Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-02-24

Custer could not see its extent as he ap-
preached from the opposite side and
crossed the stream we call the Little Big
Horn, but the Sioux knew as the Greasy
Grass
1t has long been recognized as a his
torical fact that Custer first attacked the
Uncpapas highest up the river under o
bluh." Sitting Bull belonged to the INC
papas and commanded them, whether he
went into battle or not. Is it not likely,
then, that he took the very measures he
said he did to prepare for the attack he
anticipated?
Into Deserted Village
In that case Custer and his men
dashed into a deserted village they
thought full of inhabitants. What effect
this disconcerting surprise had upon him
and his command will never be known.
1t was the preliminary to what is popu-
larry but foolishly STYLED the Clusters
massacre" II the intended surprise,
with the object of killing as many In
dams as possible, had been successful
instead of being a disastrous defeat, any
surviving Indians might with some pro-
priety have spoken of Clusters massacrel
In Vol. t of the Montana Historical
Records, is an article from the Bozeman
Avant-Courier. of une 6, 1902, telling Of
the dispatch published in the Helena In
dependent of July 6, 1876. and sent by
Hugh McQuaid. 1t begins: "Advices Just
received from the Diamond r outfit with
Gibbon report a terrible battle with the
Indians on the Little Big Horn river.
Custer attack a camp OF 1000 Sioux and
after q desperate battle defeated Them
One of the indications Of growing in
telllgence Is shown by our willingness to
tell the truth about our own history.
The eport given above is similar to that
of the Big Hole. In both instances our
forces were defeated although the In
dams, who were the v~ictors, retreated.
General Gibbon acknowledged that he
was beaten. Custer did not live to tell
the same story. 1t cannot be denied that
the last stand of the Dakotas was a mag
ni1cent one, hopeless though 1t was
against the advancing tide of civiliza-
ton. The frontier, as Rupert Hughes
notes in his George Washington
moved forward like a troubled surf, al
ways in torment and always crimson"
Hidden BY Dust Cloud
Lieut.-Col. w. A. Graham, in his story
of this battle, calls attention to the cloud
of dust raised by the Indians when at
tackled, to hide their movements, as being
a forerunner OF the smoke screen now
used by the navy, and concludes with
this statement which 1T Is well for us to
consider: For half a century the battle
of the Little Big Horn has been known
as the Custer massacre. 1t is time that
another name be given 1t, for it was M
massacre. On the contrary it was a Bit
terly contested combat to the death be-
tween the armed representatives of two
civilizations, each of which fought after
the name Of his kind. The simple
truth Is that In this the greatest battle
ever waged between the red men and the
white, between a receding and an adj
vancing race, the red men had the VIC
tory because they exhibited that day q
greater proficiency in the art of war than
did the chosen representatives of the
white men. Warfare, however it be saw
age, is not massacre when the conquered
go to their deaths with arms in their
hands"
The report that the heart Of Tom Gus
ter was cut out, Is a tribute. to his fear
~lessness. Only the heart of a brave man
was taken by an Indian, with the belief
that If eaten 1t would increase the cour-
age Of the victor.
When we read of those days, not SO
very long ago, when General Washington
was Offering bounties for scalps, and q
French scalp he thought should bring o
higher price than an Indians; when meal
sacks filled with the skulls of Indian
children were brought in to win the
promised reward, rs Rupert Hughes
claims was lone in Colonial days, it be-
hooves us, in all humility. net to call the.
attention of the world to stories of
atrocities perpetrated ON this continent,
for they are still going on. the black
man and not the red being the victim
The processes Of evolution are slow, and
emerged from savagery.