Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-10-14
Dummy Tepees Helped to Deceive Custer,
SAYS Stepson of Member of Terry's Burial Party
nv ~MON TANA LOU" GRILL

margaret, that was the darned-
est sight ! ever saw-men cut all
to pieces.
"Tom Clusters heart had been
cut out and laid on his breast.
81 looked upon the body of Adj
iutant Long-his long burnsides
had been cut off-both jaws were
cut clean"
Charles H. White, member Of troop E
OF the Second cavalry, had returned 70
Tongue river cantonment late n 1870.
IT was after the Custer battle. In
the presence of his stepSOn, D. j.
OMailey. he spoke to his wife Of some
az the experiences he had undergone
as q soldier of the Gen. Alfred II.
Terry command which had come upon
the battlefield on Tuesday morning,
June n, two days after the humiliation
OF the Custer command.
OMalley, a resident of Eau Claire,
wis visited at Miles City during the
mast summer and attended the second
reunion of the Range Riders roundup.
He told the author what he remem-
bered from his boyh0od of what his
stepfather had told his mother.
he recalled wildly the day he stood
by the side of the then Lieut.. Col
Nelson A. Miles, commandant at Fort
Keogh. early in November, 1877, and
saw Chief Joseph, defeated by Miles
IN the month previous IN the Bears
Paw mountains IN northern Montana,
pass by Chief Joseph was then
prisoner Of war.
Miles Esteemed Chief Joseph
Miles held Chief Joseph In high es-
TEEN because, as leader Of the Nee
PerceS, he regarded him as one OF the
most intelligent Indians he had ever
saThere;s an Indian said Miles, eff
he was a white man he would be COM
mander of the United States army IN
five years"
Charles II. White was a soldier Of
fortune. At the outbreak of the Civil
war, and under legal age, he enlisted
in a Pennsylvania regiment OF volun-
teer infantry. His parents interviewed
which brought about his immediate
discharge. Departing from his home,
he enlisted again, but changed his
name to that of Joseph Heddon.
When the Civil war was ended White,
reslnning his proper name, became a
member of the 18th infantry stationed
at Fort Concho. Tex. This unit was
moved TO Fort Dodge, Kan. Honorably
discharged early in 1876, White en-
AAobC4 III AA&L 0~C@AA~A S~@fe%-%J ~ = -
Early in the year of 1876 the war
department took cOgntZance OF the In
dian troubles brewing out on the hort-
7on of the wilderness Of the great
northwest. 1t was generally known that
the aborigines were departing from
the several reservations, influenced by
the cunning and influence of Sitting
Bull and his allied chiefs. They were
possessed of arms and ammunition.
Visions of a land, their ancient hunt
ing domain, led them into an adven-
tlIre which brought them climax In
a great victory, and eventually by rea-
son of their lack of cohesion brought
them back by force to their respective
reservations.
what His Father Told
OTdalley remembered what his STEP
father told his mother about the Custer |
Two Moons and Wolf Voice, Chey-
enne Indians, had spoken to him about !
some of the phases of the Sanguinary |
struggle which brought about the death /
of Custer and his gallant cavalrymen. !
''Chief Gall tricked Custer with q
false lead" Two Moons and Wolf Voice
told White.
Gall was the military brains" Of
the allied Sioux and Cheyenne. There i
Was no OOUDb b1Ak1b bA4C A4lA11AAo s4ACW i
Custer was In the immediate vicinity
of the large village
Gall called the squaws of both tribes
together. He told them to erect, quickly, I
a large number of tepees.
They were dummy tepeeS-empty.
They made the population of the In
dian village appear larger than 1t was,
as Custer must have looked upon 1t
from the Crows nest.
"Custer was tricked," said Two
Moons. "Ughl UGH" responded Wolf
Voice.
'sBenteen," wrote Custer on a piece