Montana oil and mining journal., 1940-08-03

cordingly did, and to their disconnected
surprise found the gulch Swarmine
with about so Indians
Indians Are Defeated
In spite of the odds they opened
fire, and the Indians, surprised by
the white mems audacity. began 70
return the fire. But the rain had
soaked their bowstrings and the pans
OF the flintlock guns with which many
of them were armed, so that their
weapons were almost useless. and the
three white men were their superiorS
as far as mechanical means of killing
went. They broke and fled-records
indicating that In all there were about
200 Indians who faced the 20 white
men. They left 13 Of their number
dead or wounded in the shoulder The
fight began at half-paSt in the morn
ing and ended at noon, and was one
of the most hotly contested ever fought
with Indians in Montana.
The wounded Indians left on the
field were killed and Scalped The next
day Captain Andrews, who had lost
some oxen because of raids, removed
the heads from 10 of the bodies Of the
slain Indians, cutting off and preServ-
ing the ears and boiling the heads
until the skulls could be cleaned,
which he placed on exhibition and
finally carried east.
Musselshell passed through the re-
mainder Of the year 1869 without any
more events of Importance. 1t began
to appear that as a freighttng town
1t was a failure, as out of the large
fleet of steamboats, which in that year
piled the Missouri, only one discharged
freight at this point. But the inhabi-
tantS held on, hoping for better things
next spring.
The first thing they heard in 1870
was the familiar crack Of the Sioux
war rifle. However, there we're no seri-
GUS engagements, and to protect the
settlement, General Hancock loaned 1t
a 3-inch smooth-bore cannon. On the
night of July 3, 1870, red raiding
party concealed itself in cellars then
being dug expecting to slay the men
digging the cellars as soon as they
appeared next day. But the next day !
being the Fourth of July, the diggers /
decided to knock off work and rest |
hence did not return to the cellars. !
The Indians waited in vain for them I
and at last during the afternoon gave (
up. They fired however upon a white I
man who approached near, but did /
not hurt him.
Finally Gives Up In 1874
A little earlier in the season a
Frenchman, unused TO the country,
decided to leave Musselshen by foot.
Upon the top of a steep-sided hill
dians, one of whom threw out his
coup stick in order to count coup"
The blow made the Frenchman reel,
but 1t reused him, and with a tre-
mendouS bound he managed to leap
outside the ring Of Indians. He fled
down the steep side of the hill so
fast that the Indians dared not follow
on horseback, and by the time they
we're ready to pursue him, he had
to run into sight Of Mussel-
shell. The villagers saw him coming,
and prepared for battle, but the In
dams, after chasing him almost with
IN the town, gave up and retreated.
While these adventures were taking
place, the confidence of the Mussel-
shell founders was waning, and at last
IN the spring Of 1870 the Montana
Hide g. Fur Co closed its affairs and
abandoned the place. Throughout the
season the settlers left one by one
Until about the middle of August
found himself alone with
,ut his employees and his establishment.
# carrying on an Indian trade. and
,uilt a small fort to which he gave
he name of Fort Sheridan. For four
lears thereafter he remained there
With a garrison of from five to eight
men, trading with the Indians and
.eeping a woodward for the steamboats,
On the fifth Of January, 1871, two
of the fort were killed by
he Sioux, and the following year a
White man named Hunter, accompa-
lied by three Assinniboine squaws,
7as attacked but managed to escape
nth his women.
In the spring of 1874 Colonel Glen
ennin broke up his establishment,
nd thus came to an end attempts at
ettlement at the mouth Of the Mus
elshell.