BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 -0 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 

 
 RECORD 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGAGEMENTS 
 
 WITH 
 
 HOSTILE INDIANS 
 
 WITHIN THE 
 
 MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI, 
 
 FROM 1868 TO 1882, 
 
 LIEUTENANT GENERAL P. H. SHERIDAN, 
 
 COMMANDING. 
 
 COMPILED FROM OFFICIAL RECORDS. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI, 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AUGUST IST, 
 
 1882. 
 

 RECORD 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGAGEMENTS 
 
 WITH 
 
 HOSTILE INDIANS 
 
 WITHIN THE 
 
 MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI, 
 
 FROM 1868 TO 1882, 
 
 LIEUTENANT GENERAL P. H. SHERIDAN, 
 
 COMMANDING. 
 
 COMPILED FROM OFFICIAL RECORDS. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI, 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AUGUST IST, 
 
 1882. 
 
 
Ess 
 
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 INTRODUCTORY, 
 
 THE information contained in the following synopsis of engagements 
 with hostile Indians, is compiled from official reports and returns. 
 Whilst it was possible to ascertain the exact losses of the troops 
 engaged, the figures relating to those of the Indians necessarily rep 
 resent the minimum. Excepting in rare instances when troops were 
 in superior force and succeeded in effecting a complete surprise, de 
 feat or capture of a body of Indians, the latter, according to their 
 custom, bore off in the midst of the engagements, their dead and 
 wounded, the number of whom could not, therefore, be ascertained ; 
 so the seeming disparity between the reported numbers of their killed 
 and of their wounded, is accounted for by this great difficulty in ascer 
 taining the extent of the latter. In many engagements, consequently, 
 no mention is made of Indians wounded, although, doubtless, many really 
 died from the effects of wounds received. Notably such was the case 
 in the battle of the Little Big Horn, in Montana, in 1876, and it was 
 only when the hostiles had finally surrendered, that interviews with the 
 Indians resulted in their admitting a loss of about forty warriors killed. 
 The boastful nature of the Indian, too, leads him to exalt his own deeds 
 of prowess, but to conceal his losses, so that whilst he makes an exag 
 gerated record of the number of enemies he has slain, keeping his score 
 by notches cut upon his " coup stick," he is reluctant to admit the extent 
 of his own punishment. 
 
 Again, in the casualties to the troops, there were repeated instances 
 of officers and soldiers reported wounded, who died, later, from the 
 effects of the injuries received ; whilst the number who were actually 
 disabled for life, or entirely incapacitated for further military service, 
 from the results of exposure and hardships involved by campaigns in 
 pitiless winter weather, in the heart of the Indian country, far from 
 shelter and supplies, will doubtless exceed the killed and wounded 
 upon the field of battle. 
 

 
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 and Elliott, Texas ; Forts Havs, Leavenworth, and 
 insas; Forts Garland, Lewis, Lvon, Camp near and 
 ent on the Uncompahgre, Colorado; Forts Gibson, 
 ill and Supply, Indian Territory; Camp on Snakt- 
 yoming Territory; Forts Bayard, Craig, Cummings, 
 eldeu, Slanton, Union, and Wingate, New Mexico. 
 
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 n, Clark, Concho, Davis, Duncan, Mclntosh, RiiiL'- 
 Post of San Antonio, Texas. Sub-posts: Santa 
 Fort Brown; Camp Del Rio, Mayer's Spring and 
 Pecoe River to Fort Clark; Camp Charlotte, Grier- 
 ngs, and Head of North Concho, to Fort Concho: 
 orado, Camp near Presidio del Norte, and Fort 
 to Fort Davis; Edinburg, to Fort Ringgold. 
 
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THE MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI, 
 
 The Military Division of the Missouri was established January 30th, 
 1865, by General Orders No. 11, War Department, series of 1865. It 
 then included the Departments of the Missouri and of the North West, 
 with Headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri. March 21st, 1865, by General 
 Orders, 44, series of 1865, from the War Department, the Department of 
 Arkansas and the Indian Territory were transferred to it from the Divi 
 sion of the W^est Mississippi. June 27th, 1865, by General Orders, 118, 
 series of 1865, from the War Department, the Division of the Missouri 
 was merged into the Division of the Mississippi, embracing the Depart 
 ments of the Ohio, of the Missouri and of Arkansas; Headquarters at St. 
 Louis. August 6th, 1866, the name of the Division was changed to 
 " Military Division of the Missouri," comprising the Departments of 
 the Arkansas, the Missouri, the Platte and a new Department to be 
 created, Dakota. 
 
 The State of Arkansas was taken from the Division, March llth, 
 1867, by General Orders, 10, series of 1867, from Headquarters of the 
 Army, and on March 16th, 1869, by General Orders, 18, series of 1869, 
 from Headquarters of the Army, the State of Illinois was added to the 
 Division. The Department of Texas was added to the Division, Novem 
 ber 1st, 1871, by General Orders, 66, series of 1871, from the War 
 Department, and the Department of the Gulf was added, January 4th, 
 1875. June 22nd, 1875, the limits of the Department of the Platte, 
 belonging to the Division, were extended to include Fort Hall, Idaho, by 
 General Orders, 65, series of 1875, from the War Department. 
 
 At the present time, 1882, the Military Division of the Missouri con 
 sists of the Departments of Dakota, the Platte, the Missouri and Texas. 
 
 The Department of Dakota comprises the State of Minnesota and the 
 Territories of Dakota and Montana. 
 
 The Department of the Platte includes the States of Iowa and 
 Nebraska, the Territories of Wyoming and Utah, and a portion of Idaho. 
 
 The Department of the Missouri embraces the States of Illinois, Mis 
 souri, Kansas and Colorado, Indian Territory and Territory of New Mex 
 ico, with two posts in Northern Texas, Forts Elliott and Bliss. 
 
 The Department of Texas consists of the State of Texas. 
 
 The Division thus includes the territory extending from the British 
 boundary on the north, to the Mexican frontier of the Rio Grande on the 
 
south, and from Chicago on the east, to the western boundaries of New 
 Mexico, Utah and Montana, on the west. 
 
 To garrison the military posts and to furnish troops for field opera 
 tions, the present force in the Division comprises : eight regiments of 
 cavalry, twenty regiments of infantry, and one battery of artillery; 
 aggregating 15,940 officers and men. 
 
INDIANS AND INDIAN WARS, 
 
 The principal Indian tribes living within the limits of the Division, 
 are distributed as follows : 
 
 In the north, in the Department of Dakota, are to be found the Sioux, 
 Northern Cheyennes, Crows, Chippewas, Poncas, Assinaboines, Flat- 
 heads, Piegans and Gros Ventres. 
 
 In the Department of the Platte, are the Bannocks, Shoshones, Utes, 
 Arapahoes, Pawnees, Winnebagoes, Pottawatomies, Omahas, Kickapoos, 
 Miamis, Poncas and Otoes. 
 
 In the Department of the Missouri, are the Northern and Southern 
 Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, Comanches, Apaches, Navajoes, Pueblos 
 and semi-civilized tribes in the Indian Territory (Choctaws, Cherokees, 
 Chickasaws, etc.,) while in the Department of Texas are the Lipans, 
 Seminoles and Tonkawas; that Department being also the resort of the 
 roving and predatory bands from New Mexico and Old Mexico. 
 
 The taking of an Indian census is always a matter of extreme diffi 
 culty, owing to the objection of the Indian against being counted. 
 With the best information attainable, however, the entire number of 
 Indian tribes embraced within the limits of the Military Division of the 
 Missouri, is ninety-nine; aggregating about one hundred and seventy-five 
 thousand persons who are scattered over an area of more than one mil 
 lion square miles of frontier country. 
 
 Since the date at which this record of engagements begins, (March 
 2d, 1868,) those tribes in the Division which have been most actively 
 engaged in hostilities with the whites, are the Sioux, Northern and 
 Southern Cheyennes, Kiowas, Comanches, Arapahoes, Utes and Apaches. 
 In addition to the wars with these tribes, the Division has been invaded, 
 at intervals, by hostiles from the outside, some of the more notable 
 engagements having been with Indians belonging to the Military De 
 partments of the Pacific Slope; such as the Nez Perces, the Bannocks 
 and the Arizona Apaches; with periodical incursions from old Mexico, 
 by bands who affiliated with our own Indians living near the Rio Grande 
 frontier. 
 
1868. 
 
 In the Department of the Missouri, in the spring of 1868, only a very 
 few minor engagements with Indians were reported, previous to the gen 
 eral outbreak which occurred in the summer of that year; they were 
 chiefly in the District of New Mexico and occurred as follows: 
 
 On March llth, Apache Indians raided the settlements in the neigh 
 borhood of Tulerosa, New Mexico, killing and mutilating eleven men 
 and two women, capturing one child, running oif a large 'number of 
 sheep, about 2,200, and other stock. These marauders were pursued by 
 a detachment of Troop "H," 3d Cavalry, under command of 1st Lieut. 
 P. D. Vroom, 3d Cavalry, but having the advantage of three days start, 
 the Indians escaped into the Guadaloupe Mountains, abandoning some of 
 the sheep which were recovered. 
 
 March 25th, the settlers upon Bluff Creek, Kansas, were attacked by 
 Indians and driven from their houses, no details of this raid being offi 
 cially reported. 
 
 April 17th, at Nesmith's Mills, New Mexico, a detachment of Troop 
 "H," 3d Cavalry, commanded by Sergeant Glass, had a fight with 
 Indians, the troops having one man wounded. Ten Indians were reported 
 killed and twentv-five wounded. 
 
 June 6th, Captain D. Monahan, 3d Cavalry, in command of detach 
 ments of Troops " G," and " I," 3d Cavalry, started from Fort Sumner, 
 New Mexico, in pursuit of a band of Navajoe Indians who had murdered 
 four citizens, within twelve miles of that post. He followed their trail 
 for a hundred miles, finally surprising them in a ravine, where he killed 
 three Indians and wounded eleven, the balance escaping. The troops 
 sustained no losses. 
 
 June 25th, near Fort Hays, Kansas, a detachment of troops attacked 
 and pursued a band of hostile Indians, but no casualties occurred. 
 
 THE OUTBREAK OF 1868. 
 
 Early in August a body of about 225 Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Sioux 
 appeared among the advanced settlements on the Saline River, north of 
 Fort Barker, Kansas. On August 10th, after being hospitably fed by 
 the farmers, the Indians attacked them, robbed their houses and brutally 
 outraged four females until insensible. Six houses were attacked, plun 
 dered and burned. 
 
10 
 
 On the same day, August 10th, near the Cimmaron River, Kansas, 
 two separate attacks were made by Indians upon the advance and rear 
 guards of a column of troops commanded by Lieut. Colonel Alfred Sully, 
 3d Infantry. The attack upon the advance guard was repulsed by a 
 charge, in which two Indians were killed, without casualty to the troops. 
 In the attack upon the rear guard, who made a successful defence, one 
 soldier was killed. Ten Indians were reported killed and twelve 
 wounded. 
 
 August 12th, Indians attempted to stampede the stock by a dash into 
 the camp of the column under General Sully, but were frustrated in their 
 designs. Later they attacked his main body, in large force, but were 
 repulsed after a severe fight, lasting several hours, in which two soldiers 
 were killed and three wounded. Twelve Indians were reported killed 
 and fifteen wounded. 
 
 August 12th, the Indians who had raided the settlements on the 
 Saline, on August 10th, devastated those on the Solomon River, Kansas, 
 where, though kindly received and fed by the people, they plundered and 
 burned five houses, stole ten head of stock cattle, murdered fifteen per 
 sons, wounded two and outraged five women. Two of these unfortunate 
 women were also shot and badly wounded. A small band crossed to the 
 Republican River and killed two persons there, but the main body 
 returned to che Saline, with two captive children, named Bell. Here 
 they again attacked the settlers, with the evident intention of clearing 
 out the entire valley; but, whilst a Mr. Schermerhorn was defending his 
 house, Captain Benteen, with his troop of the 7th Cavalry, arrived by a 
 swift march from Fort Zarah, went to the relief of the house and ran the 
 Indians about ten miles. Two women who had been ravished and cap 
 tured by the Indians were rescued. The same day Major Douglass, com 
 manding at Fort Dodge, Kansas, reported that a band of Cheyennes had 
 robbed the camp of R. M. Wright of two horses and some arms, and 
 that 132 horses and mules had been run off from a Mexican train at Paw 
 nee Fork above Cimmaron Crossing. 
 
 August 13th, General Sully's command, in Southern Kansas, was 
 again attacked, one soldier was killed and four wounded. The troops 
 routed the Indians, of whom ten were reported killed and twelve 
 wounded. 
 
 August 14th, at Granny Creek, on the Republican, a house was plun 
 dered and burned, one person killed, one wounded and one woman out 
 raged and captured. The same day near Fort Zarah, Kansas, Indians 
 ran off twenty mules, which were recaptured by the troops. One man 
 was wounded, one Indian reported killed and five wounded. 
 
 August 18th, Indians attacked a train on Pawnee Fork, Kansas, and 
 kept it corralled for two days, but were unable to capture it. Cavalry 
 from Fort Dodge arrived and dispersed the Indians who returned to the 
 
11 
 
 attack the same night, but were again repulsed. Five men were 
 wounded; the Indian loss, estimated, was five killed and ten wounded. 
 
 August 19th, a party of wood choppers on Twin Butte Creek, were 
 attacked by about thirty Indians, three killed and nine cut off, as reported 
 by Lieut. G. Lewis, 5th Infantry, on August 23d. All the animals (25) 
 were driven off, and Mr. Jones, the contractor, chased, though making 
 his escape by abandoning his horse and concealing himself amongst some 
 trees in a ravine. 
 
 August 22d, Indians ran off twelve head of stock from the town of 
 Sheridan, Kansas. 
 
 August 23d, the stage to Cheyenne Wells had to return, being chased 
 by thirty Indians, four miles. The same day Captain Bankhead, 5th 
 Infantry, commanding Fort Wallace, Kansas, reported the Denver stage 
 coach attacked by Indians, between Pond Creek and Lake Station; also 
 that Comstock's ranch was attacked on the night of August 20th; two 
 men were killed and the others living there driven into Pond Creek, one 
 man being mortally wounded and dying at Fort Wallace on the night of 
 August 21st. In northern Texas, eight persons were killed and three 
 hundred head of stock cattle captured. At Bent's Fort, on the Arkansas, 
 fifteen horses and mules and four head of cattle were also run off. 
 
 August 24th, in the vicinity of Bent's Fort, three stage coaches and 
 one wagon train were attacked. 
 
 August 25th, Indians killed a herder, near Fort Dodge, Kansas, and 
 Acting Governor Hall, of Colorado, reported a band of two hundred 
 Indians devastating southern Colorado. 
 
 August 27th, Captain Bankhead, 5th Infantry, commanding Fort 
 Wallace, reported that a band of thirteen Indians killed a citizen, named 
 Woodworth, between Fort Lyon and the town of Sheridan; another 
 citizen, named Wm. McCarty, was killed on the 23d, near Lake Station, 
 Colorado. Thirty Indians attacked the stage near Cheyenne Wells and 
 would have captured it, but for the stout resistance of the escort. A 
 body of about two hundred and fifty Indians also threatened the train of 
 Captain Butler, 5th Infantry, causing him to return to Big Springs. 
 Acting Governor Hall, of Colorado, again telegraphed that Arapahoes 
 were killing settlers and destroying ranches in all directions. Lieut. F. 
 H. Beecher, 3d Infantry, reported two experienced government scouts, 
 named Comstock and Grover, attacked by Indians professing friendship. 
 Both were shot in the back, Comstock instantly killed ; but, by lying on 
 the ground and making a defence of Comstock's body, Grover kept off 
 the Indians till night and made his escape. 
 
 August 28th, near Kiowa Station, Indians killed three men and drove 
 off fifty head of stock. Mr. Stickney, the station keeper, whilst with one 
 man, in a wagon, was attacked and wounded. The Sergeant at Lake 
 
Station reported two employes driven in there and the station keeper and 
 stock tender at Reed's Spring, driven off. , 
 
 August 29th, Captain Penrose, 3d Infantry, commanding Fort Lyon, 
 reported a train of thirteen wagons attacked by Indians, eighteen miles 
 from the Arkansas River, the oxen killed, and the train destroyed; the 
 men in charge, twenty-one in number, escaping in the night, to Fort 
 Lyon. 
 
 August 31st, Lieut. Riley, 5th Infantry, reported Indians had run off 
 two hundred horses and forty cattle, from the stage company's station at 
 Kiowa Creek. 
 
 September 1st, near Lake Station, J. H. Jones, stage agent, reported 
 a woman and a child killed and scalped, and thirty head of stock run off 
 by Indians; at Reed's Springs, three persons were killed and three 
 wounded; at Spanish Fort, Texas, four persons were murdered, eight 
 scalped, fifteen horses and mules run off and three women outraged; one 
 of these three women was outraged by thirteen Indians who afterwards 
 killed and scalped her and then killed her four little children. 
 
 September 3d, on Little Coon Creek, Kansas, a wagon, guarded by 
 four soldiers, commanded by Sergeant Dixon, Company "A," 3d Infantry, 
 were attacked by about forty Indians. Three of the men were badly 
 wounded; three Indians were killed and one wounded. One of the men 
 bravely volunteered to go to Fort Dodge, for help, which eventually 
 arrived, under command of Lieut. Wallace, 3d Infantry. 
 
 September 4th, Major Tilford, 7th Cavalry, commanding Fort Rey 
 nolds, Colorado, reported four persons killed, the day before, near Colo 
 rado City. A large body of Indians also attacked the station at Hugo 
 Springs, but were repulsed by the guards. 
 
 September 5th, Indians drove off five head of stock from Hugo Springs 
 and then went off and burned Willow Springs station. 
 
 September 6th and 7th, twenty-five persons were killed in Colorado, 
 and on the 7th, Hon. Schuyler Colfax telegraphed: " Hostile Indians have 
 been striking simultaneously at isolated settlements in Colorado, for a 
 circuit of over two hundred miles." . 
 
 September 8th, Captain Bankhead, 5th Infantry, commanding Fort 
 Wallace, reported about twenty-five Indians had killed and scalped two 
 citizens near Sheridan and also drove off seventy-six horses and mules, 
 from Clark's train on Turkey Creek. 
 
 Lieut. Wallingford, 7th Cavalry, was sent to assist a wood train of 
 thirty-five wagons and fifty men, attacked at Cimmaron crossing, who 
 had been fighting four days. They had two men and two horses killed, 
 seventy-five head of cattle run off and many mules wounded. Five miles 
 further west, the remains of another train of ten wagons captured and 
 burned, were found; fifteen men with this train were burned to death by 
 the Indians. 
 
13 
 
 September 9th, between Fort Wallace and Sheridan, Kansas, Indians 
 burned a ranch and killed six persons. The same ranch was also burned 
 two weeks before and had been rebuilt. 
 
 September 10th, Indians raided settlements on Purgatoire River. 
 Troops from Fort Lyon, under Captain Penrose, 3d Infantry, pursued 
 rapidly, overtook the Indians on Rule Creek, Colorado, and killed four, 
 recovering twelve head of stolen stock. Two soldiers were killed and 
 one wounded, and five horses died from exhaustion in the chase. The 
 same day Captain Butler, 5th Infantry, Fort Wallace, reported the stage 
 fired into by Indians, four miles east of Lake Station. 
 
 September llth, eighty-one head of stock cattle, belonging to Clarke 
 and Co., hay contractors, were run off from Lake Creek. 
 
 September 12th, General Nichols, traveling to Fort Reynolds, was 
 attacked by Indians who were driven off by the guard. They then ran 
 off eighty-five head of stock belonging to Thompson and McGee, near 
 Bent's old fort, and made a raid on a house at Point of Rocks, running 
 off four head of stock there. 
 
 Between September llth and 15th, the column commanded by Lieut. 
 Colonel Alfred Sully, 3d Infantry, consisting of Troops "A," " B," " C," 
 "D," "E," "F," "G," "I," and " K," 7th Cavalry, and Company " F," 
 3d Infantry, had a series of fights with Indians. Three soldiers were 
 killed and five wounded. The total Indian loss was reported as twenty- 
 two killed and twelve wounded. 
 
 September 15th, on Big Sandy Creek, Colorado, Troop "I," 10th 
 Cavalry, commanded by Captain Graham, were attacked by about one 
 hundred Indians, and seven soldiers were wounded. Eleven Indians 
 were reported killed and fourteen wounded. 
 
 September 17th, Ellis Station, Kansas, was burned and one man 
 killed. The settlements on Saline River, Kansas, were again raided by 
 Indians, who were attacked, driven off and pursued by a detachment of 
 7th Cavalry, three soldiers being wounded; the Indian loss, estimated, 
 was three killed and five wounded. Three miles from Fort Bascom, New 
 Mexico, Indians also killed a herder and ran off thirty mules; troops from 
 the post pursued the Indians for one hundred and twenty-five miles, but 
 could not overtake them. 
 
 Brevet Colonel G. A. Forsyth, with his company of fifty scouts, took 
 the trail of a party of Indians who had committed depredations near 
 Sheridan City, and followed it to the Arickaree Fork of the Republican 
 River, where he was attacked, on the 17th of September, by about seven 
 hundred Indians, and after a very gallant fight repulsed the savages, 
 inflicting a loss on them of thirty-five killed and many wounded. In the 
 engagement Lieutenant F. H. Beecher and Surgeon Moore were killed, 
 Forsyth twice wounded, and four of his scouts killed and fifteen wounded, 
 the commanded existing on horseflesh, only, for a period of eight days. 
 
14 
 
 The gallantry displayed by this brave little command is worthy of the 
 highest commendation, but it was only in keeping with the character of 
 the two gallant officers in command of it, Brevet Colonel G. A. Forsyth, 
 and Lieutenant Frederick H. Beecher. While the command was belea 
 guered, two scouts stole through the Indian lines and brought word to 
 Fort Wallace of its perilous situation. Brevet Colonel H. C. Bankhead, 
 Captain 5th Infantry, commanding Fort Wallace, with the most com 
 mendable energy started to its relief with one hundred men from that 
 point, and Brevet Lieut. Colonel Carpenter's company of the 10th Cav 
 alry, reaching Forsyth on the morning of the 25th of September. Upon 
 receipt by telegraph and couriers, of the news of Eorsyth's desperate sit 
 uation, a column of troops under General Bradley, from the Department 
 of the Platte, then in the field, in the vicinity of the Republican River, 
 also pushed hard for the scene of his fight, to lend assistance, arriving 
 almost simultaneously with the relief column of Colonel Bankhead, from 
 Fort Wallace, Kansas. 
 
