The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-07-13
Indians Surround Them

we renulsed them every time Finally they
surrounded u.s. Soon the firing became
general all along the line, very rapid and
at close range. The company on the right
of nv company had a number of men killed
in few minutes There was high ridge
on the right and an opening on the right
of our lines, and one Indian in particular
] must give credit for being a good shot.
While we were lying in this line he fired
a shot and killed the fourth man on my
right Soon afterward he fired again and
shot the third man. His third snot wound
ed the man on my right, who jumped back
from the line, and down among the rest
of the wounded. / thought my turn was
coming next. / jumped up, with Captain
French, and some half dozen members
of NV company, and instead of firing
straight to the front, as we had been doing
up to the time of this incident, we wheeled
to our right and put in a deadly volley
and think we put an end to that Indian
as there were no more men killed at that
particular spot.
Captain French was as brave an officer
as ever served in the Seventh cavalry, and
on different occasions. He had Spring
field rifle, ealiber so, breech- loader, and
it was his custom, whenever ne shot an
Indian, to cut a notch in the stock of that
/ remember on one occasion he fired at
a curlew, two or three shots, and he did
not hit it. He felt SO discouraged that
he took the gun and threw it away. A
little later l picked it up and rolled 1t in
a blanket. and put it in one of the govern
ment wagons, and brought 1T into Fort
Rice Dakota after the expedition broke
up, unknown to him, and when he learned
that / had it he reclaimed 1t: He retired
from the service some years afterWard, and
] have been informed that he since met
with fatal accident.
When darkness set in, it closed the en-
gagement on the twenty fifth. We went
to work with what tools we had, consisting
of two spades, our knives and TIN cups and,
min n
for spades, and commenced throwing up
temporary works. We also formed breast
works from boxes of hard bread, sacks of
bacon, sacks of corn and oats, blankets,
and in fact everything that we could get
held of.
During the night ammunition and the
rations reached us where we were en-
trenched in the lines, but we suffered sew
erely from lack of water Although the
river was only three or four hundred yards
away, we were unable to get any water, as
the Indians held the approach TO II; Dur
ing the night several men made attempts
to get water, but they were killed or driven
back.
About the middle of the night we heard
a trumpet call, and the men commenced to
cheer, thinking it was Clusters men who
were coming to our assistance. Major
Reno ordered one of our trumpeters to
sound a call, but It was not repeated, SO
on the part of the Indians to get us out
Of our works.
Benteen Hard Pressed
The trumpet that they used probably be-
longed to one of Clusters trumpeters, but
we did not know it at that time. We had
no thought of leaving our works, as we
had number of our men wounted there,
and some of them pretty badly.
At intervals during the night we could
hear the Indians riding back and forth
across the river. have an idea that they
thought we were going to make a rush
and get out of there.
The next morning, being the Goth. two
shots were fired just before daylight by
the Indians, in rapid succession. All this
time we were wondering what had become
of Custer and his troops. This began the
engagement of another day. In few
moments the battle. ragged in earnest, the
Indians advancing in large numbers and
trying to cut through.
Captain Benteen's company particularly
was hard pressed, and the men did their
utmost to repulse those Indians who were
gaining ground on the troops. Captain
Benteen called out to Major Reno for re-
saying: "The Indians are do
ing their best to cut through my lines, and
position much longer" Captain French's
company M was Immediately withdrawn
from that part of the line which they oc-
cupied, and rushed to the assistance Of
Captain Benteen's company. Both COM
panies made a charge on the Indians and
drove them down the hill, but in doing
SO we lost number of men. This section
of the battlefield was a little higher than
the balance of the ground.
Private Tanner Killed
Had the Indians been successful, the
day would have been lost, and Renos
would have shared the fate of
Clusters brave men, as Captain Benteen
said afterward.
Private James Tanner of Company M,
was badly wounded In this charge. and
an exposed position. There was call for
to bring him down, and l grab
bed a blanket with three other men, rush |
Il %ax,aA In6 h fv,, fra4A n
and made quick tracks in getting |
aim from the side of the bluffs to where |
our wounded lay. Fortunately none of the
rescuing party received anything more
After placing Tanner with the. rest of the
wounded, he died in a few minutes.
There was gray horse belonging to my |
that was ridden by Captain |
French, and he was the best buffalo horse
In the command. He was among the other |
horses near the wounded, and an Indian |
shot him through the head. He was stag |
gering about among the other horses, and |
Private Henry C. Voyt, of my company |
took hold of him to lead him out of the
way of the other horses, and Voyt at the
same instant had his brains blown out
We buried Private Tanner, about whom I
have made some explanation, and Voyt
in the same grave the. next morning.
Then we made head board out of a
names with lead pencil on the board,
md drove it into the ground.
Indians Fire Slackens
Late in the day the fire of the Indians
'lackened, except on the point of a high
bluff in the direction in which it was
supposed that Custer had gone Here
he Indians put in a few well directed
;hots that laid several of our men low.
do not know what kind of a gun one
If those Indians used, but it made a
noise, and, in fact those In
lians were out of range of our carbines,
which were Springfields, caliber As
Captain French of my company asked
ne if 1 could do anything with those
indians, as they were out of range of
he carbines. I told the captain that ]
would try, and as / was the owner of
5-pound Sharp's telescope rifle, caliber
45, which / had had made in Bismark
before the expedition started out, and
which cost me 500, I fired a couple of
hots until / got range of that group of
indians. Then l put in half dozen
hots in rapid succession, and those
indians scampered away from that point
f the bluff, and that ended the firing
n the part of the Indians in that mem
rable engagement, and the boys set up
Luite a cheer.
The Indians all scampered from the
,luffs across the river and moved back
,ulling down their lodges and getting
eady for a hasty removal. In a short
ime they stripped the hides off of their
edges and left the poles standing and
aoved out from their camp up the valley
f the Little Big Horn, and over the field ,
where Major Reno's battalion fought in