The Dickinson press., 1912-05-04
EARLY INDIAN
BATTLES
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them up with q terrific saber charge.
This marked the turning point of the
battle. That night Gen. Sully buried
those of his men who had been killed.
three or four as near az can be remem-
bered. and picketed the horses i've the
braves to destroy all signs. 1t has
been estimated that $50 of the Indians
were killed but those who were in the
fight say that the numbers were much
greater.
The next night q band of 800 Indians
drove fiercely through the camping place
of Sully's army and tried to stampede
both horses and men, and succeeded in
killing two of the guards. After this
the Indians travelled to the Bad Lands
where their women had fled at the time
Of the battle and Sully and his men
marched back to the corral at Antelope.
After a few days they pushed on west
ward meeting the Indians between the
Little Missouri and Flat Top (near Sen
tinel Butte and again engaged in
skirmish encounters known as 1.-The
Three Days Battle of the Bad Lands"
1t is not known how many Indians were
killed at this last struggle but from
diaries. etc., it is learned thst many
of the mules and %packhorses of both
sides died for want of feed and water.
The season was a dry n and grasshop-
pers destroyed what little grazing the
prairie yielded. In some places it is
said that there we're great cracks in the
ground, so parched and dry were the
prairies.
From this place the Indians retreated
and we next heard of them surround
ing Capt. Fiske and an immigrant train
he was guiding to Idaho, at a place 200
miles west from Fort Rice, probably
somewhere south of where Wibaux is
now located. In the meantime Gen.
Sully had gone westward from Flat Top
as far as the Yellowstone, then follow
ed the Yellowstone and Missouri back
to Fort Rice. where he learned of Capt,
Fiske's situation and dispatched men
to relieve him.
All through the history of these strue-
giles, a white woman. Mrs. Fanny
Kelly. was a captive in the hands of
the Indians. II is not strange OF sineu-
lar that a oma be captured by these
people but it is singular that her life
was spared her for a long time and that
she was later ransomed by her people.
Mrs. Kelly was captured from an
immigrant train near the Platte river
by a band of Ogallala Sioux Indians.
This tribe of Indians we're the best
fighters of all the redmen. They were of
good physique and were rich in horses
and travelled very rapidly. At the time
of her capture Mrs. Kelly was but 10
years of age and during her career with
the Indians she was subjected to more
thrilling and bloodcurdlins experiences
than the ordinary woman could with
stand. After carrying her up into the
Dakotas. the Big Chief spared her life
because she showed 50 much skill in
| dressing the wounds of their injured
aud made herself useful to them in
many ways. More severe than the long
marches. must have been the witness
sing of the battles in which her own
people were killed. and the fiendish acts
of the bloodthirsty redskins. In the Kill
deer battle she fled with the Indian
women to the Missouri where they were
later Joined by the defeated males. She
expected nothing else at that time than
that her life would be taken in revenge
for the killing of the Indians by the
whites, but she was again spared her
life by her ministering to the wounded
IS one of their own tribe could do.
They called her the Medicine
Woman and looked upon her with
much respect. She tried to live as one
Of them and adapted herself to their
customs so we'll that they liked her.
She was still with them when they
were holding Capt. Fiske and his
immigrant train near the Montana line
and. they refused to come to any terms
for her ransom at first, probably with
the expectation of larger offers. At this
time she was the medium of Deeotia-
lions between Fiske and the Indians.
She wrote out the Indian messages to
Fiske and although they were careful to
have her spell out each word to them,
she managed to say a few personal
words of advice and in this way warm
ed her. own people of the danger they
we're in. After a time she was taken to
Fort Sully in South Dakota for a ram
som. The Indian plans to take the Fort
at this time were intercepted by Mrs.
Kelly's warning messages, and she was