Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-08-07
Oiled Highways Versus
Trails of the Early Days

/ recaptured and 800 Indians routed. On
Dec. 81, 1866, the massacre on the Boze-
man road, 05 miles from Fort Smith
took place A number Of Indians ap-
preached the fort. Colonel Fetterman
with IS men offered them battle
Troops Pursue
1.-THE troops unfortunately pursued
| the red devils beyond the ridge, out of
sight Of the fort, where the battle con-
/ tinued. Firing soon ceased and the
colonel with his aides, proceeded to the
scene where they found to their horror
the Indians scalping the troops. Eighty
one men-the entire command-were
murdered and scalped by 5000 Indians,
bringing the list Of white men muir
dered by the Indians up to 1873 from
August to December, 1866. Engaged In
the massacre were Crows, Sioux, Ara
phoes and Cheyennes. These demons,
when scalping soldiers, placed powder
in their mouths and ears and setting
fire to a fuse, blew up their bodies"
(FTom Bradley manuscript Histor1-
cal Society of Montana
Half yellow Face states that at the
time OF the Phil Kearney massacre the
Grow nation had camped near the
Sioux on Tongue river and had been
earnestly urged by the Sioux to join
them in a war of determination against
the whites. Only three Crow warriors
consented to do so and these three
representatives Of the Crows who aided
the Sioux in the fight.
40 Miles of Lodges
This blow had been meditated for
some time and for weeks the Sioux
had been gathering on the Tongue
river, well up the stream between the
two forts, Phil Kearney and G. F.
Smith, until their lodges stretched in
close array along that stream for nearly
40 miles.
Half Yellow Face says he travelled
through the camp and that it took him
two days to do SO, and all the time
he was surrounded by Sioux lodges Be
fore the fight the Sioux made presents
to all the Grow warriors of horses,
arms. etc. When asked what 1t meant
the Sioux replied: We want you to aid
us in destroying the whites But the
Crows could not be persuaded to do so
and after the massacre moved their
camp took five Sioux scalpS and sent |
word to the Sioux by an old man whom
they had taken prisoner, that they |
would hold no further communication |
with them, that the Crows would de-
stroy every Sioux that fell into their /
hands, and that they expected the I
Sioux to do the same by them. Since |
then the Sioux and Crows have been
at war
when the Sioux proceeded against
the fort from Tongue river they took /
no more than half the warriors they /
had assembled. When they came back
they brought with them nearly 100 of
heir number killed and a great number
wounded. Half Yellow Face saw a great
number of rude filters, some of them
holding four bodies, and he is quite
sure that the Sioux had 100 slain. They
said that they had charged upon the
soldiers, seized them by the arms and
Scalped them while they we're yet alive
and wounded.
"a considerable number were thus
taken alive and killed with hatchets,
etc. The Sioux remained on the Tongue
river for a considerable time after the
expecting retaliatory move
ments by the troops, and made new
efforts to get the Crows to aid them
IN the war. Il think, on reflection, that
It was after the fight that the presents
Of horses, ETC., were made to the
-roWs.)"