The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1922-09-29

Montana no name STANDS fortn Wit
greater luster than that of Brigade
General Guy v. Henry, one of tn
most gallant soldiers who ever wor
the uniform of the United State
army and fought within the border
of this state. To him is credited tn
leadership of the most famous rid
ever made by American cavalry. Thi
took place during the Wounded Kne
campaign of 1870, when the arm,
had its last brush with the North
western Indians.
Modest as he was brave, Genera
Henry never courted publicity, an(
little has been written of his exploit:
in the old Indian fighting days
There are army officers whose names
are household words who were not
half the soldiers that Henry was, and
yet when the latter died in Porto
Rico after making a record as the
best American governor that island
has ever known, little was said OF
his remarkable exploits as fighter
in Montana. He has never been
given the credit to which he was en-
titled in the annals of our Indian
warfare.
General Henry was West Pointer
and the son of an army officer, hav-
ing been born at Fort Smith, Indian
Territory. Graduating from the
military academy in 1861, a mere
boy, he took part in the hardest
fighting of the Civil war for four
years, and at the age of % he was
appointed colonel of the Fortieth
Massachusetts Volunteers, "a regi-
ment that never was whipped" The
brawny Yankees of that regiment
laughed at the beardless stripping
that was given command, but he soon
won their respect and confidence, and
the veterans of that regiment who
survive today still love his memory.
During the war Henry was three
times mentioned in dispatches, and
brevetted five times for conspicuous
gallantry in battle, and at the end
of the war he held the rank of briga-
der general. For heroic and sue
cessful leadership in the fiercest
fighting at Cold Harbor he received
the highest distinction that can come
to a soldier - the Congressional
medal of honor. Having two horses
shot from under him in an attack on
the Confederate lines, he seized a
third from trooper, mounted the
animal under whitening fire and led
his men forward in a final assault
which captured the enemy's trenches. |
His third horse was shot under him
as he leaped the breastworks.
Small and why, he was described |
by his men as being thin as a shoe
string and brave as lion." Sudden |
as a thunderbolt and swift as hawk |
when he struck the Sioux war par
ties, in his family and social rela-
lions he was a kindly, considerable
gentleman. He could kill in battle,
but never cruelty, mercilessly.
March in Blizzard
AT the close of the Civil war Gen
eral Henry was transferred to the
Third cavalry, a regiment with which
he was destined to win lasting re-
nown. 1t was hard for men who had
exercised high command and had
proved their fitness for it, to come
down from general officers to troop
leaders, but Henry accepted the stu
alton cheerfully. He was as proud of
MS troop as he had been of his brig
ade of volunteers. His new detail
.ook him to Arizona, where for two
years he commanded a battalion en-
gagged in hard scouting among the
Apaches. The winter of 1874 found
lin removed to the Black Hills in
Dakota. While there he was ordered |
o go into the bad lands to remove !
miners who we're supposed to
re there in defiance of certain treaty
with the Sioux.
The day after Christmas, with his
wn troop and 15 men of the Ninth c
Infantry under Lieutenant Carpenter, s
With wagons, rations and forage for a
0 days, the men set forth. The ex- c
edition involved a march of 300lW
niles over the worst country for a
ravel that could be imagined and 9
nth the thermometer registering ;
rom 20 to 40 degrees below zero. Q
he miners were not found, and on +,
ne return journey Henry's little COM y
land was caught in blizzard. A II
ale swept down from the north with >
temperature of 40 degrees below Il
gro. 1t was impossible to make Y;
amp as there was no shelter near. u
was considered safer to walk than :
, try to ride, so the troopers dis
ounted and struggled on. Many
en- sank exhausted, but were lifted
} their saddles and strapped there,
enry doing this with his own hands.
fnalIy the whole party got so weak
at it was impossible for them to
'oceed. In desperation they mount
the exhausted horses and tried to
rec them along with Henry lead
g. Time and time again the intre-
d young officer rode back and beat
en- who had fallen asleep back to
e. To sleep was death.
Finally, with hope abandoned and
ath near, they came to a lonely
bin, where white man and his
dian wife lived. There frozen
nds feet, ears and noses were thaw-
out and messenger sent on in
W hours to Fort Robinson, Is miles
Tay. The next day ambulances and
sdical aid were sent out and the
IN taken back to the fort.
Men in Terrible Shape
Most of the men were in terrible
1dition, suffering permanent inju-
S that made their discharge from -