The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-05-09
YELLOW NOSE, A UTE
INDIAN, KILLED CUSTER
Oklahoma Brave Said to Have Slain Brave Gen
eral in the Battle of Little Big Horn,
June 25th, 1876.

passed each village.
The battle was on Sunday, a
warm, bright day. Farthest down
the river was the camp of the Nor
thern Cheyennes, where stood the
lodge of the great war chief, Crazy
Horse. About noon Crazy Horse,
Yellow Nose and other Indians were
in the river bathing when the firing
of guns was heard up the river. Reno
and his men had crossed the Little
Big Horn and were charging the up
per villages, only to be beaten back
in confusion and under such circum-
stances as came near dishonoring
Reno.
Yellow Nose does not speak nor
understand the English language.
What he said in recounting his ex-
periences was translated by his
friend, Edward Guerrier, the old
scout. Here he plunged into the de-
tail of his narrative. Yellow Nose
was confident that the Sioux would
have destroyed Reno had they not
charged so quickly and so eagerly in
defense of their women and children,
who thereby were given time to
scramble onto ponies or flee on foot
and escape westward. Had the Sioux
held back and let Reno come further
down the river they could have sur
rounded him and cut him off from
the hills in which he afterward found
refuge,
Yellow Nose and his companions
were delayed in rallying to the
alarm, says the St. Louis Times-Dis-
patch, owing to the absence of their
ponies, which had been driven away
to Craze. BY the time they got their
mounts they discovered another
body of troops eastward across the
river. The Cheyennes divided, some
going to resist Reno while others,
including Yellow Nose, crossed the
Little Big Horn where small stream
or gulch debouched from the east.
Climbing to promontory formed
by this gulch and the river, the In
dians saw the troops advancing to-
ward them along the crest of the
divide that ran back from the Little
Big Horn. Yellow Nose was mount
ed on fleet, wiry pony in advance
of his companions, whom the SOL
diers evidently thought were few in
numbers, as the crossing was diff
cult at that point. The mistake of
the soldiers became quickly appar-
ent when Indians were seen literally
springing from the ground. The
galloping cavalrymen pulled down to
trot. The Indians grew intensely
excited and set up their war whoops.
The Cheyennes wer not so well arm
ed as the Sioux, who carried quanti-
ties of ammunition fastened around
their waists, chests and arms.
The soldiers fired first from their
horses, Ndismounting only after they
saw that the Indians were not intimi-
dated. The regimental band began
playing, to the astonishment of the
Indians, but the musicians threw
aside their instruments for guns.
The soldiers changed from a stand
to retreat as they were crowded
upon by increasing and overwhelm-
ing numbers. Yellow Nose said that
they made three stands. It was the
purpose of the Indians to get in the
rear of the troops and gain the cover
of the east slope of the ridge. This
the soldiers bravely resisted, and in
their fury to dislodge the troops the
Indians precipitately exposed them
selves to a CALLING fire in the open.
1t was not until the close of the fight
that the soldiers were driven to the
west slope of the ridge.
At first the soldiers knelt and
took deliberate aim, each fourth
man holding the horses. Some stood
up and shot like this" said Yellow
Nose, leaning far forward and
clutching an imaginary gun. AS the
confusion, perhaps despair, increas-
ed after the retreat from the first
stand, each soldier took possession of
his own horse, possibly to be betetr
able to escape if the battle went
against them
Yellow Nose declared that this
merely hastened the disaster that fol-
lowed. The held horses grew wild
with fright, and their rearing and
plunging made it impossible for the
soldiers to shoot with steadiness and
accuracy, many pulling the trigger
while their guns pointed straight
above them. Riderless horses stam-
peded in every direction, leaving