Year: 1872

| ing over the hills. Three other ami
/ mails made their escape, as they had
| only been .bObbIed, in direct violation
| Of the orders which directed that all the
animals of the command should he
regularly pickete to stake or picket
pin, firmly driven into the ground. A
! few shots caused the Indians to sheer
off and disappear in a gallop over the
pursuit, but were instantly ordered to
rejoin the command, which was
ordered to saddle up with all possible
haste, Forsyth feeling satisfied that
the attempt to stampede the stock was
but the prelude TO q general and more
determined attack. Scarcely were the
i saddles thrown on the horses and the
| girths frightened, when Grover, the
guide, placing his hand on Forsyth s
shoulder, gave vent to his establishment
as follows Is o hedUens, General, look
at. the Is,daunsp' Well might he be
excited. From every directition they
dashed toward the band. Over the
hills, from the west and north, along
the river on the opposite bank, every
where and in every direction they
made their appearance. Finely mount
ed, in full war paint, their long scalp
locks braided with eagles feathers,
ands with al the paraphernalia of a
barbarous war party-with wild whoOps
and exultant shouts, on they came.


There was but one thing to do. Re-
alizing that they had fallen into trap,
Forsyth, who had faced danger too
often to hesitate in an emergency, de-
termined if it came to Fort Fetter-
man affair, described in a preceding
chapter, he should at least make the
enemy bear their share of the loss. He
ordered his men to lead their horses to
the island, tie them to the few bushes
that were growing there in circle,
throw themselves on the ground in the
same form, and make the best fight
they could for their lives. In less time
than it takes to pen these words, the
order was put into execution. Three
Of the best shots in the party took
position in the grass under the bank
Of the river which covered the north
end OF the island the others formed
circle inside of the line of animals,
and throwing themselves upon the
ground began to reply to the fire Of the
Indians, which soon became hot and
CALLING in the extreme. Throwing
themselves from their horses, the In
dians crawled up to within short
distance of the island, and opened a
steady and well-directed fire upon the
party. Armed with the best quality of
guns, many Of them having the latest
pattern breech-loaders with fixed am
muniton las proof of this many thou
sand empty shells of Spencer and
Henry rifle ammunition were found
on the ground occupied by the Indians
after the fight, they soon made sad
havoc among the men and horse. AS
it grew lighter, and the Indians could
be distinguished. Grover expressed the
greatest establishment at the number
of warriors, which he placed at nearly
one thousand. Other members of the
party estimated them at even greater
number. Forsyth expressed the Opin-
ion that there could not be more than
four or five hundred, but in this it
seems he WAS mistaken, as some of the
since told him that their party was
nearly nine hundred strong. and was
composed of Brules, Sioux, Cheyennes,
and Dog Soldiers; Furthermore, that
they had been watching him for five
days previous to their attack, and had
called in all the warriors they could
get to their assistance. The men of
Forsyth's party began covering them
selves at once, by using case and pocket
knives in the gravelly sand, and soon
had thrown up quite little earthwork
consisting of detached mounds in the
form of a circle. About this time
Forsyth was wounded 10y a Minnie
ball, which, striking him in the right
thigh. ranged upward, inf1icting an
exceeding painful wound. Two of his
men had been killed, and a number
of others wounded. Leaning over to
give directions to some of his men, who
were firing too rapidly, and in fact be
coming little toO nervous for his own
good, Forsyth was again wounded, this
time in the left leg, the ball breaking and
badly shattering the bone midway be-
tween the the knee and ankle. About
the same time DR.. Meyers, the surgeon
of the party, who, owing to the hot
fire of the Indians, was unable to
render surgical aid to his wounded
commrades, had seized his trusty rifle
and was doing capital service, was hit
in the temple by bullet, and never
spoke but one Ineligible word again.


Mat ers were now becoming desper-
ate, and nothing but cool, steady fight
ing would avail to mend them. The
hills surrounding the immediate vicini-
ty of the fight were filled with women
and children, who were chanting war
songs and filling the air with whOops
and yeIs The medicine men, sort
of high priests, and older warriors rode
around outside of the combatants, be-
ing careful to keep out of range, and en-
couraged their young braves by beating
a drum, shouting Indian chants, and
using derisive words toward their adj
versaries, whom they cursed rOundly
for skulking like wolves, and dared to
come out and fight like men.


Meantime the scouts were slowly but
surely counting game" and more
than one Indian fell to the rear badly
wounded by the rifles of the frontiers
men. Within an hour after the OPEN
ing Of the fight, the Indians were fair
ly frothing at the mouth with rage at
the unexpected resistance they met,
while the scouts had now settled down
to earnest work, and Obeyed to the let
ter the orders of Forsyth, whose oft re-
iterated command was, "Fire slowly,
| dlLl NCit1 hOCp youio~ANSSS SO'SASAse esh
above all, don't throw away single
cartridge"


Taken all in all, with very few ex-
ceptions, the men behaved superbly.
Obedient to every word of command,
cool, plucky, determined, and fully re-
alizing the character of their foeA they
were a match for their enemies thus
far at every point. About nine o'clock
in the morning the last horse belong
ing to the scouts was killed, and one of
the red skins was heard to exclaim i'm
tolerably- good English, "There goes
the last damned horse anyhow" a
proof that some of the savages had at
some time been intimate with the
whites.


Shortly after nine o'clock portion
of the Indians began to form in ra-
vine Just below the foot of the island,
and soon about one hundred and twen-
ty Dog Soldiers. the "banditti of the
Palms." supported By some three hun
dred or more other mounted men,
made their appearance, drawn up just
beyond rifle shot below the island, and
headed by The famous chief Roman
Nose,n prepared to charge the scouts.
Superbly mounted, almost naked, al
though in full war dress, and painted
in the most. hideous manner, with
their rifles in their hands, and formed
with front of about sixty men, they
awaited, the signal of their chief to
charge. with apparently the greatest