 September 19th, Captain Bankhead, 5th Infantry, Fort Wallace, 
 reported a body of fifteen Indians had fired into the Mexican ranch, four 
 miles east of Big Timber, Kansas. 
 
 September 29th, on Sharp's Creek, Indians attacked a house, captur 
 ing Mr. Bassett, his wife and child. They burned the house, killed Mr. 
 Bassett, and after carrying off Mrs. Bassett, with her baby only two days 
 old, finding her too weak to travel, they outraged her, stripped her naked 
 and left her with her infant to perish on the prairie. 
 
 October 2d, General Hazen reported an attack on Fort Zarah by 
 about one hundred Indians who were, however, driven off. They then 
 attacked a provision train, killed a teamster and stole the mules from 
 four teams, after which they attacked a ranch, eight miles distant, and 
 drove off one hundred and sixty head of stock. General Sully also 
 reported an attack by Indians on a train between Fort Larned and Fort 
 Dodge; three citizens were killed, three wounded and over fifty mules 
 run off. 
 
 October 4th, Major Douglass reported that Indians had wounded a 
 Mexican at Lime-Kiln; also that they had attacked a train on the road, 
 killed two men, wounded two, destroyed stores and ran off stock, whilst 
 also, at Asher Creek settlement, Indians ran off seven head of horses and 
 mules. 
 
 October 10th, eight horses and mules were run off from Fort Zarah, 
 as reported by Lieut. Kaiser, 3d Infantry. 
 
 October llth, Captain Penrose, 3d Infantry, reported three hundred 
 Indians on the Purgatoire, on October 7th, and that they had killed a 
 Mexican and run off thirty-eight head of stock. 
 
 October 12th, Lieutenant Belger, 3d Infantry, reported a party of 
 
15 
 
 Indians near Ellsworth, Kansas, where they killed one man arid several 
 were missing. 
 
 October 13th, a house at Brown's Creek was attacked. 
 
 October 14th, Indians attacked camp of 5th Cavalry on Prairie Dog 
 Creek, Kansas. Of Troop " L," 5th Cavalry, one man was killed and 
 one wounded. The Indians also ran off twenty-six cavalry horses. On 
 the same day Captain Penrose, 3d Infantry, reported that Indians had 
 attacked a train on Sand Creek, Colorado. Led by " Satanta," chief of 
 the Kiowas, they ran off the cattle and captured a Mrs. Blinn and her 
 child. These prisoners were afterwards cruelly murdered by the Indians, 
 in General Custer's attack on " Black Kettle's" camp, November 27th. 
 
 October loth, on Fisher and Yocucy Creeks, a house was attacked, 
 four persons killed, one wounded, arid one woman captured. 
 
 October 18th, on Beaver Creek, Kansas, Troops " H," " I," and " M," 
 10th Cavalry, Captain L. H. Carpenter, commanding, had a fight with a 
 large body of Indians, in which- three soldiers were wounded and ten 
 Indians killed. 
 
 October 23d, at Fort Zarah two persons were killed by Indians who 
 sustained a loss of two killed. 
 
 October 25th and 26th, a column consisting of Troops "A," " B," " F," 
 "H," " I," " L," and " M," 5th Cavalry, and a company of scouts, under 
 Major E. A. Carr, 5th Cavalry, had a fight with a large body of Indians 
 on Beaver Creek, Kansas. One soldier was wounded; the Indians had 
 thirty killed, a number wounded, and lost, also, about one hundred and 
 thirty ponies, mostly killed, besides a large amount of camp equipage. 
 
 October 26th, near Central City, New Mexico, three citizens were 
 killed by Indians. 
 
 October 30th, in an attack on Grinnell Station, Kansas, one Indian 
 was wounded. 
 
 November 7th, on Coon Creek, Kansas, the stage was attacked and a 
 horse captured by Indians. 
 
 November 15th, a squadron of the 7th Cavalry struck a party of 
 Indians one hundred and forty miles from Fort Harker and pursued them 
 for ten miles; Indian loss, estimated, was five wounded. 
 
 November 17th, Indians attacked a train seven miles from Fort Har 
 ker and ran ofi" about one hundred arid fifty mules. 
 
 November 18th, Indians killed two government scouts, seven miles 
 from Fort Hays, Kansas, and captured their horses. 
 
 November 19th, on Little Coon Creek, Kansas, one person was mur 
 dered and five Indians killed. The same day near Fort Dodge, one 
 white person and two Indians were killed. In the same vicinity a 
 detachment of Troop "A," 10th Cavalry, under Sergeant Wilson, had a 
 fight in which two Indians were killed. Indians also attempted to stam 
 pede the beef contractor's herd, half a mile from Fort Dodge, Kansas; 
 
16 
 
 Lieutenant Q. Campbell, 5th Infantry, with companies "A," and " H," 3d 
 Infantry, and a detachme'nt of 5th Infantry, pursued the Indians for seven 
 miles, killing four and wounding six of them. The troops had three men 
 wounded. 
 
 November 20th, on Mulberry Creek, south of Fort Dodge, two govern 
 ment scouts named Marshall and Davis, were killed by Indians. 
 
 November 25th, in the Indian Territory, twenty horses and mules 
 were stolen and two Indians killed. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing murders and outrages, the following were 
 reported by Acting Indian Agent, S. T. Walkley, and P. McCusker, 
 U. S. Interpreter; all occurring in northern Texas. January, 1868, 
 twenty-five persons were killed, nine scalped and fourteen children cap 
 tured; the latter were afterwards frozen to death whilst in captivity. In 
 February, seven were killed, fifty horses and mules stolen and five chil 
 dren captured; two of the latter were surrendered to Colonel Leaven- 
 worth, and the remaining three taken to Kansas. In May, three houses 
 were attacked, plundered and burned. In June, one person was killed 
 and three children belonging to Mr. McElroy, captured; while in July, 
 on the Brazos River, Texas, four persons were killed. In nearly all these 
 instances, the most savage and horrible barbarities were perpetrated upon 
 the unfortunate victims of the Indians. 
 
 So boldly had this system of murder and robbery been carried on, 
 that, since June, 1862, not less than eight hundred persons had been 
 murdered, the Indians escaping from the troops, by traveling at night, 
 when their trail could not be followed, thus gaining enough time and dis 
 tance to render pursuit, in most cases, fruitless. This wholesale maraud 
 ing would be maintained during the seasons when the Indian ponies 
 could subsist upon the grass, and then, in the winter, the savages would 
 hide away, with their villages, in remote and isolated places, to live upon 
 their plunder, glory in the scalps taken and in the horrible debasement 
 of the unfortunate women whom they held as prisoners. The experience 
 of many years of this character of depredations, with perfect immunity to 
 themselves and families, had made the Indians very bold. To disabuse 
 their minds of the idea that they were secure from punishment, and to 
 strike them at a period when they were helpless to move their stock and 
 villages, a winter campaign was projected against the large bands hiding 
 away in the Indian Territory. 
 
 General Getty, commanding the District of New Mexico, was directed 
 to send out a column from Fort Bascom, New Mexico; this was com 
 manded by Brevet Lieut. Colonel A. W. Evans, 3d Cavalry. Another 
 was started out from Fort Lyon, Colorado, under General E. A. Carr; 
 
17 
 
 whilst a third, and the largest, consisting of eleven troops of the 7th 
 Cavalry, under General Ouster, and twelve companies of Kansas volun 
 teer cavalry, together with several companies of the 3d and 5th Infantry, 
 was organized, at Fort Dodge, Kansas, under command of General Sully. 
 The last named expedition established " Camp Supply" in the Indian 
 Territory, whither the Department Commander, General Sheridan, pro 
 ceeded in person to supervise operations during this experimental cam 
 paign. 
 
 General Sheridan personally accompanied the main column from 
 Camp Supply to Fort Cobb, directing all of its operations as well as those 
 of the columns from Fort Lyon, under General Carr, and from Fort Bas- 
 com, under Colonel Evans, until the final surrender of the Indians and 
 the close of the winter's campaign. 
 
 The objects of the winter's operations were to strike the Indians a 
 hard blow and force them on to the reservations set apart for them; or, 
 if this could not be accomplished, to show to the Indian that the winter 
 season would not give him rest; that he with his villages and stock, could 
 be destroyed; that he would have no security, winter or summer, except 
 in obeying the laws of peace and humanity. 
 
 The plan of operations to accomplish these purposes, was to allow the 
 small column from Fort Bascom, consisting of six troops of cavajfry, 
 two companies of infantry, and four mountain howitzers, aggregating 
 five hundred and sixty-three men, operate along the main Canadian, 
 establishing a depot at Monument Creek, and remaining out as long as it 
 could be supplied, at least until sometime in January; the column of 
 General Carr, seven troops of the Fifth Cavalry, to unite with a force 
 under Captain Penrose, then out, composed of one troop of the 7th and 
 four of the 10th Cavalry, establish a depot on the headwaters of the 
 North Canadian, and operate south towards the Antelope Hills and head 
 waters of Red River. These columns were really beaters in and were 
 not expected to accomplish much. The main column from " Camp Sup 
 ply" was expected to strike the Indians, either on the headwaters of the 
 Washita, or still further south on the branches of Red River. 
 
 November 26th, General Custer struck the trail of a war party, com 
 posed of " Black Kettle's" band of Cheyennes, with other Cheyennes and 
 Arapahoes. They had been north, had killed the mail carriers between 
 Dodge and Larned, also an old hunter at Dodge, and two expressmen 
 sent back, by General Sheridan with letters. As soon as Custer struck 
 the trail he corraled his wagons, left a small escort with them and fol 
 lowed the Indian trail, which was very fresh and well marked in the deep 
 snow, until it led into Black Kettle's village on the Washita. The next 
 morning, before daylight, the Usage Indian trailers discovered the village 
 of the Indians, and notified Custer, who at once made the most admirable 
 dispositions for its attack and capture. At dawn a charge was made, the 
 
18 
 
 village captured and burned, eight hundred horses or ponies shot, in 
 accordance with positive orders, one hundred and three warriors killed, 
 and fifty-three squaws and children captured. 
 
 Whilst this work was going on, all the Indians for a distance of fifteen 
 miles, down the Washita, collected and attacked Ouster; these Indians 
 were Cheyennes, Comanches, Kiowas and Apaches; they were driven 
 down the stream for a distance of four or five miles, when, as ni<yht was 
 approaching, Custer withdrew and returned to a small train of provisions 
 which he had directed to follow up his movements. Our loss, in the 
 attack at the village, was Captain Louis M. Hamilton and three men 
 killed, with three officers and eleven men wounded. Unfortunately, 
 Major Elliott, of the 7th Cavalry, a very gallant and promising young 
 officer, seeing some of the young boys escape, followed, with the Ser 
 geant Major and fifteen men to capture and bring them in; after secur 
 ing them and while on their way back to the regiment, Elliott's party 
 were surrounded and killed. It occurred in this way: Elliott followed 
 the boys, shortly after the attack on the viilage, taking a course due 
 south, and nearly at right angles to the Washita River. After traveling 
 south a mile and a half from the village, a very small branch of the Wash 
 ita was crossed and an open prairie reached; on this prairie the boys were 
 captured and were being brought back, when the party was attacked by 
 Indians from below, numbering from one thousand to fifteen hundred. 
 Elliott fought his way back towards the small creek before named, until 
 within rifle range of the creek, when he was stopped by Indians who had 
 taken position in the bed of the creek and picked off his men who 
 formed a little circle, around which their dead and horribly mutilated 
 bodies were found. No one of those back with the regiment knew of 
 Elliott's party having followed the Indian boys; no one heard the report 
 of their guns and no one knew of their exact fate until they were discov 
 ered afterwards, savagely mutilated almost beyond recognition. 
 
 General Custer, after destroying the village and driving the Indians 
 some four or five miles down the Washita, returned, as before mentioned, 
 to the train of supplies which he had directed to follow him and next day 
 started back to Camp Supply with his prisoners, where he arrived on the 
 1st of December. 
 
 The blow that Custer had struck was a hard one, and fell on the 
 guiltiest of all the bands, that of Black Kettle. It was this band, with 
 others, that, without provocation, had massacred the settlers on the 
 Saline and Solomon, and perpetrated cruelties too fiendish for recital. 
 
 In his camp were found numerous articles recognized as the property 
 of the unfortunate victims of the butcheries before described; also a 
 blank book with Indian illustrations of the various deviltries they had 
 perpetrated. They had spared neither age nor sex; in all instances rav 
 ishing the women, sometimes forty or fifty times, and whilst insensible 
 
19 
 
 from brutality and exhaustion, forced sticks up their persons. On one 
 occasion a savage drew a sabre and used it in the same barbarous man 
 ner upon the person of the wretched woman who had fallen into his 
 hands. 
 
 With the capture and destruction of Black Kettle's village, the work 
 of the expedition was not complete. Although the weather was bitter 
 cold, the thermometer 18 below zero, with blinding snow storms raging, 
 the column pressed on, digging and bridging ravines for the passage of 
 the train. This was continued until the evening of December 16th, when 
 the vicinity of the Indians was again reached. They were mostly Kiowas 
 and did not dream that soldiers could operate against them in such awful 
 weather. Completely taken by surprise, they agreed that all the warriors 
 should join the column and march with it to Fort Cobb, while their vil 
 lages moved to the same point. This was only a decoy, however, to save 
 themselves from attack; for all slipped off, excepting the head chiefs 
 Satan ta and Lone Wolf, whom Ouster had been ordered to arrest. When 
 the column reached Fort Oobb, it was found that the villages, instead of 
 moving there, were already nearly a hundred miles distant, hurrying in 
 the opposite direction. Orders were immediately issued for the execu 
 tion of the chiefs Satanta and Lone Wolf, unless the villages should 
 deliver themselves up at Fort Cobb, in two days. All came back even 
 tually, under this pressure, and the lives of their chiefs were saved. At 
 Fort Cobb were found most of the Comanches and Apaches, who had 
 hastened in to the reservation, there, after the fight with Custer, on the 
 Washita, November 27th. 
 
 While these operations were going on, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel A. 
 W. Evans moved from Fort Bascom up the main Canadian, to Monument 
 Creek, there established his depot, and with the most commendable 
 energy, struck off south, on to the headwaters of Red River, discovered a 
 trail of hostile Comanches who had refused to come in, followed it up 
 with perseverance, and on the 25th of December, attacked the party, 
 killed, as nearly as could be ascertained, 'twenty-five, wounded a large 
 number, captured and burned their village, destroyed a large amount of 
 property and then moved to a point about twelve miles west of Fort 
 Cobb. 
 
 Meanwhile, General Carr was scouting along the main Canadian, west 
 of the Antelope Hills, and the country was becoming so unhealthy for 
 Indians, that the Arapahoes and the remainder of the Cheyennes con 
 cluded to surrender and go upon the reservation selected for them. The 
 operations of the troops had forced these Indians over into the eastern 
 edge of the Staked Plains, where there was no game, and the limited 
 amount of supplies which they had been able to put up for the winter, 
 had been mostly lost in the engagement on the Washita and in their sub 
 sequent flight. 
 
20 
 
 The surrender was made by " Little Robe," with other representative 
 chiefs, for the Cheyennes, by " Little Raven " and " Yellow Bear," for 
 the Arapahoes, by " Lone Wolf and " Satanta," for the Kiowas, and by 
 " Esse-Ha-Habit," for the Comanches ; they agreed to deliver up their 
 people at Fort Cobb, as speedily as possible, claiming that it would take 
 some time to get in, on account of the exhausted condition of their stock. 
 
 The Arapahoes were faithful to their agreement and delivered them 
 selves up under their head chief, " Little Raven." The Cheyennes broke 
 their promise and did not come in, so General Ouster was ordered against 
 them, and came upon them on the headwaters of Red River, apparently 
 moving north; it is possible they were on their way to Camp Supply, as 
 they had been informed that, if they did not get into the Fort Cobb 
 reservation within a certain time, they would not be received there, but 
 would be received at Camp Supply. 
 
 Custer found them in a very forlorn condition, and could have 
 destroyed most of the tribe, certainly their villages, but contented him 
 self with taking their renewed promise to come into Camp Supply, and 
 obtained from them two white women whom they held as captives. The 
 most of the tribe fulfilled this latter promise so far as coming into the 
 vicinity of Camp Supply and communicating with the commanding offi 
 cer; but " Tall Bulls" band again violated the promise made and went 
 north to the Republican, where they joined a party of Sioux, who, on the 
 13th of May, 1869, were attacked by General Carr and defeated with 
 heavy loss; whereupon, the whole tribe moved into Camp Supply. 
 
 Whilst the Arapahoes and Cheyennes were negotiating for surrender, 
 the Quehada, or Staked Plains Comanches, sent a delegation to Fort Bas- 
 com, offering to surrender themselves, expecting, perhaps, to obtain bet 
 ter terms there than had been offered them already; but General Getty 
 arrested the delegation which was ordered to Fort Leavenworth and 
 finally returned to their people, upon condition that they would all 
 deliver themselves up on the reservation at Medicine Bluff or at Fort 
 Sill. This they complied wii?h and so were fulfilled all the objects had in 
 view at the commencement of the winter's campaign, viz.; punishment 
 inflicted, property destroyed, the Indians convinced that winter would no 
 longer bring them security, and most of the tribes south of the Platte 
 forced upon the reservations set apart for them by the government. 
 
 In all, from March 2d, 1868, to February 9th, 1869, there were offici 
 ally reported in the Department of the Missouri, three hundred and fifty- 
 three officers, soldiers and citizens, killed, wounded, or captured by 
 Indians. Of the Indians there were reported, officially, three hundred 
 and nineteen killed, two hundred and eighty-nine wounded and fifty- 
 three captured. The numbers of the Indians who surrendered at the 
 various points mentioned, were not officially ascertained, with accuracy, 
 but they amounted to about twelve thousand. 
 
1869. 
 
 Whilst the majority of the Indians who had been devastating the lines 
 of the Arkansas, the Smoky Hill and the southern tributaries of the 
 Republican, were now upon reservations, depredating continued in vari 
 ous localities, and engagements with Indians were constantly reported. 
 
 January 28th, among the settlements on the Solomon River, a scouting 
 party of the 7th Cavalry had two men wounded, six Indians being 
 reported killed and ten wounded. 
 
 January 29th, on Mulberry Creek, Kansas, a detachment of Cavalry 
 under Captain Edward Byrne, 10th Cavalry, had a fight in which two 
 men were wounded nd six Indians killed. 
 
 February 7th, troops from Fort Selden, New Mexico, pursued Indians 
 who had stolen stock three miles from that post, but the marauders 
 escaped into the mountains before they could be overtaken. 
 
 March 9th, near Fort Harker, Kansas, Indians with stolen stock were 
 overtaken by troops, five Indians captured and all the stock recovered. 
 
 March 17th, near Fort Bayard, New Mexico, Apaches committed 
 some murders and depredations. Troops pursued them hotly to their 
 village which, with its contents, was burned and five Indians wounded; 
 no casualties to the troops. 
 
 April 7th, on the Musselshell River, Montana, detachments of Com 
 panies " D," "F," and " G," 13th Infantry, commanded by Captain E. 
 W. Clift, 13th Infantry, had a fight in which nine Indians were killed; 
 one soldier was killed and two wounded. 
 
 April 16th, near Fort Wallace, Kansas, Indians attacked and chased 
 an officer and his escort into the post, but without casualties on either 
 side. 
 
 April 20th, in the Department of the Missouri, troops pursued maraud 
 ing Indians, locality not stated, wounded three Indians, burned their 
 camp and recovered fifty head of stolen stock. 
 
 April 22d, in Sangre Canon, New Mexico, a cavalry scouting party 
 overtook a band of hostile Indians, wounding five of them, and recover 
 ing nineteen horses and a stolen cheque for $500. 
 
 May 2d, near San Augustine, New Mexico, Indians ambushed a train 
 guarded by soldiers and made a desperate but unsuccessful effort to cap 
 ture it. Two soldiers were killed and four wounded; five Indians were 
 killed and ten reported wounded. 
 
22 
 
 May 10th, at Fort Hays, Kansas, Indian prisoners made a murderous 
 assault with knives upon their guards, mortally wounding the Sergeant 
 in charge, but were overpowered. 
 
 Extensive field operations against the southern Indians having been 
 relieved by the surrender of large numbers and the escape northward of 
 bands who went in that direction to join their allies 'in the neighborhood 
 of the Platte, the column of seven troops of the 5th Cavalry which, under 
 General Carr, had scouted southward from Fort Lyon, the previous 
 winter, marching upwards of twelve hundred miles, was directed to 
 proceed across the country from the Arkansas to the Platte, carefully 
 patroling the valleys of the intermediate streams for any bands of hos- 
 tiles lurking there. The command left the vicinity of Fort Wallace, 
 Kansas, May 10th, and on the 13th found indications of Indians upon 
 Beaver Creek. A party of ten men, under Lieutenant Ward, were sent 
 to reconnoitre and about eight miles from " Elephant Rock," saw the 
 smoke of a large village. Lieutenant Ward's reconnoissance was dis 
 covered by a hunting party of Indians and his detachment narrowly 
 escaped capture, being obliged to charge through the. Indians in regaining 
 the main column. The latter in full force galloped off to the attack of 
 the village which had taken flight, upon their discovering the troops, the 
 warriors remaining back to fight and cover the retreat of their families. 
 The column made a brilliant charge in which three soldiers were killed 
 and four wounded ; of the Indians, twenty-five were reported killed 
 and fifty wounded. Night came on and the following morning, after 
 destroying the Indian camp with much of its property, the pursuit was 
 taken up, the wagon train dropped with an escort, and the column, 
 with five days rations on their horses, pushed ahead upon the trail. This 
 was followed energetically and on May 16th, on Spring Creek, Nebraska, 
 the advance guard under Lieutenant Volkmar, 5th Cavalry, overtook the 
 Indians, about four hundred warriors strong, who turned upon the party 
 and nearly captured it, after a determined resistance in which three 
 soldiers were wounded and many of the horses, the detachment defend 
 ing themselves stoutly behind the bodies of their horses against repeated 
 charges. The main column arrived in time to rescue the advance guard, 
 the Indians taking flight before they could be struck in force. A hot 
 chase for some fifteen miles ensued across the Republican again south 
 ward, the Indians at dark breaking up into small parties which descended 
 anew upon the Kansas settlements. The column proceeded to the 
 Platte River, whence, after refitting at Fort McPherson, it returned to 
 search for the Indians who proved to be the " Dog Soldier" Cheyennes. 
 
