The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-12-10
FOUGHT WITH CLUSTER.
Veterans Recall Their Experiences in
the Winter of 1868-1869.

Five veterans or the Nineteenth
United States Volunteer Cavalry were
present at the reunion of the Elgh-
teenth and Nineteenth regiments, who
made the heroic march with General
George 3. Custer and his Seventh Cav
airy to Red river, Texas, the fall and
winter Of ls6s-lS69. Cut off from their
bass of supplies in wild and hostile
country, these men suffered hardshlps
and performed one of the most val
orous deeds in Western history. 1t was
this short campaign which broke the
spirit Of the Cheyenne, Arapahoe,
kiowa, Comanche, and Plains Apache
tribos. General Custer publicly COM
meuded the gallant performance OF the
volunteer troops.
When We started We were 1890
we'll mounted men, said J. NJ. Viii
hanson OF Merriam, Kan. Within
three months every horse was gone, we
were marching barefoot through snow,
our clothes were in rags and tattcrs,
and We were living on mule meat,
blackberries, and grain that We could
steal from the nosebags of the pack
mules.
Joseph Moreland, Of Overland Park,
| Kan, remembers we'll the times he
waited until the horses were through
feeding, and then dug through snow
| into the dirt after grains of corn that
had escaped the hungry animals.
at was the sweetest morsel ! ever
tasted " he declares. Once the troops
were without rations for eight days.
/ These men. together with J. VI. Bailey,
Eighty-second Street and Euclid av-
cnue, Kansas City; c. H. Hoyt Of Law
renee, Kan, and Robert AcCleary OF
Frederick, Okla, were present March
! %, ls69, when the Cheyenne village lay
before the troops III what now Is
| Wheeler county, Texas Maddened by
the horrors they had undergone and
! the traces of wanton masSacrcs they
had seen on their march, the men could
hardly be restrained when strict orders
were issued not to fire upon the In
dianS
Mr. Morcland described the dramatic
.ccne that ensued when General Custer
accompanied by few officers wearing
their side arms, marched fearlossly in
to the camp Of the savages and seized
four ehiefs-Bull Knife, Medicine Ar
row, Fat Bear. and Big Head-as host
ages.
Surrounded by bowling Savagea il
war paint, he said, these officer.
took the Indians to a cottonwood tire,
and strung Bull Knife up on rop,
until his toes barely touched I'll,
ground. They were demanding the re
turn of two white women, a Mrs. Nor
gan and her companion. a Miss White
who had been captured by the Indians
The general gave them until next day
1T shutdown to produce the women, o
the chiefs would be hanged.
The next afternoon, just is III
sun was dipping low, q solitary In
; dian appeared upon n distant hill. BE
bind him was 4 chain Of bucks and tw,
figures on horse, These proved L
be the women. their bodies covered
with sears from the beatings the. has
received at the hands Of the squaws
and protected from the cold only b,
flour sack dresses. The officers tool
off their own coats and wrapped tn
women in them while the half starve,
troops cheered. As they aIproache,
,, General Custer the band of the SeventI
Cavalry played Home Sweet Home
Two members of the EightecntI
IdNdIIy sun Dear the sears iron
wounds received from Indian bullets
! These are John FARRELL of Richmond
Kan, and l.. f. Howell of Ros, Hill
: Iowa, both Of whom were wounded a
the battle of Beaver Creek, Kan. Nj
) Howell was shot through the shoulde
; as he charged in the open toward
band of sayages holding a position i
a plum thicket.
; a big ovcrarown Kansas boy, Bi
Horn, charging beside me, barctootc,
picked me up as | fell, said Mr.. How
cl.-Olathe dispatch in Kansas Cit
Star.