
washita, in a little grove OF COTTONWOOD
trees 1t was an ideal place for sheltC
from the elements, but bad for defense.
The Charge at Dawn.
Custer and his troops waited four houi
for the dawn. slowly freezing and wonde
ing whether Elliott had reached his pos
ton. When the first streaks OF gray in n
east split the moonlight the sergeant
woke the men. They looked TO their Co
rsvolvers and buckled their belts a coup
Of holes tighter. taking = firmer grip upc
their Spencer carbines.
Slowly the troops were deployed into lin
Hamilton's squadron 70 the right, West
70 the left, the sharpshotsrs forty var,
70 the left, dismounted. with Custer h
buglsr, and the indomitabls regiment
band following. Despite all caution. n