The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1923-07-12

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Chief Gall, who led the attack
on Custer and his men.
One thing l can say, Tom Custer cap
tured him at the Standing Rock agency
the winter of 1874, as / was one of the
! detail on that trip. There were ~ men
went down to the agency, think under
command Of Captain Yates, IS 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 coolest day that l have ever
experienced in all my service, the ther-
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 Chief
Two Bears band would cut US off at Can
non Ball creek, as they were pcamped 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, Rain-in-the-Face made
his escape, and sent word to Custer that
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 expedition 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. CT
marked on his arm in India ink, and as /
belonged to his company for four years
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
In Shallow Grave
The detail that buried the Clusters were
First Sergeant John Ryan, Corporal Har,
Private James H.. Seaver, better known as
Crazy Jim," of Company NJ, Seventh
cavalry.
At the foot Of this knoll we dug a
grave about eight inches deep, and laid the
body Of the general in it. We then
took the body of Tom, and laid him beside
the general. Then we wrapped the two
them side by side, in this shallow grave,
and then covered them with earth. We
took a blanket from an Indian travels,
turned it upside down, put it over the
rave, and laid a row Of stones around
the edge to keep the wolves from digging
them up. This was the best burial of
any Of the bodies on the field.
We next found the body of Lieutenant
Cook. who was adjutant colonel of the
Twenty-fourth New York cavalry during
the civil war. He had long, black side
whiskers, and the Indians took off one of
buried him where we found the body.
While I was at the national encampment
of the Grand Army, at Detroit, Mich,
Aug. 4, 1891, | ran across some Grand
A rmu mon Of Honpifnn Nonodo ond fnUnd |
out from one of the comrades that Lieu.
tenant Cooks mother was a resident of
that city and I got in communication with
tiful cabinet of the lamented W. w. Cook,
which l have before me at the present
time.
Had Few Shovels
Some Of the troops burying those men
had no shovels. They had a few axes,
and they chopped down some wild sage
brush and put it over the bodies. I also
saw where about 1s or 20 men belonging
Horse company" must have fallen back
from the river, and gotten into a ravine.
They travelled back into the ravine quite
could not get out, and we saw the marks
they tried to get up out of there,
and where afterwards they were shot by
the Indians and fell back into the rayine.
ter, the third brother, or the body of Ottie
Reed, Clusters nephew. Boston Custer
held the position OF forage master, and
.ttie Reed was acting as a herder. I served
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
We found the bodies of the men we found
nearly all of the lower parts of their
near the bodies, the legs Of the
BOOTS being cut off and carried away by
he Indians. We supposed that this was
or making SOloS for their mOppaSiQS. III
i understood that there was one man,
sfrst Sergeant Warden of Company b
Keough's company, who had ST.
90 sewed up in the leg Of his boot, also
! diamond pin worth $1,000, and a hand,
gold watch and chain. which, OF
course, the Indians got. Perhaps the !
indians thought that they would find
more money sewed up in the bootlegs.
Ryan Had $500 {
| understood a few days after that
lad on his person at the time of his death, .
the rate OF ST. a day for every day I
q the year, which the Indians got.
II tb the ind, Indians had captured .0o or R E5,ie6S Z
had concealed upon me at that time., $
In regard to the ammunition and the !
rms that the Indians used on Renos {
1t appears that when Clusters I
nee the Indians got all their Spring a
ield .45-caliber breech- loading carbines
M In addition to getting what cartridges I
ne men had left in their waist belts, !
hat each man carried in his saddle-bag, {
nd also the "a rounds Of pistol ammuni- 9
ION, caliber As. All this ammunition +
'ltn the carbfnes, were used against I
.enos men by the Indians, as a number OF !
'ur men were wounded with the same cal c
Der ammunition. !
When Benteen's battalion Joined Reno /
n the bluffs, after Reno arrived from T