Evening star., 1934-06-24


and had the attack been deferred until his
arrival, the expedition would undoubtedly
have been successful, but, it SO happened,
Custer arrived at his destination day too
soon and Immediately opened fire on the
Indians under the command of Sitting Bull,
noted Sioux warrior, who first became widely
known to the whites in 1885, when he led q
memorable raid against Fort Buford and from
1859 to the Custer massacre is said to have
been on the warpath almost continually either
raiding the frontier posts or making war
the Crows or the Shoshoni, especially the
former.
COME mistakes are easily corrected but mill
- tary errors especially those made in UNDER
estimating the strength of the enemy, usually
have serious fatal results, and Gen. Custer
undoubtedly realized, when 1t was too late, that
he had made a vital mistake that meant the
destruction Of his brave and gallant band.
But there was no turning back or attempted
retreat-even had this been possible.
According to an early account, "Custer was
soon ehectually surrounded by the Indians and
received terrible fire from all sides. The
dead bodies Of men and horses were found at
the ford and at a distance of about threes
quarters Of mile from the river, as though
thrown across the line of retreat to check the
advance Of the enemy. The entire company
Of Capt. James Calhoun, brother law Of
Lieut. Col. Custer, lay dead in an irregular
llIlc, Will Odpt SdulOufl anu his ueuLenant,
John j. Crittenden, in their proper places I'm
the rear. mile beyond this on a ridge
parallel to the river, the whole of Capt Myles
w. Keough'S company were slaughtered I'm
postion-their right resting on the hill where
Custer fell. Still farther back on the ridge
were found the dead bodies Of 81 men of Capt.
George w. Yates company, and here, too, had
fallen the brave and Inflated Custer with his
brother. Capt T. w. Custer; his adjutant Capt
w. w. Cook; Lieut.. William Van W. Riley
and Capt. Yates together with the young
nephew and brother of Custer-Armstrong
Reed and Boston Custer, forge-master of the
7th Cavalry.
"In ravine near the river were found the
dead bodies Of the men and horses Of Capt.
Thomas w. Clusters company, together with
those of Capt Algernon e. Smith and % men
of his company. Lieut.. James E. Porter, Lieut..
John Sturgis, and Lieut.. Harrington. together
with 35 enlisted men, were missing, and no
trace of them could be discovered"
Clusters body was not mutilated.
Maj. Reno, who was also in this engamement
at another part OF the field, and suffered Sc
we're losses, was able to withdraw his command
to q place Of vantage and keep OF the Sioux
until the next day, when Gems. Terry and
Gibbon came to his relief.
AN INDIAN version of this fight is given
by Low Dog, who said
"They came on us like thunderbot.
never DtIOTe VI SuCc saw ultn so brave ana
fearless as those white warriors. We retreated
until our men got all together, and then We
charged upon them. I called to my men, This
is a good day to die. Follow me- We massed
our men, and, that no man should fall back.
every man whipped another mans horse, and
we rushed right upon them. As we rushed upon
them the white warriors dismounted to fire.
but they did very poor shooting. They held
their horses reins on one arm while they
were shooting, but their horses were 50
frightened that they pulled the men al
around, and a great many of their shots went
up In the air and did us no harm. The white
warriors stood their ground bravely, and none
Of them made any attempt to escape or get
away"
After this fight Sitting Bull was whipped
by Gen. Miles, but escaped to Canada with .
party of his band. In 1881 he returned to this
country and surrendered and was confined at
Fort Randall until 1888 In 1890. when under
arrest by Indian police, he was shot and killed
by Sergts. Red Tomahawk and Bullhead
Washington has always been a place for
Indian delegations, and almost as far back
as the city goes bands of aborigines have been
frequent visitors here. One of the early stop
ping places for Indians was the Western
Hotel and Indian Headquarters at Thirteenth
and-a-half and streets, kept by James
Maher who was for some years the public
gardener. Mr.. Maher kept the place early
as 1843, when it was known as the Globe
Hotel
Subsequent to this the fremont House, at
Second street and Indiana avenue, was o
favorite stopping place for the tribes which
came here to see the Great White Father.
p-White-Water, Big Bear and White Eagle,
head chief of the Oto tribe, and other Indians
found Henry DiSmer's place, at 241 Pennsyl-
vania avenue a convenient place to stop
Pushmataha, distinguished warrior of the
Choctaw Nation, who fought with the Ameri-
cans in the War of 1925, died in this city
on December %, 1924. His was typical illus-
tration' of the procrastination of the Govern.