 May 18th, Indians ran off stock near Fort Bayard, New Mexico, 
 were pursued by troops and their village destroyed. 
 
 May 25th, the settlements in Jewell County, Kansas, were raided, six 
 citizens killed and three women outraged. 
 
23 
 
 May 26th, near the town of Sheridan, Kansas, Indians attacked a 
 wagon train, wounded two teamsters and ran off three hundred mules. 
 
 May 29th, Indians attacked Fossil Station, Kansas, killed two persons, 
 wounded four, and at night threw a train from the track of the Kansas 
 Pacific Railway. 
 
 May 30th, on Salt Creek, Kansas, Indians killed a settler, attacked 
 three couriers of the 7th Cavalry and chased them for ten miles. They 
 also attacked three government teamsters, near Fort Hays, Kansas, and 
 drove them into the post. 
 
 May 31st, a government train was attacked on Rose Creek, Kansas; 
 two sojdiers and five Indians were reported wounded. 
 
 June 1st, on Solomon River, Kansas, the ca.mp of a detachment of the 
 7th Cavalry was attacked, one soldier and one Indian were reported 
 wounded, and three Indian ponies were captured by the troops. On the 
 same day, the settlements on the Solomon River were raided, thirteen 
 men killed, houses burned and about one hundred and fifty head of stock 
 run off. A detachment of cavalry followed the trail in pursuit, but with 
 out success. 
 
 June 4th, Indians pulled up the track of the railroad at Grinnell Sta 
 tion, Kansas, but were repulsed by the military guard there. 
 
 June 10th, on the Solomon River, Kansas, Indians attempted to stam 
 pede the stock at the camp of a scouting party, but were fired upon by 
 the sentinels and escaped. On the same day the settlements on Asher 
 Creek, Kansas, were raided and fifteen head of stock run off. The Indians 
 were pursued ten miles by a party of cavalry, were attacked and the 
 stolen stock recovered. 
 
 June llth, on the Solomon River, Indians attacked the flankers of an 
 artillery command under Captain Graham, 1st Artillery, but were routed 
 and pursued. 
 
 June 12th, on the Solomon, some cavalry struck and pursued the trail 
 of a band which had been depredating upon that stream, but did not suc 
 ceed in overtaking the Indians. At Edinburg, Kansas, Indians ran off 
 twenty head of cattle, were pursued and the stock recovered. The set 
 tlements on the Solomon were again raided, about ten persons killed and 
 some two hundred and fifty head of stock run off. 
 
 June 19th, near Sheridan, Kansas, a surveying party, escorted by a 
 detachment of the 7th Cavalry were attacked; the escort had two men 
 wounded, but repulsed the Indians with a loss of four killed and twelve 
 wounded. The same day Indians attacked a government train near Fort 
 Wallace, Kansas, and drove it into the post; troops from the garrison 
 pursued the Indians, capturing one pony; no casualties. 
 
 June 20th, at Scandinavia, Kansas, the settlement was raided by 
 Indians; they were pursued by a detachment of cavalry and one Indian 
 killed. 
 
24 
 
 June 26th, Indians dashed into the town of Sheridan, Kansas, killed 
 one man and pursued another who, however, escaped. 
 
 These depredations were doubtless mostly committed by the large 
 band which had been fought by General Carr's command, on the Beaver 
 and other streams, in May. This column of seven troops 5th Cavalry, 
 having refitted at Fort McPherson, Nebraska, returned, with three 
 mounted companies of Pawnees, to the vicinity of the Beaver and Solo 
 mon, found several trails of the Indians and followed them until they 
 united upon the Republican River, not far from the scene of Forsyth's 
 severe fight the preceding September. 
 
 July 5th, three troops of the 5th Cavalry, and one company of Rawnee 
 scouts, from this column, under the command of Major W. B. Royall, 5th 
 Cavalry, struck a war party, not far north of the Republican, killed three, 
 wounded several and the balance escaped; the troops returned to the 
 camp of the main column on the Republican. 
 
 July 8th, a detachment of four men, Troop " M," 5th Cavalry, in com 
 ing back to the camp of General Carr's command, were attacked by 
 Indians; Corporal Kyle, in charge of this party, made a very gallant 
 defense, wounding two of the Indians and succeeding in reaching the 
 camp. A dash was made into the camp, about midnight, by Indians 
 attempting to stampede the herd; one of the Pawnee sentinels was 
 wounded but the Indians were driven off without other loss to the com 
 mand. The next day the trail of the Indians was pursued rapidly, the 
 wagons dropped with an escort, and on 
 
 July llth, the main village was completely surprised on " Summit 
 Springs," a small tributary of the South Platte, in Colorado. Seven 
 troops of the 5th Cavalry and three companies of mounted Pawnee 
 scouts charged the village which, with its contents, was captured and 
 burned. Fifty-two Indians were killed, an unknown number wounded, 
 and seventeen captured, among the killed being " Tall Bull," the chief 
 of the band. Two hundred and seventy-four horses, one hundred and 
 forty-four mules, quantities of arms and ammunition and about $1,500 in 
 U. S. money, were among the more important items of the extensive cap 
 tures. So perfect was the surprise and so swift the charge, over a dis 
 tance of several miles, that the Indians could do little but spring upon 
 their ponies and fly, and the casualties to the troops were only one sol 
 dier wounded, one horse shot and twelve horses killed by the hot and 
 exhausting charge. In the Indian camp were two unfortunate white 
 women captives from the Kansas settlements, a Mrs. Alderdice and a 
 Mrs. Wiechell. The former had a baby whom the Indians had strangled. 
 After enduring the saddest miseries, whilst prisoners, at the very moment 
 of rescue by the troops, both women were shot by the Indians. Mrs. Alder- 
 dice was found dead, with her skull crushed in; Mrs. Wiechell was shot in 
 the breast, but the bullet was extracted from her back by the surgeon, 
 
25 
 
 Dr. Tesson. Mrs. Alderdice was laid in a grave dug where she perished, 
 the troops assembled and the burial service read over her by an officer. 
 With such care as the troops could afford Mrs. Wiechell whilst on the 
 march, she was carried to Fort Sedgwick, Colorado, where she eventually 
 recovered, the soldiers turning over the captured money to this unhappy 
 woman who had seen her husband murdered and mutilated, her home and 
 friends destroyed and had herself, according to her own pitiful and 
 broken story, been the victim of miseries almost too awful for descrip 
 tion. 
 
 July 10th to July 17th, in New Mexico, upon the stage route the 
 coaches were attacked three times in one week, the Indians capturing all 
 the mails, robbing the passengers and killing ten persons, in all. 
 
 July 25th, troops struck the trail of hostile Indians near Fort Stanton, 
 New Mexico, pursued the savages to their village, totally destroyed it, and 
 recaptured three stolen mules, the Indians escaping amongst the canons; 
 no casualties. 
 
 July 27th, troops pursued a band of Indians who had committed 
 depredations in New Mexico, overtaking and charging the savages, 
 wounding three of them, capturing three Indian ponies and recovering 
 some stolen stock. 
 
 August 2d, the column of the 5th Cavalry with three companies of Paw 
 nee scouts, which had struck Tall Bull's camp at " Summit Springs," July 
 llth, having refitted at Fort Sedgwick, Colorado, started out again under 
 command of Colonel Royall, 5th Cavalry, to hunt for the Indians who 
 had escaped from that fight. Just as the column was about camping, 
 after its first day's march south of Fort Sedgwick, the Indians were 
 struck, but escaped as night fell. The pursuit was taken up, next morn 
 ing, and the trail hotly followed for two hundred and twenty-five miles, 
 to north of the Niobrara River, Dakota, where the chase had to be 
 abandoned, the country being almost impassable, even without the train, 
 and the horses of the cavalry being completely worn out. The Indians 
 abandoned large quantities of camp equipage, which were destroyed, two 
 mules and forty horses and ponies being captured by the command. 
 
 August 3d, at Fort Stevenson, Dakota, Indians attempted to stampede 
 the herd, but were defeated and pursued by the garrison, the Indians 
 losing one horse; no casualties to the troops. 
 
 August 9th, Indians destroyed one hundred and fifty yards of the tel 
 egraph line at Grinnell Station, Kansas, but were frightened off by the 
 military guard at the station. 
 
 August 15th, near San Augustine Pass, New Mexico, Troops " F," and 
 " H," 3d Cavalry, under Captain F. Stanwood, 3d Cavalry, had a fight of 
 which no details are given. 
 
 August 19th, Colonel De Trobriand, 13th Infantry, commanding Fort 
 Shaw, Montana, reported an attack by Piegan Indians upon a govern- 
 
26 
 
 ment train from Camp Cooke; also the murder of a citizen named Clarke 
 and the wounding of his son, near Helena, Montana. The teamsters with 
 the train in the fight which took place on Eagle Creek, killed four and 
 wounded two Indians, losing one man killed and twenty oxen. Subse 
 quently hostilities were carried on at different points in the vicinity, cat 
 tle carried off and white men murdered, the hostiles appearing to be 
 Bloods, Blackfeet and Piegans. 
 
 August 21st, Indians attacked Coyote' Station, Kansas, but were 
 repulsed by the military guard there; no casualties. 
 
 September 5th, troops from Fort Stanton, New Mexico, pursued and 
 routed a band of hostile Indians of whom it was estimated three were 
 killed and seven wounded. The troops had two men wounded. 
 
 September 12th, near Laramie Peak, Wyoming, an escort to a train 
 had a fight in which one soldier was killed and one wounded. 
 
 September 14th, near Little Wind River, Wyoming, Mr. James Camp 
 and Private John Holt, Company " K," 7th Infantry, were killed near the 
 Snake Reservation. On Popoagie River, Wyoming, a detachment of 
 Troop " D," 2d Cavalry, under Lieutenant Stambaugh, had a fight in 
 which two soldiers were killed. Two Indians were killed, ten wounded 
 and one Indian pony captured. 
 
 September 15th, near Whiskey Gap, Wyoming, a detachment of 
 Company " B," 4th Infantry, under Lieutenant J. H. Spencer, had a fight 
 with about three hundred Indians, -one soldier being captured and doubt 
 less killed. 
 
 September 17th, on Twin Creek, Wyoming, the United States mail 
 escort had a fight with Indians. Near Fort Stanton, New Mexico, Indians 
 ran off stock, were pursued, their village destroyed and three Indians 
 wounded; no casualties to troops. 
 
 At Point of Rocks, Wyoming, a stage was attacked and the driver 
 killed. On Twin Creek, another escort party to the United States mail 
 were attacked and driven into the mountains. 
 
 September 20th, troops from Fort Bascorn, New Mexico, pursued a 
 band of Indians to the mountains, where they escaped with loss of much 
 of their plunder. 
 
 September 23d, troops from Fort Cummings, New Mexico, pursued 
 marauding Indians, and after a long chase, recaptured thirty stolen 
 horses. 
 
 September 24th, Indians raided Mexican ranches near Fort Bayard, 
 New Mexico. Troops followed the Indians to their village in the moun 
 tains, destroyed it with its contents and wounded three Indians; no casu 
 alties to the troops. 
 
 September 26th, troops pursued a band of marauding Indians to their 
 village in the San Francisco mountains, New Mexico, burned it, wounded 
 two Indians and recovered some stolen sheep; no casualties to troops. The 
 
27 
 
 same day, on Prairie Dog Creek, Kansas, a column consisting of Troops 
 " B," " C," " F," " L," and " M," 5th Cavalry, Troops " B," " 0," and 
 " M," 2d Cavalry and two companies of Pawnee scouts, all under com 
 mand of General Duncan, was about encamping after a long day's march, 
 when the advance guard of twenty cavalrymen, commanded by Lieutenant 
 Volkmar, 5th Cavalry, struck a band of Indians which attempted to cut 
 off Major North and the chief scout and guide, William Cody. The 
 detachment charged the Indians and pursued them to their village which 
 was hastily abandoned. Some of the Pawnee "scouts joined in the 
 chase, but night came on and the Indians escaped. One Indian was 
 killed, one captured, and seven animals killed and captured, together 
 with the entire village, consisting of fifty-six lodges which, with their 
 contents, were destroyed on the following day. A portion of the column 
 pursued for several days, but the Indians made no camp for ninety miles 
 and the chase was abandoned. From an Indian prisoner it was ascer 
 tained that the band were all Sioux, under " Pawnee Killer" and " Whist 
 ler," both of whom had escaped from the Summit Springs fight on July 
 llth. Some surveyor's instruments were also found in the Indian camp 
 and identified as belonging to Mr. Nelson^ Buck's surveying party, 
 consisting of about twelve persons, all of whom had been recently mur 
 dered and their camp destroyed, not far from the scene of the fight of 
 September 26th. The band had come from the north about three months 
 before and had attacked another surveying party about twenty miles 
 south of the Platte, on August 27th. In their flight from the village, the 
 prisoner stated that the band, numbering a hundred warriors, besides 
 women and children, had abandoned everything but their arms and ani 
 mals, and had agreed not to stop until they reached the Sioux reserva 
 tion north of the Platte. 
 
 September 29th, Indians committed murders and depredations near 
 Fort Bayard, New Mexico. Troops from the post pursued the Indians for 
 a week, destroyed their village and contents, killed three and wounded 
 three Indians and captured three horses. One soldier was wounded in 
 the fight. 
 
 October loth, troops pursued a band of Indians to the Mogollon 
 Mountains, New Mexico, and recaptured thirty stolen horses. 
 
 October 23d, troops pursued a band of Indians to the Miembres 
 Mountains, New Mexico, where they overtook and defeated them, killing 
 three, wounding three, and capturing three ponies and some supplies; 
 one soldier was wounded. 
 
 November 2d, near Fort Sill, Indian Territory, troops recovered a 
 white captive from a band of Indians. 
 
 November 18th, Lieutenant H. B. Gushing, 3d Cavalry, with a detach 
 ment of Troop " F," after a pursuit of two hundred miles, had a fight with 
 Indians in the Guadaloupe Mountains, New Mexico, in which two soldiers 
 
28 
 
 were wounded, the troops killing and wounding a number of Indians and 
 recovering most of about one hundred and fifty head of stolen stock. 
 
 December 2d, near Horse-Shoe Creek, Wyoming, about one hundred 
 and fifty Indians attacked the mail escort of ten men, under Sergeant 
 Bahr, Company " E," 4th Infantry, proceeding from Fort Fetterman to 
 Fort Laramie. One soldier was killed and several Indians reported 
 killed and wounded. The same day and vicinity, the mail escort of 
 ten men, en route from Fort Laramie to Fort Fetterman, was attacked 
 and two men wounded. 
 
 December 15th, Indians attacked Bunker Hill Station, Kansas, but 
 were repulsed by the military guard. 
 
 December 26th, in the Guadaloupe Mountains, New Mexico, a detach 
 ment of Troop "F," 3d Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant Gushing, 
 had a fight in which Lieutenant Franklin Yeaton, 3d Cavalry, received 
 severe wounds from the effects of which he afterwards died. The same 
 detachment had another fight, 
 
 December 30th, on Delaware Creek, New Mexico, no details of which 
 are given. 
 
S 70. 
 
 On the 27th of September, 1869, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs 
 for Montana, officially reported to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
 renewed depredations by Indians, supposed to be Blackfeet, near Helena, 
 Montana. A citizen name'd James Quail, having lost a quantity of horses 
 and mules, went to hunt for them. His body was found pierced with 
 arrows and horribly mutilated. Nine Indians were seen, a few days 
 before, driving off stock from that direction, and within the preceding 
 two months over four hundred horses and mules had been stolen. These 
 papers were all referred by the War Department to the Division Com 
 mander for action, and it was resolved, as soon as winter should set in 
 and the Indians be unable to move, to send a force from Fort Ellis or 
 Fort Shaw and strike them a hard blow. The project for punishing this 
 band, numbering about fifteen hundred, (men, women and children,) hav 
 ing been approved by the War Department, on January 19th a column, 
 consisting of Troops " F," " G," " H," and " L," 2d Cavalry and a 
 detachment of about fifty-five mounted infantry, under Brevet Colonel 
 E. M. Baker, 2d Cavalry, left Fort Shaw, Montana, to strike the Piegan 
 camp of " Mountain Chief," on the Marias River, Montana. 
 
 January 23d, after a secret night march, the column completely sur 
 prised the camps of "Bear Chief" and "Big Horn," killing one hundred 
 and seventy-three Indians, wounding twenty, capturing one hundred and 
 forty women and children and over three hundred horses. Leaving a 
 detachment in the camp to destroy the property, the column pushed down 
 the river after the camp of " Mountain Chief," but his lodges were found 
 deserted and were burned by the troops. The Indians scattered in every 
 direction, but the weather was too severe to pursue them, so the column 
 marched for the North West Fur Company's Station, arriving there on 
 January 25th. Colonel Baker sent for the chiefs of the Bloods, had a 
 consultation with them and obliged them to give up all the stolen stock 
 in their possession. The column reached Fort Ellis again, February 6th, 
 having made a march of about six hundred miles, in the coldest weather 
 known for years, in the always severe climate of that region. In the 
 attack on the Indian villages, the only loss to the troops was one man 
 killed. 
 
 March 21st, at Eagle Tail Station, Kansas, Indians attacked a railroad- 
 working party but were driven off by the military guards; no casualties. 
 
30 
 
 April 6th, on Bluff Creek, Kansas, a government train and escort were 
 attacked by Indians who were driven off with a loss of three wounded, 
 but one hundred and thirty mules were stampeded. 
 
 April 23d, a railroad-working party in Kansas were attacked by 
 Indians who were repulsed by the military guards; no casualties. 
 
 May 4th, near Miner's Delight, Wyoming, Troop " D," 2d Cavalry, 
 Captain D. S. Gordon commanding, had a severe fight with a band of 
 Indians, in which seven Indians were killed and one wounded. First 
 Lieutenant Charles B. Stambaugh, 2d Cavalry, and one enlisted man 
 were killed. . 
 
 May 16th, Indians made a concerted attack along the Kansas Pacific 
 Railroad for a distance of thirty miles, .killing ten persons and running 
 off about three hundred animals. A troop of cavalry pursued the Indians 
 to the Republican River, Nebraska, but without success. 
 
 May 17th, Sergeant Leonard and four men of Troop " C," 2d Cavalry, 
 were attacked by about fifty Indians, on Spring Creek,- Nebraska. The 
 party succeeded in driving off the Indians who lost one killed and seven 
 wounded. 
 
 May 18th, Indians attacked Lake Station, Colorado, and were pursued 
 by a party of cavalry, but without success. 
 
 May 21st, Hugo Station, Colorado, was attacked by Indians who 
 were, however, repulsed. 
 
 May 28th, near Camp Supply, Indian Territory, Indians attacked a 
 train, stampeded all the mules, and killed one man. The same day they 
 ran off a quantity of stock near that post and killed another man. 
 
 May 31st, Carlysle Station, Kansas, was attacked by Indians; they 
 were repulsed by the military guard who had two men wounded. The 
 Indian loss, estimated, was three wounded. The same day, on Beaver 
 Creek, Kansas, a detachment of Company " B," 3d Infantry, under Ser 
 geant Murray, had a fight in which one man was killed and one wounded. 
 
 June 1st, Indians raided the settlements on Solomon River, Kansas. 
 They were pursued by a troop of the 7th Cavalry and four Indians 
 wounded. 
 
 June 3d, the mail station at Bear Creek, Kansas, was attacked by 
 Indians who were repulsed by the military guard, after a severe fight in 
 which two soldiers were killed and one wounded. Five Indians were 
 killed and ten wounded. At other places in the Department of the Mis 
 souri, the same day, a Mexican was killed and scalped, a train was 
 attacked, a teamster killed and forty mules stampeded, and Captain 
 Armes, 10th Cavalry, being separated from his escort, was attacked and 
 chased, but escaped. 
 
 June 6th, near Fort Selden, New Mexico, the Chief Engineer Officer, 
 District of New Mexico, whilst surveying near that post, was attacked 
 and two mules captured. Troops from the post pursued the Indians 
 
31 
 
 who, however, escaped. The same day, near Camp Supply, Indian Ter 
 ritory, an attack on a train was repulsed. The same night Indians again 
 attacked this train and were driven off. They also captured thirteen 
 mules from a citizen train, near the post. Two Indians were wounded. 
 
 June 8th, near Camp Supply, Indian Territory, the United States mail 
 escort was attacked by Indians who were repulsed with a loss of three 
 killed and five wounded; one soldier was wounded. On the same road, a 
 government train guarded by a troop of cavalry, was attacked by 
 Indians who were repulsed after a severe fight, in which three soldiers 
 were wounded. Three Indians were killed and their wounded were esti 
 mated at ten. Between Fort Dodge and Camp Supply, Indian Territory, 
 Troops "F," and " H," 10th Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant Boda- 
 mer, 10th Cavalry, had a fight in which two soldiers and three Indians 
 were wounded. The same day Indians made an attack near Fort 
 McPherson, Nebraska, were pursued by Troop " I," 5th Cavalry, under 
 Lieutenant Thomas and their camp attacked arid destroyed, the Indians 
 escaping. 
 
 June llth, near Bunker Hill Station, Kansas, cavalry couriers carry 
 ing dispatches were attacked arid chased into the station. Near Camp 
 Supply, Indian Territory, Indians attempted to stampede the horses at 
 the cavalry camp. They were pursued by Troops "A," " F," " H," " I," 
 and " K," 10th Cavalry, and Companies " B," " E," and " F," 3d Infantry, 
 commanded by Lieutenant Colonel A. D. Nelson, 3d Infantry, were 
 attacked, six Indians killed and ten wounded. Three soldiers were 
 wounded and two cavalry horses killed. Near Grinnell Station, Kansas, 
 a train escorted by cavalry was attacked by Indians who were repulsed 
 after a fight of three hours; no casualties. 
 
