Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1912-02-29

Oak is Scho7eld's Monument.
Wheeler. the Confederate veteran,
and Schofeld, the Union veteran, died
about the same tine and the bodies
Of both We're buried in Arlington. They
sleep practically side by side. A tall
shaft marks the southerner's grave
Over the northerner no monuments
save the small government marker as
yet has been placed.
There is d noble natural monument,
however, where Schofeld lies. It is
an oak, stately. towering and sturdy,
an oak that was not young when
George Washington's stepson chose
Arlington for his dwelling place, and
an oak that was old when Robert E.
Lee stood or. the porch of the house
still standing. not stone throws
distance from SchofeId's grave, and
looked across the Potomac at Wash
ington, then to turn away and to leave
for Richmond to take a commission
in the Confederate army
Not long ago there was levity
in the usually grave senate when
the widows Of several braves of the
Crow tribe of Indians. The levity
was caused by the names, read aloud
in the senate, of two of the widowed
benefciaries of the bill-Mrs. Bull
head and Mrs. Shavehead. Other
widows who profited were Mrs. Little
Eagle and Mrs. Hawkman.
The husbands Of these Indian won-
en- won pensions for them in an en-
gagement in which there was neither
time nor reason for levity. BuIlhead
fought as well as did the hero of fic-
ton. and perhaps history, Front de
Boeuf, his namesake, of whom all
readers of Scott know. Shavehead
was not second to BuIlhead in his
fighting, nor yet were the other Grow
Indians who, with their leaders, fell in
the fight at the time that the attempt
was made to arrest Sitting Bull at his
camp on the Grand river, December
Is, 1890.
1t was a report of Colonel Fechet,
now dead, that brought about the pen
sioning of the widows of the Indians
who were killed on that December
day little over twenty-five years ago.
Colonel Fechet for some years before
his death was detailed as the com
handing officer of the young student
soldiers at the University of Illinois.
The pension bill by which Mary
Bullhead and Annie Shavehead and
the rest profit was before congress
for years, but no action could be Sc
cured
Picturesque Names Changed.
No white man ever fought better
than did the red man on the Grand
river, Standing Rock agency, just ten
days before two troops of the Seventh
cavalry were practically wiped out Of
existence by the braves of Big Foot
on Wounded Knee creek. Indian
names are always picturesque, but
when the white man starts in with
the water of his baptismal fount the
picturesqueness is likely to be washed
away with the savage sin. Here are
the names of some of the red men
who won medals. One of the leaders
in the fight of Sitting Bulls camp was
known as Take the Hat; now he is
plain Dennis. Swift Hawk has be-
come Hugh, White Buffalo is Luke
and Soldier is Eugene.
Colonel Fechet, who made a report
on the bravery of BulIhead, Shave
head and the others, had very little to
say about his own part of the affair
which ended in the killing of Sitting
Bull and the dispensing of his follow
ing. The colonel in fact was content
to praise everybody but himself for
the work done, and the chances are
that no senator on the floor remem-
bered the part which this American
army officer played IN that drama of
the plains which served as a curtain
raiser for the last great Sioux war.
Colonel Fechet's Exploit.
1t was bitter December night when
the little company of Indian police at
Standing Rock agency was sent out
under orders to arrest Sitting Bull.
The war department officials thought
it was better that the Indian police
should attempt to arrest the great
Sioux chief and medicine man rather
than to send white troops into the
field to accomplish the arrest.
There were 43 braves in the Indian
police band. and when they came to
the camp of Sitting Bull they ran up
against 100 Sioux. The medicine man
was killed at the first exchange Of
shots and the most famous Sioux In
dian, of comparatively recent history
at least, went where it is hoped the
buffalos are plenty.
The police routed Sitting Bulls fol-
lowers, but they were speedily rein
forced by another band of Sioux, and
the police were compelled to barricade
themselves in some log buts, from
" hich they held off the swarming
horde until Fechet, then a captain Of
the Eighth cavalry, reached the scene
with two troops of horse. Fechet had
gone into the field with his troops to
await the arrival of a courier with
the news of Sitting Bulls arrest. The
courier came headlong and almost
speeches.. Finally he told his tale.
Sitting Bull was dead, many OF the IN
dian police were killed and the rest
were surrounded by hordes Of Sioux
and in momentary danger of being
slain
Captain Fechet had with him two
troops, a light field piece and an am
bulance. An accident happened to the
wheels of the artillery timber chest,
and it was necessary to attach the
trail of the piece to the rear of the
ambulance in order to move the gun
to the front.
Handicapped in this way, the com
mand made q ride of 40 miles over the
toughest possible trails in the black
ness of a winter night. Fechet's COM
mand routed the attacking Indians and
rescued the police besieged in the
huts.
LII