The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent., 1922-10-06
WHEN GENERAL HENRY HERO OF sioux WARS LEO HIS FAMOUS
108 MILES AND FOUGHT TWO BATTLES M 81 HOURS

0U0V
In the story Of the Indian wars Of |
Montana no name stands forth with
greater luster than that Of Brigadier
General Guy v. Henry. one Of the
most gallant soldiers who ever wore
the uniform Of the United States
army and fought within the borders
Of this state. To him II credited the
leadership Of the most famous ride
ever made by American cavalry. This
took place during the Wounded Knee
campaign Of 1890. when the army
had it, last brush with the North
western Indians.
Modest az he was brave, General
Henry never courted publicity. and
little has been written of his exploits
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 q record az 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, 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 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 a trooper, mounted the
animal under withering 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 wiry, he was described
by his men as being "thin as shoe
string and brave as lion." Sudden
as thunderbolt and swift as a hawk
when he struck the Sioux war par
ties, in his family and social rela-
tions he was q kindly, considerate
gentleman. He could kill in battle,
but never cruelty, mercilessly.
March i'm . 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. It 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
his troop as he had been of his brig
ade of volunteers. His new detail
took him to Arizona, where for two
years he commanded battalion en-
gagged in hard scouting among the
Apaches. The winter of 1874 found
him removed to the Black Hills in
Dakota. While there he was ordered
to go into the bad lands to remove
certain miners who were supposed to
be there in defiance of certain treaty
stipulations with the Sioux.
The day after Christmas. with his
own troop and Is men of the Ninth
infantry under Lieutenant Carpenter
with wagons, rations and forage FOL
80 days, the men set forth. The ex.
pedition involved a march of 900
miles over the worst country fol-
travel that could be imagined and
with the thermometer registering
from 20 to 40 degrees below zero
The miners were not found, and or
the return journey Henry's little com.
mand was caught in q blizzard. A
gale swept down from the north with
q temperature of 40 degrees below
zero. It was impossible to make
camp as there was no shelter near
1t was considered safer to walk than
to try to ride, SO the troopers dis.
mounted and struggled on. Many
men sank exhausted, but were lifted
to their saddles and strapped there
Henry doing this with his own hands
Finally the whole party got so weak
that it was impossible for them to
proceed. In desperation they mount.
ed the exhausted horses and tried to
faRNA NIT a