Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-23

were to surround the corral and keer
up a sustained fire. He hen formed
the remaining 1000 mounted warriors
to make an irresistible charge while
the whites were under the hot fire OF
the skirmiShers.
Calling Fire from Sioux
The 700 sharpshooters reached theil
positions with some losses and began
pouring bullets and arrows into the
corral. but the defenders did not re-
spond, excepting with an occasional
shot at an exposed Indian. Under the
calling fire Of the Sioux the tops OF
the w~agon-boxes were torn to pieces,
but the bullets, crashing through the
wood above the heads of the PROSTATE
soldiers. did little damage.
Then came the order for the massed
charge. Led by the nephew Of Red
Cloud, a suburb young warrior, the
Sioux LOrseInen came on in a wave.
Stalwart braves. arrayed in varied and
highly-colored fighting panoply and
leaning forward on their galloping
horses. they made a picture of fierce,
barbaric might and s~plendor.
Once more they swept on in the face
| Of a terrible silence. Again. almost at
point blank range came the sudden
flash and continuous staccato of rifle
fire that tore great gaps in their ranks.
; powelPs oWn weapon brought down the
I dauntless young chief at their head.
Broken. but unchecked, they pressed
the attack TO the very sides of the
wagon-boxes before they wilted under
the SCATTERING fire that no human be-
ing could face.
Continual Firing New Medicine"
The Indians could only account for
the sustained fire from the corral by
the suppOsition that more white men
were in the enclosure than its size an
peared TO make possible, but those who
had forced their way nearest to the
wagons believed that it was some ex-
t%raordinary medicine" of the whites.
Nevertheless, in the hope that the ter
rifle fire would diminish, they pressed
forward in the face Of the storm of
bullets that laid them low by hundreds,
Red Cloud, back on the hills with
the women and some of his sub-chiefs,
saw the attacks and the slaughter Of
his braves with sinking heart. Eagerly
he watched the wave of riders for the
second time press forward, for he knew
that failure to overcome the whites in
this attempt spelled ruin. Then he
saw his warriors waver under the
blasting fire.
They retreated in confusion. only to
reform, and such was their desperate
courage that, despite their terrible
losses, they made six charges before
Red Cloud, heartsick with the slaughter
and the frustrated hopes of overwhelm-
ing Fort Phil Kearney, recalled his
horsemen and threw forward most of
the remaining warriors in skirmish
line to engage Powell's men while he
recovered his dead and wounded. The
Indians considered nothing more dis
graceful than to allow the enemy to
capture bodies Of those killed in battle.
Mean at Breaking Point
The ground about the corral was a
mass of Indian dead that formed broad
mounds on three sides. But the
slaughter would have been even great
er had not the men in the little fort
been in a critical condition after the
frightful strain of steady fighting for
hours. With ammunition running low,
Powell knew that n more charge
would overwhelm his weakened garri-
son, for TIE men had reached the
breaking point. He reserved his fire