The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-06-19

kNWX On June 25, 1876, Gen.
NGCW George Armstrong Gus
KN$UZN ter, a dashing cavalry
leader during the Civil
war, attacked a big village of Sioux,
Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians,
strung along the banks Of the Little
Big Horn river in Montana. When
the battle was over Custer lay dead
and around him lay the bodies of 212
men and officers, the entire personnel
of FIVE companies of his regiment, the
Sixth cavalry. Several miles away six
other companies were besieged by the
Indians on the bluffs overlooking the
river and it is possible that only the
timely arrival of the forces of Cen
erals Terry and Gibbon two days lat
er saved them from the fate which
had overtaken their commander and
their fellow troopers.
But 1t was not until July 4, 1875,
when Americans everywhere were en-
gagged in a joyous celebration Of the
hundredth anniversary Of the found
fng of the nation, that word Of this
disaster came like the proverbial bolt
from the blue to stun the public with
its Ill tidings and to cast pail Of
sorrow over the centennial festivities.
Logically, the news of the tragedy
should not have surprised the Amer
ican public, for by that time it should
have become accustomed to the blum
III - .nr1f in
its relations with the Indians-a pol
icy Of allowing itself to become in
volved in unnecessary wars with the
red man, Of Understanding both the
desperation Of his resolution not to
submit tamely to white domination
and the strength which he could as
semble to resist that domination, and
Of sending a totally inadequate force
Of soldiers to subdue the hostiles aft
er they had gone on the warpath
Early in the history of the Repub-
lie we had learned a bitter lesson
of the folly of sending an insufficient
force, insufficient in both numbers and
experience, against confederated tribes
of hostiles, when the expedition
against the Indians of the Old North
worst disaster suffered by a white
mans army since the days of the I'M
fortunate Braddock. But that lesson
was forgotten until the series of fail
ures experienced during the long
drawn-out wars with the Seminoles
in Florida served to recall it. And
again our government was short of
memory, so when Gen. Henry B. Car
rington was sent to garrison and hold
a chain of forts along the trail to
Montana in the heart Of the Sioux
country, 1t turned a deaf ear to his
pleas for more men. The result was
that Lieut. Col w. J. Fetterman
marched out from Fort Phil Kearney
one cold day in December, 1866, with
81 men and none of them came back
alive The "Fetterman Massacre" or
"Fort Phil Kearney Massacre" So
called-though the student of frontier
history, If he recognizes the word
massacre" at all as the correct one
for this affair, is less inclined to blame
the warriors Of the great Sioux chief,
Red Cloud, than the government off,
Gals who ignored Carrington's re-
quests the country for
short time, bat within ten years it had
forgotten this, just as it had other
Indian disasters, so the time was ripe
for still another tragic chapter. And
the hero Of it was George Armstrong
Custer. the boy General" Of Civil
war days.
Several factors have entered into
giving the tragedy Of So years ago
such enduring fame while greater
ones have been forgotten. One Of them
is the striking personality Of the lead
er who died there-Custer, the Beau
Sabreur of the American Army" the
LAST Of the Cavaliers" as he has
been called by recent biographer, a
man Of vivid personality, the hero of
a success story" of the kind dearly
beloved by Americans. Not only had
he been an unusually successful cav
airy leader in the Civil war, but his
Indian campaigns in Kansas and Ok
lahoma In 1S67-6S had added to his
reputation and perpetuated the tradi-
ton Of Custer luck" So when this
outstanding Indian fighter fell a vic
tim to the Indians at last and did it
In such dramatic fashion, it was only
natural, perhaps, that IL should make
an impression upon the public mind
which more than half a century has
not erased.
Of the irony of fate which overlook
this dashing cavalryman, Frazier
Hunt, the biographer previously re-
ferred to, has said: ITO the millions
of plain Americans he is remembered
not as commander of a dashing and
victorious division of cavalry that cap
tured 10000 prisoners and 65 battle
flags from gallant and stubborn foe
fduring the Civil war). but as an In
dian fighter, who with a handful of
troopers eleven years later galloped