 June 13th, near Grinnell, Kansas, Indians attacked a railroad-working 
 party but were repulsed by a detachment of cavalry; three Indians were 
 killed and ten wounded. 
 
 June 14th, a battalion of 7th Cavalry encountered a band of Indians 
 on the Republican River, Kansas. The advance troop attacked the 
 Indians who, however, escaped with a loss of one pony killed. 
 
 June 15th, near Fort Bascom, New Mexico, Indians plundered a 
 ranch, outraging, killing and scalping a woman, and stealing five horses 
 belonging to the post trader. The Indians were fired upon by the guard, 
 but escaped. 
 
 June 16th, on Mulberry Creek, Kansas, Indians killed three wood 
 choppers, horribly mutilating their bodies. 
 
 June 21st, near Carson, Colorado, Indians attacked a Mexican train 
 and killed five teamsters. Cavalry pursued the next day, but without 
 success. 
 
 June 25th, near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, a detachment of Troop 
 
32 
 
 "I," 2d Cavalry, under Lieutenant C. T. Hall, had a fight with Indians; 
 no details given. 
 
 June 27th, at Pine Grove Meadow, Wyoming, a detachment of Troop 
 "A," 2d Cavalry, under Lieutenant R. H. Young, 4th Infantry, attacked 
 a band of about two hundred Indians in the mountains. One soldier was 
 wounded and fifteen Indians reported killed. The detachment not being 
 strong enough to dislodge the Indians, the latter escaped. 
 
 In August, a detachment of cavalry struck a band of Indians on the 
 Washita River, Indian Territory, killing three and wounding ten Indians. 
 Two soldiers were killed and five wounded. 
 
 October 6th, near Looking Glass Creek, Nebraska, Troop " K," 2d 
 Cavalry, Captain J. Egan, had a fight in which one Indian was killed. 
 
 October 16th, in the Guadaloupe Mountains, New Mexico, Troop " B," 
 8th Cavalry, Captain W. M. McCleave, had a fight in which one Indian 
 was killed and eight captured. 
 
 October 30th, eighteen miles from Fort Stanton, New Mexico, Indians 
 stampeded fifty-nine mules from a train. Cavalry pursued for two hun 
 dred and fifty-five miles, destroyed the Indian village, recovered the 
 mules and captured three squaws. 
 
 November 10th, near Carson, Colorado, Indians stampeded sixty-eight 
 mules from a Mexican train. 
 
 November 18th, Indians attacked Lowell Station, Kansas, and killed 
 one man. 
 
 November , in the Guadaloupe Mountains, New Mexico, a detach 
 ment of Troop "A," 8th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Pendleton Hunter, 
 captured nine Indians. 
 
1871. 
 
 February 17th, near Fort Bayard, New Mexico, Indians raided the 
 ranches, murdered the settlers and ran off stock. Troops pursued the 
 Indians to the mountains, burned their village, destroyed its contents and 
 recovered many of the stolen animals. One soldier was killed and two 
 wounded; of the Indians fourteen were reported killed arid twenty 
 wounded. 
 
 February 26th, near Grinnell, Kansas, Indians attacked a hunter's 
 camp, burned it and ran off the stock. 
 
 March 18th, near Fort Dodge, Kansas, Indians made repeated attacks 
 upon a government train, three men being killed and five Indians 
 wounded in the various attacks. 
 
 April 30th, Apache Indians from Arizona depredated in Colorado and 
 killed, altogether, twenty persons. 
 
 May 2d, Apaches committed depredations near Fort Selden, New 
 Mexico. A troop of cavalry pursu.ed them for two hundred and eighty 
 miles but without success. 
 
 May 3d, near Gimmaron, New Mexico, Indians raided the settlements, 
 killed three persons and ran off about nine hundred and fifty head of 
 stock. Troops pursued, captured twenty-two Indians and recovered 
 seven hundred and fifty-seven head of the stolen animals. 
 
 May llth, Major Price, with a squadron of the 8th Cavalry, pursued a 
 band of marauding Navajoes, in New Mexico, captured two prominent 
 chiefs and recovered a large number of stolen animals. 
 
 May 12th, Indians ran off stock near Red River, Texas. Troops from 
 Fort Sill, Indian Territory, pursued and defeated the Indians who lost 
 three killed and four wounded; no casualties to the troops. 
 
 May 15th, Indians stampeded twenty-two mules from a government 
 train in New Mexico. 
 
 May 17th, Indians attacked a train on Red River, killing seven per 
 sons, wounding one and running qff forty-one mules. Going to Fort Sill, 
 Indian Territory, they publicly avowed the deed in the presence of 
 General Sherman and the post commander, whereupon the leaders, 
 " Satan ta" and " Satank," were arrested and placed in irons. Their fol 
 lowers resisted, when one Indian was killed and one soldier wounded. 
 
 May 24th, on Birdwood Creek, Nebraska, a detachment of 5th Cav 
 alry, under Lieutenant E. M. Hayes, captured six. Indians. 
 
34 
 
 May 29th, in the Department of the Missouri, cavalry pursued a band 
 of Indians and recaptured five hundred stolen animals. 
 
 June 28th, near Larned, Kansas, Indians ran off fourteen horses; near 
 Pawnee Fork, Kansas, they also stole seventy mules. 
 
 July 2d, Fort Larned, Kansas, was attacked by Indians who were 
 repulsed by the garrison; no casualties. 
 
 August 18th, Indians killed a settler and ran off his stock, twelve 
 miles from Fort Stanton, New Mexico. Troops pursued, but without 
 success. 
 
 September 19th, a small detachment of troops was attacked by Indians 
 near Red River, Indian Territory. One soldier was wounded, two 
 Indians killed and three wounded. 
 
 September 22d, near Fort Sill, Indian Territory, Indians killed two 
 citizen herders and ran off about fifteen head of stock. 
 
8 7 2. 
 
 February 9th, on the North Concho River, Texas, Indians attacked a 
 detachment of three men belonging to Troop "B," 4th Cavalry, com 
 manded by Captain Rendlebrock, but no casualties were reported. 
 
 March 27th, near Fort Concho, Texas, a detachment of Troop " I," 
 4th Cavalry, under Sergeant Wilson, were attacked by Indians of whom 
 two were killed, three wounded and one captured, together with nineteen 
 horses. 
 
 March 28th, a band of Indian and Mexican thieves were attacked by 
 a detachment of cavalry near Fort Conoho, Texas; two Indians were 
 killed, three wounded and one captured. 
 
 April 20th, Troops " A," and H," 9th Cavalry, under Captain M. 
 Cooney, 9th Cavalry, attacked a band of hostile Indians near Howard's 
 Wells, Texas, killing six Indians. Lieutenant F. R. Vincent, 9th Cavalry, 
 was mortally wounded. 
 
 April 21st, Troop " C," 4th Cavalry, Captain J. A. Wilcox, were 
 attacked by Indians in Texas and lost fourteen horses and two mules. 
 
 April 26th, Troop " B," 3d Cavalry, Captain C. Meinhold, attacked a 
 war party of Indians on South Fork of Loup River, Nebraska, killing 
 three Indians. 
 
 May 6th, at Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, a small detachment of 
 Troops " E," and " K," 8th Cavalry, under Lieutenant J. D. Stevenson, 
 were attacked by a band of Ute Indians, one soldier being killed and one 
 wounded, the Indians losing one killed and one wounded. 
 
 May 12th, between Big and Little Wichita Rivers, Texas, a detach 
 ment of the 4th Cavalry, under Captain J. A. Wilcox attacked a band of 
 Kiowas, killing two Indians; one soldier was wounded. 
 
 May 19th, twenty-five miles from Fort Belknap, Texas, Kiowas 
 attacked a party of citizens, killing one of them; two Indians were killed 
 and two wounded. 
 
 May 20th, a detachment of the 9th Cavalry and eight Indian scouts, 
 under Lieutenant G. Valois, 9th Cavalry, attacked a small band of Kick- 
 apoos on La Pendencia, Texas. 
 
 May 22d, between Fort Dodge, Kansas, and Fort Supply, Indian Ter 
 ritory, a detachment of Troop " E," 6th Cavalry, acting as couriers, had 
 one man killed and one wounded by Indians. 
 
 May 23d, on Lost Creek, Texas, a detachment of the 4th Cavalry 
 
36 
 
 under Captain E. M. Heyl, were attacked by Comanches ;md had one 
 man and one horse killed. 
 
 June 15th, a detachment of Company " H," llth Infantry, under Cor 
 poral Rickey, killed two Indians in a fight which occurred at Johnson's 
 Station, Texas. 
 
 August 14th, near Pryor's Fork, Montana, a column consisting of 
 Troops F," " G," " H," and " L," 2d Cavalry and Companies " C," " E," 
 " G," and " I," 7th Infantry, commanded by Major E. M. Baker, 2d Caval 
 ry, were attacked by several hundred Sioux and Cheyennes. One soldier 
 was killed and one citizen and three soldiers were wounded; two Indians 
 were killed and ten wounded, most of them mortally. 
 
 August 15th, on Palo Duro Creek, New Mexico, Troop " B," 8th Cav 
 alry, Captain W. M. McCleave, was attacked by a war party of Indians; 
 one soldier was wounded and four Indians killed and eight wounded. 
 
 August 16th, near Yellowstone River, Montana, an expedition com 
 manded by Colonel D. S. Stanley, 22d Infantry, was attacked by a large 
 body of Indians. 
 
 August 17th, on the Yellowstone River, Montana, one man of Troop 
 "L," 2d Cavalry, Captain L. Thompson commanding, was reported 
 wounded by Indians. 
 
 August 18th, at mouth of Powder River, Montana, Companies " D," 
 "F," and " G," 22d- Infantry, Colonel D. S. Stanley commanding, had a 
 fight with Indians and again on August 21st and 22d, on O'Fallon's 
 Creek, Montana. 
 
 August 26th, a war party of about one hundred and twenty-five Sioux 
 attacked a detachment of one Sergeant and six privates of the 6th Infan 
 try and two Ree scouts, twelve miles from Fort McKeen, (afterwards 
 known as Fort A. Lincoln,) Dakota; the two Ree scouts were killed. 
 
 September , Troop "B," 2d Cavalry, Lieutenant Randolph Nor 
 wood, attacked a war party of Indians between Beaver Creek and Sweet- 
 water, Wyoming, killing one Indian. 
 
 September 19th, a detachment of one Sergeant and seven men, 4th 
 Cavalry and two Tonkawa scouts attacked about fifty Comanche Indians 
 in Jones County, Texas, killing one Mexican thief and recapturing eleven 
 stolen horses. 
 
 September 29th, Colonel R. S, Mackenzie, with Troops "A," " D," 
 ic jy " i ? " an d "L," 4th Cavalry, attacked a village of about two hundred 
 lodges of Comanches near north Fork of Red River, Texas, destroyed the 
 same with its contents, killed twenty-three warriors and captured between 
 one hundred and twenty and one hundred and thirty prisoners. One 
 enlisted man was killed and three wounded, together with a number of 
 cavalry horses killed and wounded. A large number of horses and mules 
 were captured from the Indians. 
 
37 
 
 October 2d, about three hundred Sioux attacked Fort McKeen, (Fort 
 A. Lincoln,) Dakota, wounding one and killing three Ree scouts. 
 
 October 3d, in Jones County, Texas, a detachment of Tonkawa 
 scouts made an attack upon a camp of Comanches; no details given. 
 
 October 3d and 4th, near Heart River, Dakota, Lieutenant E. Crosby, 
 17th Infantry, Lieutenant L. D. Adair, 22d Infantry and one civilian 
 whilst hunting were attacked and killed by Sioux Indians. 
 
 October 14th, Fort McKeen, (Fort A. Lincoln,) Dakota, was again 
 attacked by a large body of Sioux. Troops from the garrison, consisting 
 of one company 6th Infantry and eight Ree scouts attacked the Indians, 
 killing three of them and losing two enlisted men killed. 
 
 December 6th, near the Rio Grande, Texas, Sergeant Bruce and six 
 men, 9th Cavalry, attacked a band of Mexican cattle thieves and recap 
 tured fifty-nine head of stolen cattle. 
 
 During the year 1872, no general Indian war took place in the Divi 
 sion, but the number of murders and. depredations committed by small 
 war parties in various places was greater than during the preceding year. 
 The line of frontier settlements had steadily advanced during the year, 
 especially in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Dakota, gradually absorb 
 ing the country which only a year or two before was in the possession of 
 the Indians, and the trans-continental railway lines were progressing 
 rapidly westward through the Division. The Northern Pacific Railroad 
 had reached the Missouri River about the close of the year, the actual 
 surveys and locations for the roadway being made as far west as the 
 mouth of the Powder River, two hundred miles beyond the Missouri. 
 The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was extended as far west 
 as Fort Dodge, Kansas, in its progress up the valley of the Arkansas, 
 while surveying parties for the Southern Pacific Railway were engaged 
 in locating the line of that road in both directions from the vicinity of 
 El Paso. For the protection of the surveyors and the construction par 
 ties upon all these lines, a considerable force of troops was necessary as 
 escorts, and minor engagements between Indians and these small detach 
 ments were of repeated occurrence. The guarding of the Rio Grande 
 frontier against the incursions of border thieves consisting of Mexicans, 
 half-breeds and Indians, also furnished occasion for considerable activity 
 on the part of the troops in that portion of the Division, involving con 
 stant watchfulness and much patient endurance. 
 
873. 
 
 During the year 1873, the depredations of raiding parties of Mexican 
 thieves, Indians and half-breeds in the vicinity of the Rio Grande con 
 tinued, as did also the attacks by Indians upon the military posts and 
 field escort detachments guarding the surveying and construction parties 
 engaged upon the lines of railway. 
 
 April 30th, Lieutenant Harmon, with eleven men of the 10th Cavalry, 
 attacked a band of Mexican thieves about seven miles south east of Fort 
 Sill, Indian Territory, and recaptured thirty-six horses. 
 
 May 7th, about one hundred Sioux attacked the post of Fort A. Lin 
 coln, Dakota, (previously known as Fort McKeen,) garrisoned by Com 
 panies " B," and u C," 6th Infantry and Company " H," 17th Infantry, 
 commanded by Lieutenant Colonel W. P. Carlin, 17th Infantry. The 
 Indians were driven off with a loss of one killed and three wounded. 
 
 May 18th, Colonel R. S. MacKenzie, 4th Cavalry, with Troops "A," 
 " B," " C," " E," " I," and " M," of -his regiment and a detachment of 
 Seminole scouts under Lieutenant Bullis, 24th Infantry, attacked and 
 destroyed a village of fifty or sixty lodges of Kickapoos and Lipan 
 Indians near Remolina, Mexico, killing nineteen Indians, taking forty 
 prisoners and capturing fifty-six horses. The column marched at a trot 
 or a gallop a distance of seventy -five miles, between one o'clock in the 
 afternoon of the previous day and six o'clock in the morning of the day 
 of the attack, in order to reach and surprise this village whose location 
 had been reported. The pack train of supplies was dropped during this 
 rapid march and for two days the troops were without other rations than 
 a few crackers carried in their pockets. Amonqr the prisoners taken was 
 Costilietos, the principal chief of the Lipans. 
 
 June 15th and 17th, Sioux Indians again made two separate attacks 
 upon the post of Fort A. Lincoln, Dakota. The garrison, constituted as 
 before described under Lieutenant Colonel Carlin, 17th Infantry, repulsed 
 the attack, one Ree scout being wounded, three Sioux killed and eight 
 wounded. 
 
 July 12th, on Live Oak Creek, Indian Territory, Troop " L," 4th Cav 
 alry, Captain T. J. Wint commanding, attacked a war party of Indians. 
 
 July 13th, near Canada Alamosa, New Mexico, a detachment of Troop 
 " C," 8th Cavalry, commanded by Captain C. W. Chilson, from Fort 
 McRae, New Mexico, had a fight with a band of Indians, one soldier 
 
40 
 
 being wounded and three Indians killed; twelve horses and one mule 
 stolen by the Indians were recaptured. 
 
 So bold and frequent had been the Indian attacks upon the military 
 posts and the escorts to working parties on the railroads, in the Depart 
 ment of Dakota, that an additional regiment of cavalry, the 7th, was 
 transferred to that Department from the Military Division of the South, 
 for the purpose of following and punishing these Indians if they con 
 tinued their attacks. An expedition was organized under Colonel D. S. 
 Stanley, 22d Infantry, and a supply depot established near Glendive 
 Creek where it empties into the Yellowstone, the point at which it was 
 expected the surveying parties of the Northern Pacific Railway would 
 run their line across the river. The troops comprising the " Yellowstone 
 Expedition" left Forts Rice and A. Lincoln, about the middle of June, 
 returning to their stations in September after accomplishing the purposes 
 intended, having had several engagements with the hostiles during this 
 period. 
 
 August 4th, Troops "A," and " B," 7th Cavalry, in advance, com 
 manded by Captain M. Moylan, had a fight with Indians near Tongue 
 River, Dakota, one soldier being reported missing in action and doubtless 
 killed. Later in the same day the main column of the 7th Cavalry, com 
 manded by Lieutenant Colonel G. A. Custer, were attacked by several 
 hundred Sioux on the Yellowstone River, Montana; four enlisted men 
 were reported killed and Lieutenant C. Braden, 7th Cavalry, and three 
 enlisted men wounded. 
 
 August llth, the column of ten troops, 7th Cavalry, commanded by 
 Lieutenant Colonel G. A. Custer, were again attacked by a large body of 
 Sioux, on the Yellowstone River, Montana; four Indians were reported 
 killed and twelve wounded. 
 
 August 31st, near Pease River, Texas, Troops " E," and " I," 10th 
 Cavalry, Captain T. A. Baldwin, were attacked by a war party of Indians; 
 one Indian was wounded. 
 
 September 30th, the same troops under Captain Baldwin attacked a 
 band of hostiles at Mesquit Flats, Texas, recapturing nine stolen horses. 
 
 September 18th, Troops " K," and " E," 3d Cavalry, Captain J. Egan 
 commanding, attacked a war party of Sioux Indians on the north Laramie 
 River, capturing eighteen horses and mules. 
 
 September , Troop " H," 8th Cavalry, Lieutenant H. J. Farnsworth, 
 had a fight with Indians at Sierra San Mateo, New Mexico, killing two 
 Indians. 
 
 October 1st, in the Guadaloupe Mountains, New Mexico, Troop " C," 
 8th Cavalry, Captain G. W. Chilson, had a fight with Indians, killing 
 three of them and wounding one. The same day, at Central Station, 
 Texas, Sergeant Mew, with a detachment of Company " K," 25th Infan 
 try, had a fight with Indians. At Camp Colorado, Texas, a detachment 
 
41 
 
 consisting of a Sergeant and thirteen men were attacked by a party of 
 Comanches, one Indian being wounded. 
 
 October 25th, Lieutenant .1. B. Kerr and twenty-five men of the 6th 
 Cavalry attacked and captured a party of eight cattle thieves near Little 
 Cabin Creek, Texas. Seventy horses and two hundred head of cattle 
 stolen by the thieves were recaptured by the detachment. 
 
 December 5th, Lieutenant E. S. Turner with a detachment of the 10th 
 Cavalry assisting a Sheriff, overtook a band of twenty cattle thieves on 
 Elm Creek, Texas, killed four of the thieves, captured sixteen of them 
 and recovered about one thousand head of stolen cattle. 
 
 December 9th, Troop " B," 4th Cavalry, Lieutenant C. S. Hudson, 
 had a fight with Indians on the west Fork of the Nueces River, Texas. 
 
 December 10th. near Kickapoo Springs, Texas, a detachment of forty- 
 one men of the 4th Cavalry and nine Seminole scouts, commanded by 
 Lieutenant C. L. Hudson, attacked a war party of Indians killing nine, 
 wounding several and recapturing eighty-one stolen horses; one soldier 
 was wounded. 
 
 December 27th, Corporal Wright, with a detachment of the 25th 
 Infantry, had a fight with Indians on Deep Red Creek, Indian Territory; 
 one Indian was wounded. 
 
 December 31st, a detachment of a Sergeant and three privates, Com 
 pany " B," 25th Infantry, were attacked by about fifteen Indians at 
 Eagle Springs, Texas; one Indian was wounded. 
 
1874. 
 
 During the year 1874 the northern portion of the Division, the Depart 
 ment of Dakota, enjoyed comparative quiet. In that department were 
 located the majority of the hostile bands of Sioux, some of them on reser 
 vations along the Missouri River, some on Milk River farther north near 
 the British boundary and others roaming over the valleys of the Big 
 Horn, Yellowstone and Powder Rivers, occasionally coming into Red 
 Cloud's or Spotted Tail's Agencies to draw rations and other supplies. 
 Occasionally they made a dash about Fort Lincoln to steal stock, or a 
 raid into Montana, with attacks once in a while upon weak bands of 
 friendly Indians, such as the Mandans and Rees. This condition of 
 affairs was possibly owing to the limited extent of exposed frontier in the 
 Department of Dakota, which compelled the Indians there to seek for 
 plunder and scalps in the Department of the Platte, south of them, where 
 the frontier settlements were much more progressed and exposed. 
 
 In order to better control the Indians making these raids, for two or 
 three years it was recommended to establish a large military post in the 
 country known as the Black Hills, so that by holding an interior point in 
 the heart of the Indian country, the troops could threaten the villages 
 and stock of the Indians if the latter raided the settlements. With the 
 consent of the President, the Honorable Secretary of War, the General 
 of the Army and the Honorable Secretary of the Interior, the latter hav 
 ing exclusive control of Indian affairs, the Division Commander was 
 authorized to make a military reconnoissance into the country about which 
 only dreamy stories had hitherto been told. Fort Laramie, Wyoming, 
 about one hundred miles from the Black Hills, was first selected as the 
 point from which to fit out the expedition, but after two visits in person 
 to that post, the Division Commander found the temper of the Indians in 
 that vicinity such that an expedition from there would probably provoke 
 hostilities, so attention was turned to Fort A. Lincoln, at the end of the 
 Northern Pacific Railroad, as the next most suitable point of departure, 
 though the distance was much greater than from Fort Laramie. General 
 Terry was directed to organize a strong expedition and place it under 
 the command of Lieutenant Colonel G. A. Custer, 7th Cavalry, who was 
 regarded as especially fitted for such an undertaking. The reconnoissance 
 was eminently successful, the country of the Black Hills was found to 
 contain plenty of fine timber, considerable good soil and an abundance of 
 
44 
 
 water and grass. Gold was also discovered by the expedition, leading to 
 a subsequent rush of miners and others who were with difficulty restrained 
 from a general invasion of the Black Hills country. ' Upon the very satis 
 factory reports of this reconnoissance, the recommendation for the estab 
 lishment of a large military post in that section was earnestly renewed, 
 but unfortunately for the subsequent history of Indian affairs, the con 
 struction of a post was not authorized until several years later, when 
 disasters had occurred which might have been averted by that greater 
 familiarity with the country which would have been acquired by the 
 troops intended to be stationed there. 
 
