Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-11-17
BY "MON TANA LOU" GRILL

By "MON TANA LOU" GRILL
Louis Dewitt and Horses the
Horn in the fall of 1889 were the
only survivors of a group of about
Grated In the late seventies and
early eighties in the hostile Indian
infested country in the Black
Hills, eastern Wyoming and south
eastern Montana.
THE bullets flew everywhere"
Dewitt described an incident when,
in the Black Hills, he contacted a
large number of Sioux Indians, then
recently engaged in fighting against
Custer on the Little Big Horn in Mon
tana.
"They told me the white soldiers
were all killed in the fight. Sitting
Bull made good medicine, but Gall and
Crazy Horse-they knew how to make
the medicine better. Everybody was
excited. The white soldiers got off
their horses. One man held them in
punches. The Sioux warriors said they
shot the man holding the horses and
took the animals. The bullets flew
everywhere. The soldiers walked fast
and run away-scattered down in the
gullieS-tried to get away-the Indians
chased them and killed them all. The
Indians said when they got all the
horses of the soldiers the fighting was
good because the soldiers seemed to be
more interested in getting away than
In staying together. The Indians said
they rode their ponies round and
round the soldiers, chasing the ones
that run away, and at last shot down
a little bunch of white soldiers up a
little higher-and they all went down."
Dewitt remarked that the Indians
were not Dragging" about what they
did as they were only recalling some
of the details in answers to questions
asked by him.
do you know who killed CusterP"
Nobody knows. Everywhere there
was fighting We rode round the white
soldiers - sometimes a little farther
away and then come in close and shoot
when they were looking in another
direction.
Pretty soon it was quiet. The
soldiers were all dead. Squaws and old
men, and the boys came to where the
soldiers lay"
Squaws Looted Slain Soldiers
At this point in the recital Dewitt
described how the Indians, as they
spoke Of the climax Of the battle,
picked over" the bodies to take what
they considered Of special value to
them. Many rifles were taken in which
of the saddles on the horses could be
used. SQuawS we're wearing the tops
Of cavalry boots from which they had
cut the feet away.
II always aim to tell the truth about
anything I know or have heard" De-
witt said.
He had no definite information
about his birthplace in Canada, but
believed that his birth took place in
1855. 1t is apparent, from his account,
that his parents migrated to the west,
came down into the states and found
themselves on the Missouri river flow
ing through Dakota. He remembers
that hic family ic
picked up by Major Dewitt he gave
him his name to continue the rest
Of his journey through life as Louis
Dewitt.
The value of his service as guide
and interpreter is established in an
experience, the results of which won
for him the admiration and apprecia-
ton of army officers.
Dewitt was an interpreter during
the expedition of the Seventh cavalry
in Dakota in 1878.
Dull Knife and his followers had
broken away from the Indian terri
tory-"from their assignment abode"
as he describes it. :
II was in Rapid City when the
Seventh cavalry arrived and was en-
ployed as a scout and interpreter My
first order was to scout for a trace of
the CHEYENNE party's Dull Knife
movements. 1t was quite an assign
ment. and I knew what it meant to
go after so crafty as Indian as Dull
Knife.
II struck out for the Badlands re-
gion, east of the hills. 1t was a sort
of ZigZag course for I crossed the
Cheyenne river, went over to the head
of the Bad river. then down to the
White river and Wounded Knee creek
where I overlook the army after three
days spent in searching for the Dull
Knife band"
The headquarters of the Seventh
cavalry were at Camp Sheridan, from
which scouting parties were sent out
on their errands
Dull Fnife Surrounded
Word had been received that Dull
Knife and his followers had been To-
Gated, surrounded, but that the In
dams had taken refuge in dugouts in
a piece OF heavy timber from which
they could offer effective resistance"
Some misunderstanding arose on the
part Of, Dull Knife as to what the
interpreter with the military forces
at the time had told Dull Knife as to
the terms OF surrender. The Indian
turned to the Indian territory from
which he had flown with his devoted
band.
This misunderstanding, as Dewitt
related the incident, caused Colonel
Carlton of the Third cavalry tn SEND
word to Colonel Tilford of the Seventh
cavalry for assistance, and to bring
along cannon to be used in blasting
Dull Knife out Of the dugouts. An
another interview with Dull knife
might be undertaken in order to give
the Indian chief Information reparde