The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-07-02
The Indian War!
BATTLE OF THE LITTLE
HORN
TERRIBLE CARNAGE!
THE L CUSTER
KILLED!
The Seventh Cavalry Regiment
Slaughtered!
FIVE COMPANIES KILLED
FIVE KILLED
OFFICERS KILLED

We give below the report Of Mr..
II. N. Taylor, bearer Of dispatches
from Gen. GibbOn to Fort Ellis. Mr..
Taylor arrived here Monday evening:
A battle was fought 25 miles above
the mouth and on the Little Horn
river, between General Custer and the
Sioux, on the 25th day Of June, 1876.
The whole force Of the command
was twelve companies Of the Seventh
cavalry. At the head of five COM
panies Custer charged the center Of
the Sioux village from the north side
Of the Little Horn. Major Reno
charged the same village at the same
time with three companies from the
east. Four companies were held on
the hill as a reserve and to protect
the pack train. The attack was made
about 8 o'clock in the afternoon and
lasted about three hours, in the judg-
ment Of Major Reno, who heard the
first and last volleys Of the firing.
Custer and his whole command, in
Guiding sixteen officers, were killed.
The attack of Custer on the village
seems to have been repulsed, and he
fell back to the hill where the dead
bodies of the men were found and
buried. Two hundred and three dead
bodies were found; among them the
, whole Custer family, lying close to-
, gether-the General, his two brothers,
a brOther-in-law and q nephew, u
, sm~Ooth-faced boy. Many Of the men
, were horribly mutilated. Some had
their heads cut off, some had their
legs amputated at the hip joint, some
> were cut in strips, and some had
! their entrails taken out. And for the
benefit of philanthrOpists we will
mention that those killed in the vii
lage were horribly mutilated by the
squaws. George Harrington, well
known in BOzeman, with an officer
and a soldier Of RenO's command
were cut off and hid in the brush neal
) the village, and saw this performance
The horses were all killed, and to the
I, best Of Mr.. Taylor's knowledge, there
: Twas a dead horse near the corpse Of
each soldier. Every officer and sol.
der had been robbed, and much booty
in money was secured by the Sioux
n the soldiers having been paid Of
shortly before the battle.
AIS ordered, Major Reno marched
to the attack on horseback, and dis
mounting fought on foot; but the!
e were sOon overp9wered by vastly su
periOr numbers, when they remOunte,
m and reiterated, the Indians pressing
s.. them closely and pulling the me.
from their saddles, in several in
stances, and butchering them Xix
h brutes. Retreating to the reserve o
the bluffs, they were OOn ~surrOunde
% and besieged on every side. Here the
~ remained-entirely cut off from wa
ter-for thirty hours until Gen. Gil
bon's command arrived and relieve
Il. them. Many Of this part Of the con
iplmand were killed and 81 men an
two officers wounded. There was bl
It., one way to go to water, and the i
s dams commanded the point with por
holes through the willows and gras
le making it impossible TO approach q
2 water. The Indians set fire to q
!, grass and brush surrounding Maj'
Reno's camp and under cover Of q
smoke and fire approached to wit
ne in twenty or thirty steps, and 81
an arrows and rolled and threw rocI
cd. at the wounded; and nothing saw.
In the command from total destructiI
except the opporune arrival of Gi
Sc. bon.