 February 5th, Lieutenant Colonel G. P. Buell, llth Infantry, with 
 Troops "G," and " D," 10th Cavalry, Company " F," llth Infantry, and 
 detachments of Companies "A," and " G," llth Infantry, attacked a camp 
 of Comanches on Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River, Texas, 
 killed eleven Indians and captured sixty-five horses. One enlisted man 
 was wounded in the fight. 
 
 February 9th, Lieutenant L. H. Robinson, 14th Infantry, with Cor 
 poral Collins, while in charge of a lumber train returning from the gov 
 ernment saw-mill near Laramie Peak, Wyoming, were wantonly murdered 
 by Indians. This seemed to be the signal for other depredations and for 
 the commencement of great trouble at Red Cloud's and Spotted Tail's 
 Agencies, located one hundred and twenty and one hundred and fifty 
 miles, respectively, north east of Fort Laramie. At the request of the 
 Interior Department and at great suffering and exposure, troops had to 
 be sent in the dead of winter for the protection of the Indian Agents and 
 their employes at these agencies. Upon the arrival of the troops the 
 hostile bands withdrew from the agencies, leaving the peacefully inclined 
 to remain under the protection of the soldiers, the hostiles fleeing north 
 west towards the Powder River and Big Horn valleys, sending out young 
 warriors to steal stock and scalp people, whenever they could get a 
 chance to do so without much danger to themselves. The acts of these 
 bands seemed to fire the blood of the Northern Cheyennes and Arapa- 
 hoes, two bands at that time affiliated with the Indians belonging to Red 
 Cloud's Agency; they usually made their homes at "Pumpkin Butte," 
 near the Powder River, or further west in the valley of the Big Horn, 
 where the Wind River breaks through the Big Horn range of mountains. 
 From this last named point they commenced a series of raids upon the 
 friendly Shoshones near Camp Brown, (Fort Washakie,) in the Wind 
 River country, stealing stock, also, from the settlers in the valleys of the 
 Big and Little Popoagie Rivers. 
 
 Up to the month of June, Indian attacks in the Departments of the 
 Missouri and of Texas were infrequent. 
 
 May 2d, between Red River and the Big Wichita, Texas, a detach- 
 
45 
 
 merit under command of Lieutenant Gilmore, 10th Cavalry, attacked a 
 war party of Indians, but there were no casualties. 
 
 May 18th, Captain Bentzoni, 25th Infantry, with a detachment attacked 
 a war party of Indians in western Texas; no casualties. 
 
 June 21st, Major C. C. Compton, 6th Cavalry, with a small escort of 
 troops proceeding from Camp Supply, Indian Territory, to Fort Dodge, 
 Kansas, were attacked by Indians on Buffalo Creek, Indian Territory, 
 one enlisted man and one citizen being wounded. The same party were 
 again attacked, 
 
 June 24th, at Bear Creek redoubt, Indian Territory, but the Indians 
 were repulsed with a loss of four killed and several wounded. 
 
 Immediately following these attacks many horrible massacres occurred, 
 perpetrated principally by Southern Cheyennes, assisted by Kiowas and 
 Comanches, culminating in a general and determined attack upon some 
 buffalo hunters who had a ranch on the main Canadian River, at Adobe 
 Walls, located in what is known as the "Pan Handle" of Texas. The 
 attack and defense at this place were desperate, lasting for several days, 
 when the Indians withdrew with a heavy loss of life on their side. 
 
 Before this attack, however, the Agent of the Arapahoes and South 
 ern Cheyennes had been compelled to abandon his post and many lives 
 were lost in the vicinity of the agency, now known as Fort Reno. Small 
 parties of hostiles had also made their appearance along the frontier line 
 of settlements in southern Kansas and south eastern Colorado. 
 
 To break up a rendezvous of the Northern Cheyennes and Arapahoes, 
 discovered about ninety miles from Camp Brown, Wyoming, Captain A. 
 E. Bates with Troop " B," 2d Cavalry and about one hundred and sixty 
 friendly Shoshones, made a rapid march from that post and on 
 
 July 4th, after a gallant fight, completely defeated the hostiles near 
 Bad Water branch of the Wind River, in Wyoming. Twenty-six Indians 
 were killed, over twenty wounded and two hundred and thirty ponies 
 captured. The troops had four killed and six wounded, among the latter 
 being Lieutenant R. H. Young, 4th Infantry. After this punishment 
 these two bands of Northern Cheyennes and Arapahoes moved to Pump 
 kin Butte and sent a delegation to Fort Fetterman, asking, with much 
 bluster, whether the troops wanted war. The reply was " Yes," and that 
 they would kill as many Indians as possible, unless the latter stopped 
 their depredations and came into their agency. This the hostiles gen 
 erally concluded to do and lost no time in coming in. Small parties of 
 Sioux remained out, however, plundering and killing a number of per 
 sons, until a small column of troops could be sent against them, when 
 they disappeared. Numerous raids were also made upon the settlements 
 in the north eastern part of Nebraska and upon the friendly Ponca 
 Indians located in that vicinity, but the loss of life was very small, 
 the Indians capturing, however, a large amount of stock. 
 
46 
 
 July 13th, Captain Bates with Troop "B," 2d Cavalry, struck a war 
 party of Indians near the Sweetwater, Wyoming, killed one Indian and 
 captured seven horses. 
 
 July 20th, in Palo Pinto County, Texas, a detachment of two officers, 
 nine men and nine Tonkawa scouts under command of Lieutenant Colo 
 nel G. P. Buell, llth Infantry, attacked a war party of Indians and cap 
 tured one horse. 
 
 The Southern Cheyennes, Kiowas, Arapahoes and other bands in the 
 Indian Territory, having inaugurated in June a series of attacks upon the 
 settlers, as before described, had been in the habit of escaping pursuit and 
 punishment, by flying into their agencies. On the 21st of July authority 
 was received through the War Department, from the Department of the 
 Interior, to punish these Indians wherever they might be found, even to 
 following them upon their reservations set apart for them in the Indian 
 Territory. General Pope, commanding the Department of the Missouri, 
 was directed to push his troops into the field and carry out these condi 
 tions as far as practicable. Several columns were accordingly started 
 out in the Indian Territory with the object of finding and punishing the 
 bands which had been committing atrocities in the Department of the 
 Missouri. Among the earliest of the engagements which took place 
 under the special authority to pursue Indians taking refuge upon reser 
 vations, was that which occurred 
 
 August 22d, at the Wichita Agency, Indian Territory, when Troops 
 "E," "H," and "L," 10th Cavalry and Company "I," 25th Infantry, 
 under command of Lieutenant Colonel J. W. Davidson, 10th Cavalry, 
 from Fort Sill, Indian Territory, had a severe fight with a band of hostile 
 Comanches and Kiowas who had taken refuge with the friendly Indians 
 located at the Wichita Agency. Four enlisted men were wounded and 
 the Indians lost sixteen in killed and wounded. The hostiles attempted 
 to burn out the agency and the camps of the friendly Indians, in which 
 the troops were posted, but were defeated in their designs. 
 
 A column consisting of eight troops of the 6th Cavalry and four com 
 panies 5th Infantry, with a section of artillery, commanded by Colonel 
 N. A. Miles, 5th Infantry, was also advanced against the Indians from 
 Camp Supply, Indian Territory, via the Antelope Hills. Another column, 
 consisting of three troops of the 8th Cavalry and a couple of mountain 
 howitzers, under Major W. R. Price, 8th Cavalry, from Forts Bascom and 
 Union, New Mexico, moved down the main Canadian to join "Colonel 
 Miles at or near the Antelope Hills. 
 
 August 30th, the column of Colonel Miles encountered the Indians 
 near the headwaters of the Washita and kept up a running fight for sev 
 eral days, the Indians steadily falling back until they reached the hills, 
 about eight miles from Salt Fork of Red River, where they made a stand 
 but were promptly attacked, routed and pursued in a south westerly direc- 
 
47 
 
 tion, across the main Red River and out into the Staked Plains, with a 
 loss of three killed, besides animals and camp equipage captured. The 
 troops had one soldier and one civilian wounded. 
 
 September 9th, Indians attacked Colonel Miles' supply train, escorted 
 by about sixty men, commanded by Captain Lyman, 5th Infantry, on the 
 Washita River, Texas, keeping it corraled there for several days until 
 relief arrived from Camp Supply, Indian Territory. One enlisted man 
 was killed, one soldier, a wagon-master and Lieutenant G. Lewis, 5th 
 Infantry, were wounded. 
 
 September llth and 12th, near the Washita River, a detachment of 
 two scouts and four soldiers from Colonel Miles' command, in endeavor 
 ing to communicate with that of Major Price, were attacked by Indians 
 and four of the six wounded, one of the wounded dying in a hole in 
 which the party desperately defended themselves for two days until 
 relieved by troops in that vicinity. 
 
 September 12th, the column under command of Major Price, 8th Cav 
 alry, had a fight with a considerable body of Indians between Sweetwater 
 and the Dry Fork of the Washita, Texas. Two Indians were reported 
 killed and six wounded; the troops had fourteen horses killed and 
 wounded. The column pursued the Indians for seven or eight miles 
 when the hostiles scattered in every direction; about twenty Indian 
 ponies were captured in the pursuit. 
 
 September 26th and 27th, Colonel R. S. MacKenzie. with Troops "A," 
 "D," "E," "F," "H," "I," and " K," 4th Cavalry, after repelling two 
 Indian attacks, surprised five camps of Southern Cheyennes and their 
 allies in a canon near Red River, Texas, destroyed over one hundred 
 lodges and captured their entire outfit including over fourteen hundred 
 horses and mules. One enlisted man was wounded and four Indians 
 killed. 
 
 October 9th, on Salt Fork of Red River, Texas, the scouts of a column 
 consisting of Companies "A," "E," " F," " H," and "I," llth Infantry, 
 under Lieutenant Colonel Buell, llth Infantry, struck a band of Kiowas, 
 killed one of them and destroyed their camp. Pursuit was made for a 
 considerable distance, the main column destroying several hundred lodges 
 in various abandoned camps, but the Indians escaped northward. 
 
 October 13th, near Gageby Creek, Indian Territory, a detachment of 
 Navajoe scouts accompanying the column under Major Price, 8th Cav 
 alry, from New Mexico, attacked and dispersed a war party of Indians. 
 
 October ] 7th, about five miles north of the Washita, Indian Territory, 
 Captain Chaffee with " I" Troop, 6th Cavalry, surprised an Indian camp 
 and destroyed their entire outfit, the Indians escaping in great haste; no 
 casualties occurred. 
 
 An expedition having been fitted out from Fort Sill, Indian Territory, 
 under command of Lieutenant Colonel .1. W. Davidson, 10th Cavalry, 
 
48 
 
 October 24th, upon Elk Creek, Indian Territory, Major G. W. Scho- 
 field with his command of three troops of the 10th Cavalry, from General 
 Davidson's column, surprised a Comanche Indian camp and charged it. 
 The hostiles displayed a white flag and surrendered themselves as prison 
 ers; sixty-nine warriors, besides two hundred and fifty women and chil 
 dren, together with about fifteen hundred to two thousand horses were 
 captured. The same day Captain Carpenter with two troops of the 10th 
 Cavalry, from General Davidson's column, struck the trail of a band of 
 about fifty Kiowas with two hundred head of stock. The Indians were 
 pursued rapidly but scattered to escape capture, and on 
 
 October 28th, over twenty warriors with their women, children and 
 stock, surrendered themselves at Fort Sill, Indian Territory. General 
 Davidson's expedition altogether captured or caused the surrender of 
 ninety-one warriors and three hundred women and children, with about 
 two thousand ponies, besides -capturing or destroying several villages and 
 much camp equipage. 
 
 October , Captain A. E. Hooker with Troops "E," and " K," 9th 
 Cavalry, had a fight near the Canadian River, in the Pan Handle of 
 Texas, killing one Indian. 
 
 November 3d, Colonel R. S. Mackenzie with Troops "A," " D," " E," 
 "F," "H," "I," "K," and " L," 4th Cavalry, had a fight with Indians on 
 Las Lagunas Quatro, Texas, killing two Indians and capturing nineteen. 
 
 November 6th, on McClellan Creek, Texas, Lieutenant H. J. Farns- 
 worth with twenty-eight men of Troop " H," 8th Cavalry, had a fight with 
 about one hundred Southern Cheyennes, killing from four to seven and 
 wounding ten Indians; one enlisted man was killed, four wounded and 
 six cavalry horses killed. 
 
 November 8th, near McClellan Creek, Texas, Lieutenant F. D. Bald 
 win, 5th Infantry, with a detachment consisting of Troop " D," Gth Cav 
 alry and Company " D," 5th Infantry, attacked a large camp of Indians, 
 routing them with the loss of much of their property. Two little white 
 girls, Adelaide and Julia Germaine, aged five and seven years, were 
 rescued from these Indians. The children stated that two older sisters 
 were still held captive by the Indians. The story of their woe and suffer 
 ing in captivity was pitiable in the extreme, not even their tender years 
 sparing them from the most dreadful treatment. Their father, mother, 
 brother and one sister were all murdered at the time the four sisters were 
 captured. At the close of this campaign the other two sisters were 
 rescued from the Indians and all four provided a comfortable, home with 
 the Army at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. General Miles became their 
 guardian and Congress authorized the stoppage of an amount for the sup 
 port of the children from the annuities of their captors, the Southern 
 Cheyennes. 
 
 November 8th, Troops B," "C," " F," and "H," 10th Cavalry, 
 
49 
 
 detachments Companies " E," and " I," llth Infantry and thirty Indian 
 scouts, all under command of Captain C. D. Viele, 10th Cavalry, were 
 detached from Colonel Davidson's column near McClellan Creek, Texas, 
 to pursue the band attacked by Lieutenant Baldwin the same day. Cap 
 tain Viele's command chased the Indians for a distance of ninety-six 
 miles, having several slight skirmishes with the rear guard of Indians and 
 capturing a number of ponies and mules, the latter packed, which the 
 Indians had abandoned in the flight. 
 
 November 28th, Captain C. A. Hartwell with Troops " C," H," " K," 
 and " L," 8th Cavalry, attacked a war party of Southern Cheyennes near 
 Muster Creek, Texas, killed two Indians, wounded two and chased the 
 band for twelve miles until sundown. 
 
 December 2d, First Sergeant Dennis Ryan with twenty men of 
 Troop " I," 6th Cavalry, discovered a band of Indians on Gageby Creek, 
 Indian Territory, attacked and chased them for ten miles, killing and 
 capturing from them fifty ponies, some of which were "packed or saddled. 
 The detachment also destroyed a large amount of Indian property. 
 
 December 7th, Captain A. B. Keyes with Troop " I," 10th Cavalry, 
 attacked a band of Southern Cheyennes on Kingfisher Creek, Texas, cap 
 turing thirteen warriors and the same number of squaws. 
 
 December 8th, Lieutenant L. Warrington, with ten men of Troop " I," 
 4th Cavalry, attacked a party of about fifteen Indians on Muchaque, 
 Texas, killed two Indians, wounded one and captured one. 
 
 December 28th, Troop " I," 10th Cavalry, Captain A. B. Keyes fol 
 lowed a band of Cheyennes for eighty miles to the North Fork of the 
 Canadian River, and captured the entire band consisting of fifty-two 
 Indians with seventy ponies. 
 
875. 
 
 The military operations against the bands in the Indian Territory, 
 described during the last half of the year 1874, were continued during 
 the winter of that year and well into the spring of 1875. The force 
 brought from New Mexico under Major Price, 8th Cavalry, was consoli 
 dated with that under Colonel Miles, and the whole expedition from the 
 Department of the Missouri fell under the immediate command of the 
 latter during the rest of the field operations. It consisted of eight troops 
 of the 6th Cavalry under Majors Compton and Biddle, four troops of the 
 8th Cavalry under Major Price, and four companies of the 5th Infantry. 
 From July 21st, 1874, to February 12th, 1875, the whole, of this force was 
 actively and incessantly employed in scouting the entire section infested 
 by the Indian Territory bands keeping the Indians so constantly on the 
 move that they were unable to lay in any stock of provisions. This 
 active work was continued by the troops upon the exposed and barren 
 plains of that region, during the whole of a winter of unprecedented 
 severity and as the season advanced the difficulty of supplying the neces 
 sary-forage and subsistence increased so that no little hardship and pri 
 vation resulted, but the troops bore everything with fortitude and courage 
 and without complaint. By extraordinary efforts enough supplies 
 reached the troops to keep them in the field until their work was done 
 and at length early in March, 1875, the Southern Cheyennes, completely 
 broken down, gave up the contest arid under their principal chief, Stone 
 Calf, the whole body of that tribe, with a trifling exception, surrendered 
 themselves as prisoners of war, restoring at the same time the two elder 
 Germaine girls who had been captives among them for nearly eight 
 months. In surrendering, the Indians gave up their horses, which were 
 sold, and witlT the proceeds were purchased herds of young beef cattle 
 for the pastoral education of the Indians. Although the conditions of 
 surrender required the Indians to deliver up their arms, only some 
 guns and a large quantity of bows and arrows were turned in, the greater 
 part of their more valuable fire-arms being hidden away where no search 
 by the troops would be likely to find them. 
 
 During the winter the Kiowas and Comanches, against whom the 
 expeditions in the Department of Texas, under Colonels Mackenzie, 
 Davidson and Buell had been compaigning with the most commendable 
 energy, in co-operation with the column under Colonel Miles, went into 
 Fort Sill, first in small parties and then in larger numbers, surrendering 
 
52 
 
 there in like manner. By the month of June, 1875, the last of the bands 
 absent from their agencies, the Quehada Comanches, came into Fort Sill, 
 Indian Territory, where they surrendered themselves with large numbers 
 of ponies and mules, to Colonel R. S. Mackenzie commanding at that 
 post. 
 
 Orders were received, when the Indians began to surrender, to select 
 from among them the principal ringleaders who had incited or led bands 
 of hostiles in the recent outrages, to be sent to the sea coast and there be 
 kept in confinement for a time at least. Seventy-five men were accord 
 ingly picked out from the several tribes and were sent to St. Augustine, 
 Florida. On April 6th, whilst shackling " Black Horse," one of the Chey- 
 ennes who were thus to be disposed of, he broke from the guard and ran 
 directly towards the camp of his people. He was "pursued by Captain 
 Bennett, 5th Infantry, with the guard, who fired upon and killed " Black 
 Horse" whose escape seemed certain without this alternative. The shots 
 being in the direction of the Indian camp, several passed beyond the 
 escaping prisoner and wounded some persons there. After a volley of 
 bullets and arrows upon the guard, in the greatest excitement, about one 
 half of the Cheyenne tribe fled to the sand hills on the south side of the 
 Canadian, opposite the agency. The troops, consisting of Captain Ben 
 nett's company of the 5th Infantry, with two troops of the 10th and one 
 of the 6th Cavalry, all under command of Lieutenant Colonel T. H. Neill, 
 6th Cavalry followed, but the Indians, well supplied with the fire-arms 
 they had hidden in that vicinity, occupied a difficult hill and maintained 
 themselves against the troops for several hours until nightfall. By night 
 the troops had forced their way nearly to the crest of the hill occupied 
 by the Indians, but at daylight it was found the enemy had fled during 
 the night. Eleven Indians were found dead and nineteen soldiers were 
 wounded. Troops from other posts in the vicinity were ordered to assist 
 in the pursuit, and eventually most of the escaped Cheyennes gave them 
 selves up. 
 
 January 16th, a detachment of troops under Lieutenant F: S. Hinkle, 
 5th Infantry, after a short chase captured a party of four Cheyennes near 
 the Smoky Hill River, Kansas, south east of Fort Wallace. 
 
 January 26th, Colonel Edward Hatch, 9th Cavalry, reported an attack 
 by about from twenty to forty cattle thieves, upon a detachment consist 
 ing of a Corporal and four men of Troop " G," 9th Cavalry, eighteen 
 miles from Ringgold Barracks, Texas, two of the soldiers being killed. 
 Colonel Hatch, with Troops " B," and " G," 9th Cavalry, captured a num 
 ber of suspicious characters, two of whom were wounded in the attack 
 upon the detachment. A coroner's jury found nine Mexicans, seven of 
 whom were among Colonel Hatch's prisoners, guilty of the murder of the 
 soldiers. 
 
 February 23d, Lieutenant Colonel J. W. Davidson, 10th Cavalry, 
 
53 
 
 reported the capture of a band of Kiowas on Salt Fork of Red River, 
 Texas. The prisoners consisted of sixty-five men and one hundred and 
 seventy-five women and children, with about three hundred ponies and 
 seventy mules which were also captured. Among the prisoners were 
 " Lone Wolf," " Red Otter" and " Lean Bull ;" all surrendered uncondi 
 tionally with their arms and ponies. 
 
 April 6th, at the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Agency (now known as 
 Fort Reno, Indian Territory,) took place the outbreak of the Cheyenne 
 prisoners already described, and the attack upon them in an intrenched 
 position, by the troops under command of Lieutenant Colonel T. H. Neill, 
 6th Cavalry. 
 
 A party of about sixty or seventy Cheyennes, consisting of the worst 
 criminals of the tribe, those who had murdered the Germaine family and 
 others, being afraid on that account to surrender with the rest, crossed 
 the Arkansas River west of Fort Dodge and attempted to make their way 
 to the Sioux country, north of the Platte. 
 
