The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1923-07-12
Indians Surround Them

We had been in this position but a snor
frem the direction in which we came.
They made several charges upon US AM
we repulsed them every time. Finally the.
surrounded US. Soon the firing 6ecam
general all along the line, very rapid am
at close range. The company on the rlgh
of my company had a number Of men killer
in a few minutes. There was a high rldg'
on the right and an opening on the r1gh
of our lines, and one Indian in particula,
/ must give credit for being a good shot
While we were lying in this line he fire.
a shot and killed the fourth man on m!
right. Soon afterward he fired again ant
shot the third man. His third shot wound
ed the man on my right, who jumped bach
from the line, and down among the res
Of the wounded. I thought my turn was
coming next. l jumped up, with Captain
French, and some half a dozen member
of my company, and, instead OF firms
straight to the front, as we had been .doine
up to the time of this incident, we wheeled
to our right and put in a deadly yolley
and / think we put an end to that Indian
as there were no more men killed at thai
particular spot.
Captain French was as brave an officer
as ever served in the Seventh cavalry, and
was known to have killed several Indians
on different occasions. He had a Spring,
field rifle, caliber 80, breech-loader, and
it was his custom, whenever he shot an
Indian, to cut a notch in the stock of that
gun.
/ 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 / picked it up and rolled it in
a blanket, and put it in one Of the govern
ment ago and brought it into Fort
Rice, Dakota, after the expedition broke
up, unknown to him, and when he learned
that / had 1t he reclaimed it. He retired
from the service some years afterward, and
] have been informed that he since met
with a fatal accident.
When darkness set in, it closed the en-
roo mn on &hn {uunnfu fiffh "n UQnf
to work with what tools we had, consisting
of two spades, our knives and tin cups and,
in fact, we used pieces of hard tack boxes
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
During the night ammunition and the
rations reached US where we were en-
trenched in the lines, but we suffered sew
river was only three or four hundred yards
away, we were unable to get any water, as
the Indians held the approach to 1t. Dur
ing the night several men made tempt
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
Reno ordered one Of our trumpeters to
sound a call, but it was not repeated, so
we made up our minds that 1T was a decoy
on the part of the Indians to get US out
of our works.
Benteen Hard Pressed
The trumpet that they used probably be-
we did not know it at that time. We had
ne thought of leaving our works. as we
had a 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 a 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
to repulse those Indians who were
gaining ground on the troops. Captain
Inducements, saying: 1.-THE Indians are do
ing their best to cut through my lines, and
it will be impossible for me to hold my
M was Immediately withdrawn
from that part of the line which they &C.
cupied, and rushed to the assistance of
panies made a charge on the Indians and
drove them down the hill, but in doing
SO we lost a 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 Reno's
command would have shared the fate of
brave men, as Captain Benteen
said afterward.
Private James Tanner Of Company M.
badly ounded in this charge, and
his body lay on the side of the bluffs in
an exposed position. There was a call for
volunteers to bring him down, and l grab
bed a blanket with three other men, rush
ed to his assistance, rolled him into the
and made quick tracks in getting
him from the side of the bluffs to where
our wounded lay. Fortunately none of the
r~escuing party received anything more
After placing Tanner with the. rest of the
wounded, he died in a few minutes.
There was a gray horse belonging to my
company, that was ridden by Captain
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,
5ook hold of him to lead him out of the
way of the other horses, and Voyt at the
buried Private Tanner, about whom
nave made some explanation, and Voyt
the same grave the next morning.
we made a head board out of a
l1eF6 Oh ndTu ldth-DOA, anu hdIhtu lucll
names with a lead pencil on the board,
nd drove it into the ground.
Indians Fire SIackens
/. Late in the day the fire of the Indians
except on the point of a high
,luff 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
Il. those Indians used, but it made a
tremendous noise, and, in fact those In
were out of range of our carbines.
which were Springfields, caliber As.
CAPTAIN French of my company asked
ne if / could do anything with those
indians, as they were out OF range OF
he carbines. 1 told the captain that
try, and as I was the owner of a
5-pound Sharp's telescope rifle, caliber
Is, which had had made in Bismark
before the expedition started out, and
which cost me 500, I fired a couple of
hots until I got range Of that group OF
indians. Then I put in half a dozen
hots in rapid succession, and those
indians scampered away from that point
t 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 snort {
they stripped the hides off of their
and left the poles standing and