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

OH OuSttT anu Ills ulCus
tured him at the Standing Rock agency
the winter of 1874, as 1 was one of the
detail on that trip. There were 70 men
went down to the agency, / think under
command of Captain Yates, 35 men from
Fort A. Lincoln, and the other 30 joined
them at Fort Rice, and then proceeded to
Standing Rock agency.
Had Threatened it
1t was the coldest day that l have ever
experienced in all my service, the Their
mometer standing "a degrees below zero;
There was hardly a man in that detail
who did not have some part of him frozen.
We travelled down the Missouri river on
the ice, to the agency, and we remained
there over night, and then made the
| arrest the next day at the Post Traders
store. We then proceeded pretty. lively
back to Fort Rice, as we expected Chlef
Two Bears band would cut us off at Can
non Ball creek, as they were camped on the
| other side of the Missouri river.
We arrived safely at Fort Rice, and a
fresh detail of men and horses took the
prisoner to Fort A. Lincoln. From there,
sometime later on, Face made
he would cut out his heart if he ever got
a chance.
Rain-in-the-Face was arrested because
he shot and killed the veterinary surgeon,
DR.. Halsinger, of the Seventh cavalry, and
also Mr.. Ballaran, sutler for the Seventh
cavalry, on Aug. 4, 1873, on the Yellow
stone eXpeulI1On with General Stanley.
At first we could not identify the body
OF Tom Custer. Some thought it to be
him, and / knew that he had IT. w. c."
marked on his arm in India ink, and as /
belonged to his company for four years
previous to his being appointed captain,
l was more or less familiar with him at
camp. The bodies lay there so long that
they had turned black, and it was pretty
hard to distinguish those marks. Finally
after a careful examination, it proved
true.
In Shallow Grave
The detail that buried the Clusters were
First Sergeant John Ryan, Corporal Har-
rison Davis, Corporal Frank Neeley, and
Private James II. Seaver, better known as
Crazy JIM" of Company M, Seventh
Al the foot of this knoll we dug a
grave about eight inches deep, and laid the
body of the general in it. We then
the general. Then we wrapped the two
bodies in canvas and blankets, and laid
them side by side, in this shallow grave,
and then covered them with earth. We
turned it upside down, put it over the
grave, and laid a row of stones around
the edge to keep the wolves from digging
any of the bodies on the field.
We next found the body of Lieutenant
Cook, who was adjutant colonel Of the
the civil war. He had long, black side
whiskers, and the Indians took off one of
those side-whiskers for a scalp. We
buried him where we found the body.
of the Grand Army, at Detroit, Mich,
Aug. 4, 1891, l ran across some Grand
Army men of Hamilton, Canada, and found
out from one of the comrades that Lieu
tenant Cooks mother was a resident Of
that city and / got in communication with
her. The result was that l got a beau
tiful cabinet of the lamented W. w. Cook,
which / have before me at the present
time.
Had Few Shovels
Some of the troops burying those men
and they chopped down some wild sage
and put it over the bodies. l also
saw where about IS or 20 men belonging
to Company E. Lieutenant Smiths ~Gray
Horse company" must have fallen back
from the river. and gotten into a ravine.
They travelled back into the ravine quite
a distance, until it got so steep that they
could not get out, and we saw the marks
where afterwards they were shot by
the Indians and fell back into the ravine.
1 did not see the body of Boston Gus
the third brother, or the body of Ottie
Reed, Clusters nephew. Boston Custer
held the position of forage master, and
Ottie Reed was acting as a herder. | served
through the Civil war, and saw many hard
sights on the battle field, but never saw a
sight as / saw there.
The men all wore high topped boots,
going into the engagement, and when
iOuHu Tue oouicS VI lie meu we Aouhu
nearly all of the lower parts of their
boots, near the bodies, the legs of the
boots being cut off and carried away by
he Indians. We supposed that this was
or making soles for their moccasins.
l understood that there was one man,
First Sergeant Warden Of Company /,
Keough's company, who had ST.
100 sewed up in the leg of his boot, also
diamond pin worth 81 900, and a hand
some gold watch and chain, which, of
course, the Indians got. Perhaps the
thought that they would find
more money sewed up in the bootlegs.
Ryan Had $500
l understood a few days after thatl
Yates, commander Of Company f.
lad on his person at the time of his death,
It the rate of SIT a day for every day
n the year, which the Indians got.
If the Indians had captured or killed
ne they would have got about $500, which
had concealed upon me at that time.
In regard to the ammunition and the
rms that the Indians used on Reno's
Command, it appears that when Clusters
i've companies were wiped out of exist
the Indians got all their Spring
ield .45-caliber breech-loading carbines
nd in addition to getting what cartridges !
he men had left in their waist belts,
hey probably got the 60 extra rounds
each man carried in his saddle-bag,
nd also the "a rounds of pistol ammuni-
ion, caliber As. All this ammunition
With the carbines, were used against
seno's men by the Indians, as a number of
fur men were wounded with the. same cal
Der ammunition. J
When Benteen's battalion Joined Reno
- h Id D. 49, ---N /