 April 23d, a detachment of forty men under Lieutenant A. Henley, 
 6th Cavalry, struck this band in the north Fork of Sappa Creek, south 
 east of Fort Wallace, Kansas, cut off twenty-seven of them from their 
 ponies and demanded their surrender. The Indians replied by a volley, 
 when Lieutenant Henley's detachment attacked them and nearly 
 destroyed the whole party, nineteen warriors, including two chiefs and 
 a medicine man, being killed. Over one hundred and twenty-five ponies 
 were captured and the Indian camp burned, the balance of the band 
 escaping northward. Two enlisted men were killed. 
 
 April 26th, on the Pecos River, Texas, Lieutenant Bullis, with a 
 detachment of three men of the 24th Infantry, surprised and attacked a 
 band of about twenty-five Comanches, killed three and wounded one. 
 
 May 5th, Sergeant Marshall, with a detachment of Troop "A," 10th 
 Cavalry, attacked a band of Indians at Battle Point, Texas, wounded one 
 Indian and captured his pony. 
 
 June 3d, Lieutenant J. A. McKinney, with a detachment of the 4th 
 Cavalry, in pursuit of thieving Indians, overtook several Osages robbing 
 a cattle herd on Hackberry Creek, Indian Territory. A Corporal and 
 two men in advance attempted to arrest the Indians who began firing on 
 the detachment and one Osage was killed. 
 
 July 1st, on the Little Popoagie, Wyoming, First Sergeant Mitchell 
 with a detachment Troop " D," 2d Cavalry, had a fight with Indians, kill 
 ing two of them. 
 
 July 6th, the Ponca Agency, Dakota, was attacked by a band of from 
 one hundred and fifty to two hundred Sioux. Sergeant Danvers with a 
 detachment of eleven men Company " G," 1st Infantry, posted at the 
 agency, loaded an old cannon with pieces of iron and with this impro- 
 
54 
 
 vised ammunition drove off the attacking party in three assaults, when 
 the enemy withdrew. 
 
 July 7th, near Camp Lewis, Montana, a band of about fifty Indians 
 ran off a quantity of horses. A detachment of Company " G," 7th Infan 
 try, under Lieutenant G. H. Wright, pursued the Indians, surprised and 
 attacked them and recovered seven head of stolen horses. 
 
 October 27th, Captain J. M. Hamilton with Troop " H," 5th Cavalry, 
 from Fort Wallace, Kansas, had a fight with a ban'd of Indians near the 
 Smoky Hill River, Kansas; two Indians were killed and one soldier 
 wounded. 
 
 November 2d, Lieutenant A. Geddes, 25th Infantry, with two troops 
 of the 10th Cavalry, attacked a band of Indians near the Pecos River, 
 Texas, killed one and captured five. 
 
 November 20th, a detachment of Troop " G," 3d Cavalry, under Lieu 
 tenant E. Crawford, had a fight with Indians near Antelope Station, 
 Nebraska. 
 
 A summary of the situation of affairs upon the Indian and the Rio 
 Grande frontiers, is found in the following extract from the annual report 
 of Lieutenant General P. H. Sheridan for 1875. " 
 
 " In the Department of Dakota, the military have had the double duty 
 of protecting the settlements from the raids of hostile Indians, and the 
 Black Hills country from occupation by miners attracted there by real or 
 imaginary mineral wealth in the soil. The troops in the Department of 
 the Platte have been mostly engaged in the same manner as those of the 
 Department of Dakota. 
 
 "I earnestly recommend some action which will settle this Black Hills 
 question, and relieve us from an exceedingly disagreeable and embar 
 rassing duty. I feel quite satisfied that all the country south of the Yel 
 lowstone River, from the Black Hills of the Cheyenne as far west as the 
 Big Horn Valley, and perhaps as far west as Clark's Fork of the Yellow 
 stone, is gold bearing, but as to the amount of the gold deposit I cannot 
 say; it may be great, or it may be small. 
 
 " This area is also, at many places, well timbered, has many beautiful 
 valleys of rather high altitude, with good soil and abundance of running 
 water. I make this statement from having studied this country for a 
 long time and in order that my superiors who will, before long, have to 
 deal with the question of the Black Hills, may be able to better appre 
 ciate the interests of all concerned, be they white or red. 
 
 " The Sioux Indians, numbering about twenty-five thousand, now 
 hold this extensive, and, perhaps, very valuable country, and in addition, 
 the belt eastward from the base of the Black Hills of the Cheyenne to 
 the Missouri River, which would make about ten thousand acres of land 
 for the head of each family, and perhaps much more. 
 
 "To meet the troubles which will originate from the Black Hills ques- 
 
55 
 
 tion, to be in advance of them when they come, and be better able to 
 deal with them, I directed, without expense to the Government, an 
 exploration of the Yellowstone River last spring, and selected two sites 
 for military posts, one at the mouth of the Big Horn, the other at the 
 mouth of Tongue River, both in the valley of the Yellowstone. These 
 stations can be supplied by steamboats and will have so important a bear 
 ing on the settlement of the Sioux Indian question, that I earnestly 
 recommend that Congress be called upon to give authority for their 
 establishment, and the necessary funds for their construction. 
 
 " In the Department of the Missouri, the campaign against the Chey- 
 ennes, Kiowas and Comanches, was finished early in the spring, and the 
 ringleaders and worst criminals separated from the tribes and sent to 
 Fort Marion, Florida. 
 
 " Nearly all the troops in the Department of Texas, except those along 
 the Rio Grande frontier, were engaged in this campaign. Those sta 
 tioned along the Rio Grande River, the boundary line between the 
 United States and Mexico, have had the humiliating duty of attempting 
 to protect our citizens and their property from raids by people of a 
 foreign country, who come over the boundary in armed parties to steal 
 cattle, and who do not hesitate to attack and kill our citizens, when 
 necessary to accomplish their purposes. 
 
 " The low stage of water in the Rio Grande and its great length 
 twelve hundred to fifteen hundred miles makes the duty of protecting 
 it difficult, in fact, almost impossible, with the few troops available for the 
 purpose." 
 
876. 
 
 January 22d, Lieutenant H. S. Bishop, with a detachment of seven 
 teen men, Troop " G," 5th Cavalry, pursued a band of Indians which 
 had been stealing stock near Camp Supply, Indian Territory, overtook 
 the Indians on the Cimmaron River, killed three and captured four, 
 together with thirty-five ponies and two mules. 
 
 February 21st, Major Brisbin, 2d Cavalry, with four troops 2d Cav 
 alry, a detachment of Company "C," 7th Infantry, a field-gun and fifteen 
 citizens, numbering two hundred and twenty-one officers and men, left Fort 
 Ellis, Montana, to march to the relief of a party of citizens, besieged by 
 Indians, at the trading-post at Fort Pease, reaching there on March 4th. 
 The original party had consisted of forty-six men who defended them 
 selves desperately in a stockade, until the relief column of troops 
 arrived. Six persons had been killed, eight wounded and thirteen had 
 escaped, by night, only nineteen being found left in the stockade, and 
 these were brought off by the troops. 
 
 In Noyember, 1875, Indian Inspector E. C. Watkins, reported to the 
 Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the attitude of certain wild and hostile 
 bands of Indians, under the leadership of various chiefs or head-men, 
 who were roaming about Dakota and Montana. 
 
 Some of these bands had never accepted the reservation system, 
 would not recognize the authority of the Government, and insisted upon 
 remaining wild and perfectly free from control. Of this class was " Sit 
 ting Bull," who was not a chief, but a " head-man," and whose imme 
 diate following did not exceed thirty or forty lodges. 
 
 Among the Indians referred to, were some who had not only attacked 
 settlers and emigrants, but who had also been in the habit of making 
 war upon the Mandans, Arickarees, and other tribes who were friendly 
 to the whites. Inspector Watkins recommended, therefore, that troops 
 should be sent into the country inhabited by these wild and roving 
 bands, to punish and reduce them to subjection. His report, with the 
 views of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, together with the recom 
 mendation of the Honorable Secretary of the Interior that these Indians 
 be informed they must remove to 'reservations before January 31st, 1876, 
 or in event of their failure to do so, by that date, that they would be 
 turned over to the War Department, were all referred by the General 
 of the Army to Lieutenant General Sheridan, December 13th, 1875. 
 
58 
 
 Another chief or head-man, against whom military operations were 
 contemplated, was " Crazy-Horse," an Ogallala Sioux, properly belong 
 ing to Red Cloud Agency, whose band comprised perhaps a hundred and 
 twenty lodges, numbering about two hundred warriors. 
 
 As Generals Terry and Crook commanded the Departments in which 
 these Indians were located, the subject was submitted to them. 
 
 General Terry's opinion was that Sitting Bull's band was encamped 
 near the mouth of the Little Missouri, that it could be reached by a 
 quick movement which might be decisive at that season of the year, and 
 that he had sufficient troops to make such a movement. General Crook 
 was of opinion that operations against the hostiles could be undertaken 
 in his department whenever, in the opinion of the Indian Bureau, such 
 action became necessary. 
 
 On February 7th, by endorsement of the General of the Army upon 
 a letter of the Honorable Secretary of the Interior, authority was 
 received to commence operations against the hostiles. 
 
 Meanwhile General Terry had learned that Sitting Bull's band was 
 on the Dry Fork of the Missouri, some two hundred miles further west, 
 instead of upon the Little Missouri, and on the 8th of February General 
 Terry was directed to take such steps, with the forces under his com 
 mand, as would carry out the wishes of the Interior Department and the 
 orders of the General of the Army. General Terry was also informed 
 that General Crook would operate from the south, in the direction of the 
 headwaters of Powder River, Pumpkin Buttes, Tongue River, Rosebud 
 and Big Horn Rivers, frequented by Crazy-Horse and his allies, and that 
 the lines of the two military departments would be disregarded by the 
 troops until the object requested by the Secretary of the Interior was 
 attained. 
 
 Similar directions were given General Crook, and, as the Indian vil 
 lages were movable, no objective point could be fixed upon for concerted 
 operations by the two distinct expeditions from the Departments of the 
 Platte and Dakota. 
 
 During the time these preparations were making, efforts were con 
 tinued to have the Indians come in to their agencies, settle down and be 
 peaceable, but without avail. 
 
 Immediately upon receipt of his instructions, General Crook com 
 menced concentrating at Fort Fetterman, the available cavalry of his 
 command, consisting of about ten troops of the 2d and 3d Cavalry 
 which, with two companies of infantry, moved out from that post March 
 1st, in search of the hostiles, believed to be located on the headwaters of 
 Powder River, Tongue River, or the Rosebud. 
 
 March 17th, the main part of the expedition, under Colonel J. J. Rey 
 nolds, 3d Cavalry, consisting of Troops " A," "B," " E," "I," and " K," 
 2d Cavalry, with a detachment of Troop " A," and Troops " E," " F," 
 
59 
 
 and " M," 3d Cavalry, attacked a large village of Sioux and Northern 
 Cheyenries, near the mouth of Little Powder River, Montana, destroying 
 all the lodges, one hundred and five in number, with ammunition and 
 stores. A large herd of animals was also captured, but were subse 
 quently recovered by the hostiles. Four enlisted men were killed and 
 Lieutenant Rawolle, 2d Cavalry, and five men wounded. The village 
 was a perfect magazine of ammunition, war material and general sup 
 plies, and every evidence was found to prove these Indians in co-part 
 nership with those at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, that 
 the proceeds of raids upon the settlements had been taken into those 
 agencies and supplies brought out in return. 
 
 The command had suffered so much from the severity of the weather, 
 the mercurial thermometer failing to register the intensity of the cold, 
 that after the destruction of the village, the column returned to Fort 
 Fetterman and the troops were distributed to their various winter stations 
 for shelter. 
 
 About the same time that General Crook was preparing to move, as 
 described, General Terry projected an expedition against Sitting Bull's 
 band, but before the 7th Cavalry could be fully concentrated at Fort A. 
 Lincoln, for the purpose, the season became so inclement that it was 
 thought advisable to postpone the expedition until later, the snow being 
 so deep and the number of men badly frozen, so great. The impractica 
 bility of operating from the Missouri River against the Sioux, during the 
 winter and spring, owing to the wild storms of Dakota, was fully proven 
 and rendered more than ever apparent the necessity for the large military 
 posts at the mouth of the Tongue River and on the Big Horn, already 
 repeatedly recommended in anticipation of hostilities with the Sioux. 
 
 April 28th, near Grace Creek, Nebraska, a mounted detachment of 
 nine men of Company " A," 23d Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant C. 
 H. Heyl, had a fight with a band of Indians, killing one Indian and 
 wounding several others. The Sergeant of the detachment was killed 
 upon charging the Indians strongly posted on a hill. 
 
 No change having been made in the orders already described, early 
 in the spring Generals Terry and Crook prepared to resume the opera 
 tions discontinued previously on account of the severity of the weather. 
 At Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, General Crook concentrated Troops " A," 
 "B,""D,""E," and "I," 2d Cavalry, Troops "A," "B,""C,""D," 
 " E," " F," " H," " I," " L," and " M," 3d Cavalry, Companies " D," and 
 " F," 4th Infantry, and Companies "C," " G," and "H," 9th Infantry. 
 
 On May 29th, this column under the personal command of General 
 Crook, left Fort Fetterman for Goose Creek, where a supply camp was 
 established on June 8th. From this point General Crook moved out, 
 June 13th, and on June 17th, Indians were discovered in large numbers 
 on the Rosebud. General Crook's command of less than a thousand men 
 
GO 
 
 was attacked with desperation, the light lasting for several hours, when 
 the Indians were driven several miles in confusion, a great many being 
 killed and wounded in the retreat, though the extent of their losses 
 could not be ascertained. Eleven dead Indians were found upon the 
 field. The casualties to the troops were nine men killed, and fifteen 
 wounded of the 3d Cavalry, two men wounded of the 2d Cavalry, and 
 three men of the 4th Infantry wounded, besides Captain G. V. Henry, 
 3d Cavalry, severely wounded. The scene of the attack was at the 
 mouth of a deep and rocky caiion with steep, timbered sides, so at night 
 fall, encumbered with wounded and the troops without anything but 
 what each man carried for himself, General Crook deemed it best to 
 return to his supply camp, to await reinforcements and supplies, not con 
 sidering it advisable to make another forward movement until additional 
 troops reached him. From the strength of the hostiles who" boldly attacked 
 this large column, it now became apparent that not only Crazy Horse 
 and his small band had to be fought, but that the hostiles had been 
 reinforced by large numbers of warriors from the agencies along the Mis 
 souri and from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, located near 
 the boundary line between Dakota and Nebraska; the Indian Agents, 
 if aware of them, having failed to inform the military of these wholesale 
 departures. Such a movement from these agencies had been feared and 
 in May authority had been asked allowing the military to exercise 
 supervising control over these agencies, so as to keep in all who were 
 present and keep out those who were then away and hostile, but this 
 was not granted. 
 
 Simultaneously with these operations in the Department of the 
 Platte, General Terry had concentrated at Fort A. Lincoln the entire 
 7th Cavalry, three Gatling guns, and six companies of infantry. On 
 May 17th, he marched from that post with his column, numbering about 
 nine hundred men, for the mouth of Powder River, where he established 
 his supply camp on the 7th of June. From this point Major Reno, with 
 six troops of the 7th Cavalry, scouted up the Powder River to its forks, 
 across the country to the Rosebud and down the last named stream to 
 its mouth. At the same time General Terry moved with his main force 
 up the south bank of the Yellowstone River and formed a junction with 
 a column under Colonel John Gibbon, consisting of four troops of the 
 2d Cavalry and six companies of the 7th Infantry, which had marched 
 eastward along the north bank of the Yellowstone from Fort Ellis, Mon 
 tana. During Major Reno's scout, a large Indian trail was discovered 
 along the Rosebud, but as Reno's orders did not contemplate an attack 
 with his small force, the trail was only followed a sufficient distance to 
 definitely locate the Indians in the vicinity of the Little Big Horn River, 
 after which Reno returned to the mouth of the Rosebud. 
 
 General Terry was now satisfied as to the location of the Indians, and 
 
61 
 
 at a conference between himself, Colonels Gibbon and Ouster, on June 
 21st, he communicated the following plan of operations : Gibbon's col 
 umn was to cross the Yellowstone, near the mouth of the Big Horn, 
 march for the mouth of the Little Big Horn and thence up the latter, 
 with the understanding that it would arrive at the last named point by 
 June 26th : Ouster, with the whole of the 7th Cavalry, should proceed 
 up the Rosebud until he ascertained the direction taken by the trail 
 found by Reno; if this led to the Little Big Horn, it should not be fol 
 lowed, but Ouster should keep still further to the south, before turning 
 toward that river, in order to intercept the Indians, should they attempt 
 to slip between him and the mountains, and also in order, by a longer 
 march, to give time for Colonel Gibbon's column to come up. 
 
 This plan was founded upon the belief that, at some point on the 
 Little Big Horn, a body of hostiles would be found, though it was im 
 possible to arrange movements in perfect concert, as might be done were 
 there a known fixed objective point. It was believed impracticable to 
 unite both Gibbon's and Ouster's forces, because more than half of those 
 of Gibbon were infantry, who could not keep up with the rapid move 
 ment of cavalry; whilst taking away the mounted troops from Gibbon, to 
 unite with those of Ouster, would leave Gibbon's infantry too weak a 
 force to act independently. 
 
 Under directions, then, to carry, out his part of the foregoing plan, 
 to also examine the upper part of Tullock's Fork and endeavor to send a 
 scout through with the information thus obtained, to Gibbon's column, 
 which was to examine the lower- part of that fork, Ouster started up the 
 Rosebud on June 22d, and Gibbon's command, personally accompanied 
 by General Terry, moved the same day for the mouth of the Big Horn. 
 A supply steamer was to push up the Big Horn as far as the forks, if 
 found navigable for that distance, and Custer, at the expiration of the 
 time for which his troops were rationed, was to report to General Terry 
 there, unless in the meantime other orders should be received. 
 
 In accordance with this plan, all of Gibbon's column reached and 
 crossed Tullock's Creek, on the afternoon of June 24th. 
 
 On the afternoon of June 22d, Ouster's column marched up the Rose 
 bud twelve miles and there encamped. The next day, June 23d, he 
 continued up the Rosebud thirty-three miles, passing a heavy lodge pole 
 trail, though not very fresh. June 24th, the advance was continued up 
 the Rosebud, the trail and signs constantly growing fresher, until the 
 column had marched twenty-eight miles, when camp was made. At 
 eleven o'clock that night, the column was again put in motion, turning 
 from the Rosebud to the right up one of its branches which headed near 
 the summit of the " divide " between the Rosebud and the Little Big 
 Horn. About two o'clock in the morning of June 25th, the column 
 halted for about three hours, made coffee and then resumed the march, 
 
62 
 
 crossed the divide, and by eight o'clock were in the valley of one of the 
 branches of the Little Big Horn. By this time Indians had been seen, 
 and as it was certain they could not now be surprised, it was determined 
 to attack them. 
 
 Custer took personal command of Troops " C," " E," "F," "I," and 
 " L " ; Major Reno was given Troops "A," "G," and " M " ; Captain 
 Benteen, Troops " H," " D," and " K " ; Captain McDougall with Troop 
 "B," acted as guard to the pack train. 
 
 The valley of the creek was followed towards the Little Big Horn, 
 Custer on the right of the creek, Reno on the left of it, Benteen off still 
 further to the left and not in sight. About eleven o'clock Reno's troops 
 crossed the creek to Custer's column and remained with them until about 
 half-past twelve o'clock, when it was reported that the village was only 
 two miles ahead and running away. 
 
 Reno was now directed to move forward, at as rapid a gait as he 
 thought prudent, and to charge, with the understanding Custer would 
 support him. The troops under Reno moved at a fast trot for about two 
 miles, when they came to the river, crossed it, halted a few minutes to 
 collect the men and then deployed. A charge was made down the river, 
 driving the Indians rapidly for about two miles and a half, until near the 
 village which was still there. Not seeing anything, however, of the sub 
 divisions under Custer and Benteen, and the Indians swarming upon him 
 from all directions, Reno took position, dismounted, in the edge of some 
 timber which afforded shelter for the horses of his command, continuing 
 the fight on foot until it became apparent he would soon be overcome by 
 the superior numbers of the Indians. He then mounted his troops, charged 
 through the Indians, re-crossed the river and gained the bluffs upon the 
 opposite side. In this charge, First Lieutenant Donald Mclntosh and 
 Second Lieutenant Benjamin H. Hodgson, 7th Cavalry, with Acting 
 Assistant Surgeon J. M. DeWolf, were killed. 
 
 Reno's force succeeded in reaching the top of the bluff, but with a 
 loss of three officers and twenty-nine enlisted men killed, and seven men 
 wounded. Almost at the same time Reno's troops reached these bluffs, 
 Benteen's battalion came up and a little later, the pack train, with 
 McDougall's troop escorting it. These three detachments were all 
 united under Reno's command and numbered about three hundred and 
 eighty-one men, in addition to their officers. 
 
 Meanwhile nothing had been heard from Custer, so the re-united 
 detachments under Reno moved down the river, keeping along the bluffs 
 on the opposite side from the village. Firing had been heard from that 
 direction, but after moving to the highest point without seeing or hear 
 ing anything of Custer, Reno sent Captain Weir with his troop to try to 
 open communication with the former. Weir soon sent back word that he 
 could go no further and that the Indians were getting around him, at the 
 
63 
 
 same time keeping up a heavy fire from his skirmish line. Reno then 
 turned everything back to the first position he had taken on the bluff, 
 which seemed the best for a defence, had the horses and mules driven 
 into a depression, put his men, dismounted, on the crests of the hills 
 making the depression, and had hardly completed these dispositions when 
 the Indians attacked him furiously. 
 
 This was now about six o'clock in the evening and the ground was 
 held with a further loss of eighteen killed and forty-six wounded, until 
 the attack ceased about nine o'clock at night. 
 
 By this time the overwhelming numbers of the enemy rendered it 
 improbable that the troops under Ouster could undertake to rejoin those 
 with Reno, so the latter began to dig rifle-pits, barricaded with dead 
 horses and mules and boxes from the packs, to prepare for any further 
 attack which might be made the next day. All night long the men kept 
 working, while the Indians were holding a scalp dance, within their hear 
 ing, in the valley of the Little Horn below. 
 
 About half-past two o'clock in the morning, of June 26th, a most 
 terrific rifle-fire was opened upon Reno's position and, as daylight 
 increased, hordes of Indians were seen taking station upon high points 
 completely surrounding the troops, so that men were struck on opposite 
 sides of the lines from where the shots were fired. The fire did not 
 slacken until half-past nine o'clock in the morning, when the Indians 
 made a desperate charge upon the line held by Troops " H," and " M," 
 coming to such -close quarters as to touch with a " coup-stick," a man 
 lying dead within the lines. This onslaught was repulsed by a charge 
 from the line assaulted, led by Colonel Benteen. 
 
 The Indians also charged close enough to send their arrows' into the 
 line held by Troops " D," and " K," but they were driven back by a 
 counter-charge of those troops, accompanied in person by Reno. 
 
 There were now many wounded and the question of obtaining water 
 was a vital one, for the troops had been without any from six o'clock the 
 previous evening, a period of about sixteen hours. A skirmish line was 
 formed under Benteen, to protect the descent of volunteers down the 
 hill in front of the position to reach the water. A little was obtained in 
 canteens, but many of the men were struck in securing the precious 
 fluid. 
 
 The fury of the attack was now over and the Indians were seen 
 going off in parties to the village. Two solutions occurred, either that 
 the Indians were going for something to eat and more ammunition, as 
 they had been shooting arrows, or else that -Ouster was coming. Advan 
 tage was taken of this lull to rush down to the stream and fill all vessels 
 possible with water, but the Indians continued to withdraw and firing 
 ceased, excepting occasional shots from sharp-shooters sent to annoy the 
 soldiers near the water. About two o'clock in the afternoon, the grass 
 
64 
 
 in the bottom was extensively fired by the Indians, and behind the 
 dense smoke thus created, the Indian village began to move away. 
 
 Between six and seven o'clock in the evening, the village came out 
 from behind this cloud of smoke and dust, the troops obtaining a full 
 view of the cavalcade, as it filed away in the direction of the Big Horn 
 Mountains, moving in almost full military order. 
 
 All thoughts were now turned again towards Ouster, of whom nothing 
 had been seen or heard since he gave his orders on the previous day for 
 the first advance by the detachments under Reno and Benteen, and 
 which orders contemplated the support of these by the force retained 
 under Ouster's personal command. No one dreamed of the real explana 
 tion of Ouster's absence, and the impression was that this heavy force of 
 Indians had gotten between him and the rest, forcing him towards the 
 mouth of the Little Big Horn, from which direction the column under 
 Gibbon, with General Terry, was expected. 
 
 During the night of June 26th, the troops under Reno changed posi 
 tion so as to better secure a supply of water and to prepare against 
 another assault, should the warriors return in strong force, but early in 
 the morning of the 27th, while preparing to resist any attack which 
 might be attempted, the dust of a moving column was seen approaching 
 in the distance. Soon it was discovered to be troops who where coming 
 and in a little while a scout arrived with a note from General Terry to 
 Ouster, saying that some Crow scouts had come to camp stating that 
 Ouster had been whipped, but that their story was not believed. About 
 half-past ten o'clock in the morning General Terry rode into Reno's lines 
 and the fate of Ouster was ascertained. 
 
 Precisely what was done by Ouster's immediate command, subsequent 
 to the moment when the rest of the regiment last saw them alive, has 
 remained partly a matter of conjecture, no officer or soldier who rode 
 with him into the valley of the Little Big Horn, having lived to tell the 
 tale. The only real evidence of how they came to meet their fate, was 
 the testimony of the field where it overtook them. What was read upon 
 the ground, as from an open page, was described in the official report of 
 General Terry who came up -with Gibbon's column. 
 
 Ouster's trail, from the point where Reno crossed the stream, passed 
 along and in rear of the crest of the bluffs on the right bank, for nearly 
 or quite three miles. Then it came down to the bank of the river, but 
 at once diverged from it again, as though Ouster had unsuccessfully 
 attempted to cross ; then turning upon itself and almost completing a 
 circle, the trail ceased. It was marked by the remains of officers and 
 men and the bodies of horses, some of them dotted along the path, others 
 heaped in ravines and upon knolls where halts appeared to have been 
 made. There was abundant evidence that a gallant resistance had been 
 
65 
 
 offered by Ouster's troops, but that they were beset on all sides by over 
 powering numbers. 
 
 The officers known to be killed were General Ouster, Captains 
 Keogh, Yates and Ouster, Lieutenants Oooke, Smith, Mclntosh, Calhoun, 
 Porter, Hodgson, Sturgis and Reilly, of the 7th Cavalry, Lieutenant 
 Crittenden of the 20th Infantry, and Acting Assistant Surgeon DeWolf; 
 Lieutenant Harrington of the cavalry and Assistant Surgeon Lord were 
 missing. Mr. Boston Custer, a brother, and Mr. Reed, a nephew of Gen 
 eral Ouster, were with him and were killed. Captain Benteen and 
 Lieutenant Varnum of the cavalry and fifty-one men were wounded. 
 
 Following up the movements of Gibbon's column from the Yellow 
 stone, starting from Tullock's Creek soon after five o'clock on the morn 
 ing of June 25th, the infantry of Gibbon's command made a march of 
 twenty-two miles over a most difficult country. In order that scouts 
 might be sent into the valley of the Little Big Horn, Gibbon's cavalry, 
 with the battery, was then pushed on thirteen or fourteen miles further, 
 not camping until midnight. Scouts were sent out at half-past four in 
 the morning of June 26th; they soon discovered three Indians who were 
 at first supposed to be Sioux, but when overtaken they proved to be Crows 
 who had been with General Custer. They brought to General Terry the 
 first intelligence of the battle. Their story was not credited; it was sup 
 posed that some fighting, perhaps severe fighting, had taken place, but 
 it was not believed that disaster could have overtaken so large a force 
 as twelve companies of cavalry. The infantry which had broken camp 
 very early, soon came up and the whole column entered and moved up 
 the valley of the Little Big Horn. 
 
 During the afternoon efforts were made to send scouts through to 
 what was supposed to be Ouster's position, to obtain information of the 
 condition of affairs, but those who were sent out were driven back by 
 parties of Indians who, in increasing numbers, were seen hovering in 
 front of Gibbon's column. At twenty minutes before nine o'clock in the 
 evening, the infantry had marched between twenty-nine and thirty 
 miles, the men were very weary and daylight was fading. The column 
 was therefore halted for the night at a point about eleven miles in a 
 straight line above the mouth of the stream. 
 
 On the morning of June 27th the advance was resumed and, after a 
 march of nine miles, the intrenched position was reached, the with 
 drawal of the Indians from around Reno's command and from the valley 
 of the ' Little Big Horn being undoubtedly caused by the approach of 
 Gibbon's troops. 
 
 Major Reno and Captain Benteen, both of whom were officers of 
 experience, accustomed to seeing large bodies of mounted men, esti 
 mated the number of Indians engaged at not less than twenty-five hun 
 dred; other officers thought that the number was greater than this; the 
 
66 
 
 village in the valley was about three miles in length and almost a mile 
 in width. Besides the regular lodges quantities of temporary brushwood 
 structures were found, indicating that many besides the proper inhabit 
 ants of the village had gathered there. 
 
 Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, with their respective adherents, were 
 both at the battle of the Little Big Horn, and for a time, Sitting Bull 
 was credited with an importance which did not belong to him, his 
 own direct following being comparatively small. Afterwards a separa 
 tion took place between Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and the latter 
 was, on several occasions, fought by the troops north of the Yellowstone. 
 
 During the afternoon and evening of June 27th, the wounded were 
 moved to the camp of General Terry, and at five o'clock in the morning 
 on the 28frh, Reno's command proceeded to the battle-ground of Custer 
 and buried two hundred and four bodies there. 
 
 The 28th of June was passed in making horse and hand litters for 
 the wounded, so as to move them down to the mouth of the Little 
 Big Horn, a transfer which occupied several days, for the marches had 
 to be short. The same day a reconnoissance was made by Captain Ball 
 of the 2d Cavalry, along the trail of the Indians when they left the val 
 ley of the Little Big Horn. He reported that they divided into two par 
 ties, one of which kept the valley of Long Fork, making, he thought for 
 the Big Horn Mountains ; the other turned more to the eastward. He 
 also discovered leading into the valley, a very heavy trail, not more than 
 five days old. This was entirely distinct from the one Custer had fol 
 lowed and indicated that at least two bands had united just before the 
 battle. 
 
 In the evening of June 28th General Terry began moving the 
 wounded but was able to proceed only four miles, on account of the 
 insufficient number of litters. The 29th was spent in making a full sup 
 ply of them, and in the evening of that day the column started again, 
 the wounded being placed on the steamer "Far West," at the mouth of 
 the Little Big Horn, at two o'clock in the morning of June 30th, reach 
 ing the depot on the Yellowstone the same afternoon. The steamer then 
 proceeded with them to Fort A. Lincoln, the main command reaching 
 the Yellowstone and camping on the bank of the river on the 2d of July. 
 
 Attempts were immediately made by General Terry to communi 
 cate with General Crook, who was somewhere in that part of the coun 
 try, in order that concert of action might be established between the 
 two expeditions. Two attempts failed, but a third succeeded ; three 
 private soldiers of the 7th Infantry, James Bell, William Evans and 
 Benjamin H. Stewart, carried a dispatch through to General Crook arid 
 two of them returned with his reply. 
 
 As soon as the news of this disaster was received at Division Head 
 quarters, additional troops were at once put in motion for General 
 
07 
 
 Terry's command, as had already been done for that of General Crook, 
 but these re-inforcements had to be collected from various stations on 
 the frontier, some of them very remote from railroads, and much time 
 was consumed before reaching their destinations. 
 
 During this period, the bands which had broken off from the main 
 body of hostiles, and the young warriors from the agencies, continued 
 their old well-known methods of warfare, stealing horses on the frontier 
 and killing small parties of citizens, while the constant communications 
 of the hostiles with Indians at the agencies, macle it evident that sup 
 plies of food and ammunition were still being drawn from those places. 
 
 To prevent this, it had been deemed necessary that the military should 
 control the agencies, and on May #9th the Interior Department had been 
 requested to so co-operate with the military as to enable the* latter to 
 carry out the policy of arresting, disarming and dismounting such of the 
 hostiles as made their appearance at these agencies. On July 18th this 
 request was again earnestly renewed by Lieutenant General Sheridan, 
 and on the 22d the Honorable Secretary of the Interior authorized the 
 military to assume control* of all the agencies in the Sioux country, but 
 it was too late ; extensive trading with the enemy had been going on, 
 and large supplies of ammunition had thus been obtained by the hostiles 
 to carry on the war. However, the commanding officers at Camps Robin 
 son and Sheridan were at once ordered to take possession at Red Cloud's 
 and Spotted Tail's Agencies, and Colonel Mackenzie, 4th Cavalry, was 
 sent to Red Cloud Agency, with a force to arrest any hostiles who 
 came in and to count and enroll the Indians. A careful count was made 
 by September 1st, and it was found that those at Red Cloud numbered 
 only four thousand seven hundred and sixty, nearly one half less than 
 had been reported by the Agent. The count at Spotted Tail's Agency 
 developed less than five thousand, whereas nearly double that number 
 were presumed to be present at their agency and were ostensibly issued to* 
 Troops were also ,sent to the Missouri River Agencies to accomplish 
 these same purposes, and the number of Indians actually present was 
 found to be from one-third to one-half less than reported present for 
 issues. It was then easy to see where the small bands originally out, 
 and upon whom the war was being waged, obtained their strength and 
 supplies. 
 
 At last, on July 22d Congress having passed a bill authorizing the 
 construction of the two posts in the Yellowstone country, recommended 
 long before this war began, preparations were made to begin them at 
 once and all the material was prepared as rapidly as possible, but the 
 season had now become so far advanced that it was found impracticable 
 to get the supplies up the Yellowstone River, on account of low water, 
 so the building of the posts had to be deferred until the following spring. 
 However, a temporary cantonment was ordered to be immediately con- 
 
68 
 
 structed at the mouth of Tongue River, the place selected for one of the 
 permanent posts, (now Fort Keogh,) and a strong garrison, under the 
 command of Colonel Miles, oth Infantry, was detailed to occupy it. 
 
 July 7th, Lieutenant F. W. Sibley, 2d Cavalry, commanding a detach 
 ment of twenty-five men, with several citizens, was sent by General 
 Crook to make a reconnoissance, and when near where the Little Big 
 Horn River emerges from the Big Horn Mountains, encountered a very 
 large force of Indians who nearly succeeded in capturing the entire 
 detachment. By great coolness, abandoning all their horses, after a very 
 gallant fight, Lieutenant Sibley's party succeeded in escaping from the 
 Indians and on foot made their way over a most broken country to Gen 
 eral Crook's camp, where they arrived safely, in an almost exhausted 
 condition. 
 
 July 17th, information having been received of a movement of the 
 Indians at Red Cloud's Agency to join the hostiles north of them, Col 
 onel Merritt with Troops "A," "B," "D," "G," "I," "K," and "M," 
 5th Cavalry, by a rapid march succeeded in intercepting a band of about 
 eight hundred Indians near Hat Creek, Wyoming, surprised them, killed 
 one Indian, wounded one and chased the entire band back to the Red 
 Cloud Agency. 
 
 July 30th, Lieutenant J. L. Bullis, 24th Infantry, with a detachment 
 of forty men, struck a camp of hostile Lipans and Kickapoos, near 
 Saragossa, Mexico, killed ten and captured four Indians with about one 
 hundred horses. 
 
 August #d, near the mouth of the Rosebud, Montana, Major O. H. 
 Moore with four officers aud two companies of the 6th Infantry and one 
 company of the 17th Infantry, had a fight in which one white scout and 
 one Indian w r ere killed. 
 
 August 14th, a steamer carrying troops and government supplies, was 
 fired upon by Indians near Fort Buford, Dakota; the troops returned the 
 fire and the Indians fled: no casualties occurred. 
 
 August 23d, Lieutenant Bronson, with Company " G," 6th Infantry, 
 had a fight with Indians on the Yellowstone River, Montana: one enlisted 
 man was wounded. 
 
 General Crook having received re-inforcements and having learned 
 that the hostiles had now moved eastward from the Big Horn Mountains, 
 marched with his column, on the 5th of August, down the Tongue River 
 in pursuit. He followed the trail across Powder River and some distance 
 east, when it separated and became indistinct, part of it going towards 
 the Black Hills and the agencies. He then marched his command south 
 ward, in the direction of the Black Hills, and on 
 
 September 9th, a battalion consisting of one hundred and fifty men 
 of the 3d Cavalry, under Captain Anson Mills, after a very trying night- 
 march, succeeded at day-break in surprising the village of "American 
 
69 
 
 Horse," at Slim Buttes, Dakota, capturing the entire village of about 
 thirty-seven lodges, with quantities of supplies, arms and ammunition, and 
 about one hundred and seventy-five ponies. Among the articles taken 
 from this village, were a guidon of the 7th Cavalry, a pair of gloves 
 marked with the name of Colonel Keogh, 7th Cavalry, who was killed 
 with Caster, and many other things which were recognized as belonging 
 to that command. The battalion of Captain Mills suffered a loss of one 
 enlisted man killed, six wounded, and Lieutenant A. H. Von Luettwitz, 
 3d Cavalry, so seriously wounded in the leg as to require amputation. 
 The loss of the Indians was "American Horse," mortally wounded, 
 four Indians killed and about a dozen captured. The village of Crazy 
 Horse was only a short distance away, and after the first flight from 
 camp, the Indians returned in increased numbers and attacked Mills' 
 command, but the main column of General Crook having arrived, the 
 Indians were worsted in several encounters which took place, a force 
 under Lieutenant Colonel W. B. Royall, 3d Cavalry, consisting of 
 battalions of the 2d and 3d Cavalry, having one man wounded. The 
 Indians continued hovering around the command, taking positions in 
 ravines from which they had to be dislodged, with much patience and 
 exposure to the troops. In the several fights which occurred, the 5th 
 Cavalry, under General Carr, lost one enlisted man and one white scout 
 killed, and five enlisted men wounded, the loss inflicted by his force upon 
 the Indians being estimated at seven or eight killed. Major Chambers, 
 4th Infantry, with the infantry battalion, consisting of three companies 
 of the 4th Infantry, three of the 9th Infantry and four of the 14th Infan 
 try, drove off from the bluffs parties of Indians who were firing into the 
 camp of the command, one enlisted man of the 9th Infantry being 
 severely wounded in these operations. 
 
 On September l#th, Major Upham, with one hundred and fifty men 
 of the 5th Cavalry, was sent by General Crook to follow a trail leading 
 down Owl Creek, but returned on the 14th without having found any 
 village. One private soldier of his command was killed by Indians on 
 the Belle Fourche. 
 
 During the later operations of General Crook's column, the troops, 
 being without tents, suffered not only from the incessant cold rains pre 
 vailing, but were wholly without regular food. Having met with General 
 Terry's column, the latter had shared its supplies with General Crook, 
 but these became exhausted and for days General Crook's troops were 
 obliged to subsist principally upon horse flesh. The animals of the cav 
 alry were so worn out by hard marching, want of forage and exposure 
 to constant storms, that General Crook's column moved to Custer City 
 and there obtained supplies. 
 
 September 15th, Captain Henry Carroll, with Troop " F," 9th Cav 
 alry, had a fight with a party of Indians in the Florida Mountains, New 
 
70 
 
 Mexico, killed one Indian and captured eleven head of stock : one en 
 listed man was wounded. 
 
 October 10th, Captain C. W. Miner, 22d Infantry, with Companies 
 "H," u G,"and " K," 22d Infantry, and Company C," 17th Infantry, 
 escorting a train of ninety-four wagons, started from the camp at mouth 
 of Glendive Creek, Montana, for the cantonment at mouth of Tongue 
 River. The train was attacked in its camp that night, by Indians esti 
 mated at from four to six hundred, several of the animals wounded and 
 forty-seven mules stampeded and captured. In this crippled condition 
 the train attempted to reach Clear Creek, eight miles further on, being 
 constantly harassed by the hostiles in large force, but finding it impos 
 sible to continue, returned to Glendive Creek for reinforcements. 
 
 The teamsters having become too demoralized to proceed, forty-one 
 of them were discharged and soldiers were detailed to drive. The 
 escort, now consisting of five companies of infantry, numbering eleven 
 officers and one hundred and eighty-five men, under command of Lieu 
 tenant Colonel E. S. Otis, 22d Infantry, again attempted to carry these 
 much needed supplies to the garrison at Tongue River. 
 
 October 15th, on Spring Creek the Indians, increased to an estimated 
 strength of from seven to eight hundred warriors, again attacked the 
 train which, however, formed in compact lines, pressed on, the infantry 
 escort charging the Indians repeatedly and driving them back, while the 
 wagons slowly advanced. Three or four scouts from Colonel Miles' com 
 mand were met here, having been attacked by Indians and one of their 
 party killed. The train proceeded, with the escort skirmishing, until 
 Clear Creek was reached, the point from which Captain Miner had pre 
 viously been obliged to return. Here the Indians made the most deter 
 mined attack, firing the prairie and the wagons being obliged to advance 
 through the flames. Compactly arranged in four lines, the wagons pro 
 ceeded, the entire escort being engaged in alternately charging the 
 Indians, driving them back and then regaining the moving teams; three 
 or four of the escort were wounded and a considerable number of Indian 
 saddles emptied. 
 
 On October 16th, whilst advancing, an Indian runner approached and 
 left upon a hill the following communication : 
 
 "YELLOWSTONE : 
 
 I want to know what you are doing traveling on this road. You 
 scare all the buffalo away. I want to hunt in this place. I want you to 
 turn back from here. If you don't I will fight you again. I want you 
 to leave what you have got here and turn back from here. 
 
 I am your friend, 
 
 SITTING BULL. 
 
 I mean all the rations you have got and some powder. Wish you 
 would write as soon as you can." 
 
71 
 
 Colonel Otis sent out a scout, named Jackson, with a reply to Sitting 
 Bull's note, stating that he intended to take the train through to Tongue 
 River and would be pleased to accommodate the Indians with a fight at 
 any time. 
 
 The train proceeded, the Indians surrounding it and keeping up firing 
 at long range. After proceeding a short distance, two Indians appeared 
 with a flag of truce and communication was again opened with the hostiles 
 who stated they were hungry, tired of the war and wanted to make peace. 
 Sitting Bull wanted to meet Colonel Otis outside of the lines of the 
 escort, which invitation, however, Colonel Otis declined, though pro 
 fessing a willingness to meet Sitting Bull inside the lines of the troops. 
 This the wary savage was afraid to do, but sent three chiefs to represent 
 him. Colonel Otis made them a present of one hundred and fifty pounds 
 of hard bread 'and two sides of bacon, said that he had no authority to 
 treat with them, but that the Indians could go to Tongue River and there 
 make known their wishes regarding surrender. The train moved on and 
 the Indians fell to its rear, finally disappearing altogether. 
 
 On the night of the 18th of October Colonel Otis met Colonel Miles, 
 with his entire regiment who, alarmed for safety of the train, had 
 advanced to meet it. Colonel Otis succeeded in reaching Tongue River, 
 delivered his supplies and returned safely with his wagons to Glendive, 
 on October 26th. 
 
 Shortly after meeting Colonel Otis and learning from him the imme 
 diate situation, Colonel Miles, with the entire 5th Infantry, started after 
 Sitting Bull, overtaking him near Cedar Creek, Montana, north of the 
 Yellowstone. Colonel Miles met Sitting Bull between the lines of the 
 troops and of the Indians, the latter having sent a flag of truce to Miles, 
 desiring to communicate. 
 
 Sitting Bull simply desired to hunt buffalo and trade for ammunition; 
 he would agree that the Indians should not fire on the soldiers, if unmo 
 lested; in short, he wanted simply "an old-fashioned peace" for the 
 winter. He was informed of the terms of the government, told how he 
 could have peace and that he must bring in his tribe to near the camp of 
 the troops. The interview closed unsatisfactorily and Colonel Miles' 
 column, numbering three hundred and ninety-eight rifles, moved and 
 camped -on Cedar Creek, so as to intercept, more easily, the movement of 
 the Indians which was northward, Sitting Bull being told to come again 
 next day. 
 
 Whilst the command was moving north between the Indian camp and 
 the Big Dry River, the Indians again appeared and desired to talk. 
 Another council followed between the lines, October 21st, Sitting Bull 
 and a number of principal men being present. Sitting Bull wanted 
 peace, if he could have it upon his own terms. He was told the condi 
 tions of the government, which were that he should either camp his peo- 
 
72 
 
 pie at some point on the Yellowstone River, near to the troops, or go 
 into some agency and place his people under subjection to the govern 
 ment. He said he would come in to trade for ammunition, but wanted 
 no rations or annuities and desired to live free, as an Indian. He gave 
 no assurance of good faith and, as the council broke up, he was told that 
 a non-acceptance of the terms of the government would be considered an 
 act of hostility. The Indians took positions instantly for a fight and an 
 engagement followed, the Indians being driven from every part of the 
 field, through their camp ground, down Bad Route Creek and pursued 
 forty-two miles to the south side of the Yellowstone. In their retreat 
 they abandoned tons of dried meat, quantities of lodge poles, camp equip 
 age, ponies and broken down cavalry horses. Five dead warriors were 
 left on the field, besides those they were seen to carry away. Their force 
 was estimated at upwards of one thousand warriors. 
 
 On October 27th, over four hundred lodges of Indians, numbering 
 about two thousand men, 'women and children, surrendered to Colonel 
 Miles; five chiefs giving themselves up as hostages for the delivery of 
 men, women, children, ponies, arms and ammunition at the agencies; 
 Sitting Bull himself escaped northward with his own small band, and 
 was joined later by " Gall" and other chiefs with their followers. Having 
 returned to Tongue River Cantonment, Colonel Miles organized a force 
 numbering four hundred and thirty-four rifles and moved north in pur 
 suit of Sitting Bull, but the trail was obliterated by the snow, in the 
 vicinity of the Big Dry River. A band of one hundred and nineteen 
 lodges under "Iron Dog" crossed the Missouri in advance of the com 
 mand and dissolved itself in the Yanktonnais camp, Sitting Bull conti 
 nuing to hover about the neighborhood of the Missouri River and its 
 branches, for some time afterwards. 
 
 October 14th, a detachment of Troop "K," 2d Cavalry was reported 
 as having a fight on Richard Creek, Wyoming, one soldier being killed. 
 
 General Crook, having learned that there was danger of a considera 
 ble number of Indians at Red Cloud Agency again attempting to join the 
 hostiles, directed a strong force, from his column, to proceed to that 
 agency, under command of Colonel Merritt, 5th Cavalry, for the purpose 
 of disarming and dismounting the bands from which trouble was expected. 
 Before Colonel Merritt could reach there, however, affairs had 'assumed 
 such a threatening aspect that it was determined to arrest and disarm the 
 Indians, with such force as was at hand. Accordingly Colonel Macken 
 zie, 4th Cavalry, with eight troops of cavalry, on 
 
 October 22d succeeded, at night, in surrounding and surprising Red 
 Cloud's and Red Leaf's bands, so that when daylight dawned on the 23d, 
 the Indians surrendered without firing a shot. The Indians, numbering 
 about four hundred warriors, were at once disarmed and, followed by 
 their families, with camp equipage and property, were brought into the 
 
73 
 
 agency, where they were released and put into camp. About seven hun 
 dred ponies were captured, together with all the arms and ammunition 
 the Indians had about their persons and in the lodges. 
 
 General Crook then had a council with Spotted Tail and, satisfied that 
 the latter intended to be loyal to the government, placed this Indian in 
 charge of all the Indians at both Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, 
 deposing Red Cloud, the conduct of whose followers had given evidence 
 of anything but proper intentions. These Indians were the same who 
 had killed a large part of the garrison of Fort Phil Kearney, in 1866, and 
 who had, in 1874, threatened to massacre the people at Red Cloud 
 Agency, because they attempted to hoist the United States flag over it. 
 
 The troops composing what had been known as the " Big Horn Expe 
 dition," under General Crook, having been distributed to their stations 
 for the winter, another column, known as the "Powder River Expedition," 
 was organized and left Fort Fetterman November 15th, 1876. It con 
 sisted of Troop " K," 2d Cavalry, " H," and K," 3d Cavalry, " B," " D," 
 E,"."F," and " M," 4th Cavalry and " H," and "L," 5th Cavalry, the 
 cavalry being all commanded by Colonel R. S. Mackenzie, 4th Cavalry. 
 The infantry and artillery, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel R. I. 
 Dodge, 23d Infantry, consisted of Companies "A," " B," D," "F," "I," 
 and "K," 9th Infantry, "D," and " G," 14th Infantry, "C," "G," and 
 I," 23d Infantry and " C," " F," H," and " K," 4th Artillery. A can 
 tonment was established near old Fort Reno, Wyoming, and the cavalry 
 was sent out, under Colonel Mackenzie, to find and strike a large village 
 which had been reported. 
 
 At noon on November 24th, while marching toward the Sioux Pass of 
 the Big Horn Mountains, Mackenzie's Indian scouts reported the camp 
 of the enemy about twenty miles distant, near the north fork of Powder 
 River. The command halted till sunset, intending, by a night march, to 
 surprise the Indians at daybreak, and soon after that hour on the 25th, 
 almost a complete surprise was effected. The only practicable approach 
 to the village was at the lower end and the Indians took refuge in a net 
 work of very deep ravines beyond the upper end of the camp, leaving on 
 foot and taking nothing but their arms with them. A brisk fight for 
 about an hour ensued, after which skirmishing was kept up until night. 
 The village, consisting of one hundred and seventy-three lodges, with 
 their contents, was entirely destroyed and about five hundred ponies were 
 captured. The bodies of twenty-five dead Indians fell into the hands of 
 the troops, but it was believed a much heavier loss was inflicted. The 
 casualties to the troops were five men killed and twenty-five wounded, 
 besides nineteen horses killed. In a very gallant charge upon the 
 Indians, Lieutenant John A. McKinney, 4th Cavalry, was killed. 
 
 The severity of the weather was intense, and being so encumbered by 
 his wounded, Mackenzie rejoined the main column of the expedition 
 
74 
 
 which had been following him, all returning to the cantonment near 
 Fort Reno. The thermometer was so far below zero that further active 
 field operations, in such weather, were considered impracticable and they 
 were, therefore, suspended for the winter. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the Department of Dakota, the operations of Colonel 
 Miles against Sitting Bull and his confederates were continued. On 
 December 7th, First Lieutenant F. D. Baldwin, with Companies " G," 
 "H," and "I," 5th Infantry, numbering one hundred officers and men, 
 overtook Sitting Bull's camp of one hundred and ninety lodges, followed 
 and drove it south of the Missouri, near the mouth of Bark Creek. The 
 Indians resisted Baldwin's crossing of the river, for a short time and then 
 retreated into the bad lands. On December 18th, this same force, under 
 Lieutenant Baldwin, surprised Sitting Bull's band of one hundred and 
 twenty-two lodges, near the head of the Red water, a southern affluent of 
 the Missouri, capturing the entire camp and its contents, together with 
 about sixty horses, ponies and mules. The Indians escaped with little 
 besides what they had upon their persons and scattered southward across 
 the Yellowstone. 
 
1877. 
 
 The large cantonment at the mouth of the Tongue River having been 
 established, from this point as a base, the pursuit of the remnants of the 
 Sioux and Northern Cheyennes with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, was 
 energetically pressed by the troops under Colonel Miles. The low state 
 of water in the river, now gave the troops on the Yellowstone a three-fold 
 task of great difficulty, to shelter themselves by building huts, to bring 
 up their supplies by tedious hauling from the head of navigation, and to 
 prosecute, simultaneously, in the midst of winter, vigorous field opera 
 tions against the hostiles. 
 
 On the 29th of December, Colonel Miles, with Companies " A," "C," 
 "D," "E," and "K," 5th Infantry, and Companies " E," and " F," 22d 
 Infantry, numbering four hundred and thirty-six officers and men, with 
 two pieces of artillery, moved out against the Sioux and Cheyennes 
 under Crazy Horse, whose camp had been reported south of the Yellow 
 stone, in the valley of Tongue River. As the column moved up 
 the Tongue, the Indians abandoned their winter camps consisting of 
 about six hundred lodges, and the column had two sharp skirmishes on 
 the 1st and 3d of January, driving the Indians up the valley of 
 Tongue River, until the night of the 7th, when the advance captured a 
 young warrior and seven Cheyenne women and children, who proved to 
 be relatives of one of the head-men of the tribe. A determined attempt 
 was made by the Indians to rescue the prisoners, and preparations were 
 made for the severe fight to be expected the next day. On the morning 
 of January 8th, about six hundred warriors appeared in front of the troops 
 and an engagement followed, lasting about five hours. The fight took 
 place in a canon, the Indians occupying a spur of the Wolf Mountain 
 range, from which they were driven by repeated charges. The ground 
 was covered with ice and snow to a depth of from one to three feet, and 
 the latter portion of the engagement was fought in a blinding snow 
 storm, the troops stumbling and falling, in scaling the ice and snow-cov 
 ered cliffs from which the Indians were driven, with serious loss in killed 
 and wounded, through the Wolf Mountains and in the direction of the 
 Big Horn range. The troops lost three men killed and eight wounded. 
 The column then returned to the cantonment at the mouth of Tongue 
 River. 
 
 January 9th, a detachment of Troops " H," and " L," 6th Cavalry, and 
 
76 
 
 Company " C," Indian scouts, under command of Lieutenant J. A. 
 Rucker, 6th Cavalry, from the Department of Arizona, had a fight with 
 a band of Indians in the mountains in the western part of New Mexico, 
 killing ten Indians and capturing one ; one enlisted man was wounded. 
 
 January 12th, on Elkhorn Creek, Wyoming, a small detachment of 
 Troop "A," 3d Cavalry, had a fight with a band of Indians, three 
 enlisted men being wounded. 
 
 February 23d, near Dead wood, Dakota, Lieutenant J. F. Cummings, 
 with Troop " C," 3d Cavalry, attacked a war party of Indians, killing 
 one Indian and re-capturing six hundred sheep, seventeen horses and 
 seven head of cattle. 
 
 May 4th, Captain P. L. Lee, with Troop " G," 10th Cavalry, had a 
 fight with Indians near Lake Quemado, Texas, killing four and capturing 
 six ; one enlisted man was killed, sixty-nine head of stock we're captured, 
 and twelve lodges, with their contents destroyed. On May 6th, three 
 more lodges and their supplies were burned by Captain Lee's command 
 in Canon Resecata. 
 
 The prisoners which Colonel Miles' command captured from Crazy 
 Horse's village, on the night of January 7th, proved a valuable acquisi 
 tion in communicating with the hostiles and in arranging negotiations 
 for their surrender. On February 1st Colonel Miles sent out a scout, 
 with two of the captives, offering terms on which a surrender would be 
 accepted, informing the hostiles that a non-compliance would result in a 
 movement of the troops against them. Following up the trail from the 
 scene of the engagement of January 8th, near the Wolf Mountains, the 
 Indians were found camped on a tributary of the Little Big Horn. The 
 mission was successfully executed and on February 19th the scout 
 returned with nineteen Indians, mainly chiefs and leading warriors, who 
 desired to learn the exact conditions upon which they could surrender. 
 The terms were repeated, viz : unconditional surrender and compliance 
 with such orders as might be received from higher authority. 
 The delegation returned to their village, the camps moved to near 
 the forks of Powder River, for a general council and a large 
 delegation of leading chiefs came in, March 18th, to learn whether 
 further concessions could be obtained from Colonel Miles. They 
 were informed that there would be no change in previous conditions 
 and that it would be equally satisfactory if the Indians surrendered at the 
 more southern agencies, but that they must do one thing or the other, or 
 troops would be immediately sent out after them. Crazy Horse's uncle, 
 named " Little Hawk," with others, then guaranteed to either bring the 
 Indian camp to the cantonment at Tongue River, or to take it to the 
 lower agencies, leaving in Colonel Miles' hands as a pledge of good 
 faith, nine hostages, prominent men and head warriors of both tribes. 
 Three hundred Indians led by " Two Moons," " Hump," and other chiefs, 
 
77 
 
 surrendered to Colonel Miles on April 22d. The largest part of the 
 bands, numbering more than two thousand, led by Crazy Horse, Little 
 Hawk, and others, moved southward and surrendered at the Red Cloud 
 and Spotted Tail Agencies in May. 
 
 Crazy Horse and his people were placed on the reservation, near 
 Camp Robinson, where, for a time, they appeared quiet and peaceable, 
 but in a few months the restraints of this new position became so irksome 
 to Crazy Horse, that he began to concoct schemes again involving his 
 people in war. It was determined, therefore, to arrest and confine him. 
 Whilst on his way to the guard-house, he broke from those around him 
 and attempted to escape by hewing his way, with a knife, through the 
 circle of sentinels and by-standers. In the melee, he was fatally wounded 
 and died on the night of September 7th. 
 
 In the meantime Sitting Bull's camp had gathered near the Yellow 
 stone, and when Crazy Horse and his confederates decided to place them 
 selves under subjection to the Government, Sitting Bull's band, in order 
 to avoid surrendering and to escape further pursuit, retreated beyond the 
 northern boundary and took refuge on Canadian soil, the party being in 
 a very destitute condition, almost out of ammunition and having lost 
 nearly everything excepting their guns and horses. 
 
 From those who had surrendered, Colonel Miles learned that a band 
 of renegades, chiefly Minneconjous, under "Lame Deer," had determined 
 not to yield, had broken off from those who surrendered at Tongue 
 River, and had moved westward. This was about April 22d, and as soon 
 as the necessary forage could be obtained, on May 1st, Colonel Miles, 
 with a force consisting of Troops " F," " G," " H," and " L," 2d Cavalry, 
 Companies " E," and " H," 5th Infantry, and "E," " F," G," and "H," 
 22d Infantry, started up Tongue River. At a point sixty-three miles 
 from its mouth, they cut loose from the wagons, struck across to and 
 moved up the Rosebud, and after a very hard march, with scarcely a halt 
 during two nights and one day, the command surprised Lame Deer's 
 band on May 7th, near the mouth of Muddy Creek, an affluent of the 
 Rosebud. The village was charged in fine style and the Indian herd 
 of animals cut off and secured. The Indians were called on to surren 
 der ; Lame Deer and " Iron Star," his head warrior, appeared desirous 
 of doing so, but after shaking hands with some of the officers, the Indians 
 either meditating treachery or fearing it, again began firing. This ended 
 peace making and the fight was resumed, the hostiles being driven, in a 
 running fight, eight miles, across the broken country, to the Rosebud. 
 Fourteen Indians were killed, including Lame Deer and Iron Star, four 
 hundred and fifty horses, mules and ponies, and the entire Indian camp 
 outfit were captured, including fifty-one lodges well stored with supplies. 
 Lieutenant A. M. Fuller, 2d Cavalry, was slightly wounded; four enlisted 
 men were killed and six were wounded. The Indians who escaped sub- 
 
78 
 
 sequently moved eastward to the Little Missouri and the command re 
 turned to the cantonment, where four companies, " B," " F," " G," and 
 " I," 5th Infantry, were mounted with the Indian ponies and continued 
 to serve as cavalry until after the Nez Percys campaign in the following 
 autumn. 
 
 During the remainder of May and the early part of June, the force 
 under Colonel Miles, commanding the district of the Yellowstone, was 
 increased by eleven troops of the 7th Cavalry, four companies of the 1st 
 Infantry, and two of the llth Infantry. A portion of these were sent 
 to assist in the construction of the new post on the Big Horn, (now Fort 
 Custer,) and field operations were continued by several separate columns 
 from Colonel Miles' force. 
 
 One of these detachments, consisting of six companies of the 22d 
 Infantry, three companies of the 1st Infantry, and one troop of the 
 7th Cavalry, under command of Major H. M. Lazelle, 1st Infantry, 
 on June 16th, left Tongue River, dropped down by boat to below the 
 mouth of Powder River, marched thence beyond the Box Elder, on the 
 Upper Little Missouri, and struck the trail of Lame Deer's band. This 
 was followed nearly to Sentinel Buttes, the advance overtaking and skir 
 mishing with a part of the band. 
 
 A second detachment, consisting of three troops of the 2d Cavalry 
 and one piece of artillery, was sent by boat from Tongue River to Glen- 
 dive, July 2d, with orders to march towards the Little Missouri and to 
 try to intercept the Indians pursued by Major Lazelle. The two forces 
 united on the Yellowstone about July 18th, and the three troops of the 
 2d Cavalry, reinforced by three companies, " A," " H," and " I," 5th In 
 fantry, mounted, were placed under command of Major J. S. Brisbin, 2d 
 Cavalry. These two commands moved across the Little Missouri, follow 
 ing the trail of the Indians up that stream to Short Pine Hills. Major 
 Lazelle's force then returned with the wagons to Wolf Rapids and sub 
 sequently to Tongue River, arriving there about the end of August. 
 Brisbin's column, with pack animals, continued the pursuit of the Indians 
 across the Little Powder River, then to the main Powder and over the 
 Wyoming boundary, gaining upon the hostiles and causing them to 
 abandon some of their property, but without succeeding in getting a 
 fight. Worn out by the hard marching and pursuit, Brisbin's column 
 returned by the valleys of Powder and Tongue Rivers to the canton 
 ment at the mouth of the latter, where it arrived August 30th; the In 
 dians, continually pursued and harrassed by the troops, moved south 
 ward to Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, surrendering there dur 
 ing the months of July, August and September. 
 
 In the latter part of July, the Nez Perec's Indians, pursued by Gen 
 eral Howard, with troops from the Department of the Columbia, made 
 their way, via the Lo-Lo trail, toward Montana; Captain Rawn, 7th In- 
 
79 
 
 fantry, promptly threw a small force consisting of his company of thirty 
 men and a few citizen volunteers, into the Lo-Lo Pass, where they in 
 trenched themselves in the canon, determined to dispute the entrance of 
 " Chief Joseph " and his band into Montana. 
 
 On July 27th, Captain Rawn had a talk with the Nez Perec's, who 
 proposed, if unmolested, to march peaceably through the Bitter Root 
 valley, but Captain Rawn refused to allow them to pass without the war 
 riors surrendering their arms. Another council was arranged for the fol 
 lowing day, July 28th, Captain Rawn hoping to detain the Nez Perces 
 until General Howard's troops, or expected assistance from Fort Shaw, 
 Montana, under Colonel Gibbon, should arrive. 
 
 After the second council, the Nez Perces refused to comply with Cap 
 tain Rawn's demands and, by climbing the hills, succeeded in passing 
 around his flank into the Bitter Root valley. Captain Rawn then aban 
 doned his breastworks, formed a skirmish line across the canon and ad 
 vanced in the direction the Indians had taken, but they retreated into 
 the Bitter Root; only about a dozen or twenty of the volunteers remain 
 ing with Captain Rawn's small company, it was obliged to return to its 
 post near Missoula. 
 
 Colonel J. Gibbon, 7th Infantry, having collected from the posts in 
 Montana, several companies of his regiment, started from Fort Shaw for 
 Missoula, one hundred and fifty miles distant, making the march in seven 
 days. He reached the new post, there, on the afternoon of August 3d, 
 his force consisting of companies " A," " D," " F," u G," " I," and " K," 
 7th Infantry, with about thirty-five citizen volunteers, aggregating one 
 hundred and ninety-one officers and men. 
 
 With this command Colonel Gibbon started in pursuit of the Indians, 
 who had turned southward up the valley of the Bitter Root, and after 
 five days of terrible climbing over the rugged and broken country inter 
 vening, the Nez Perces village was overtaken, on the night of the 8th 
 of August, in the " Big Hole Basin," Montana. The troops quietly 
 made their way;, in the darkness, through the Indian herd of ponies, and 
 stationed themselves near the village, the command lying down to wait 
 for dawn. 
 
 As day began to break, the troops, in perfect silence, moved to their 
 positions for attack, a deep slough, with water waist deep, having to be 
 crossed before reaching the Indian camp. Suddenly a single shot was 
 heard on the extreme left, followed quickly by others, and the line of 
 men sprang forward. A heavy fire was at once opened along the entire 
 length of the Indian " teepees," the startled Nez Perces rushing from 
 their lodges in every direction, many taking refuge in the brush and 
 behind the bank of the creek, along which the village lay. A destruc 
 tive fire. was poured into the troops, as the latter came into the open 
 
80 
 
 ground, but in less than twenty minutes they were in full possession oT 
 the camp and orders were given for its destruction. 
 
 Whilst part of the men were engaged in burning the lodges, the 
 Indians kept up a fire from their sheltered positions, officers and men 
 falling rapidly under these well directed shots, until orders were reluc 
 tantly given to withdraw from the village and take shelter in the timber. 
 This movement was successfully accomplished, the troops carrying off 
 with them such of their wounded as could be found, the Nez Perec's fol 
 lowing closely and keeping up a constant fire. The fighting continued 
 with activity all day, the Indians attempting to burn out the troops, by 
 setting fire to the grass and woods, and during the night shots were 
 occasionally discharged into the position of the troops. 
 
 In the night march, on August 8th, to surprise and attack the camp, 
 the supply train had to be left behind, so that the troops were wholly 
 without food, blankets, or medicine for the wounded, all being forced to 
 satisfy hunger, as well as they could, with the flesh of their dead horses. 
 About eleven o'clock at night, on August 10th, the Indians gave the 
 troops a parting volley and disappeared. 
 
 On the morning of August llth, parties were sent out by Gibbon to 
 bury the dead, all of whom were found and properly interred. At ten 
 o'clock in the morning, General Howard, with a small escort from his 
 column, reached Gibbon's position, and preparations were at once made 
 to resume the pursuit. 
 
 In this engagement the casualties were very great, considering the 
 small size of the force engaged, and were as follows : Killed, Captain 
 William Logan and First Lieutenant James H. Bradley, 7th Infantry, 
 twenty-one enlisted men and six citizens ; total killed, twenty-nine. 
 Wounded, Colonel John Gibbon, Captain C. Williams, two wounds ; 
 First Lieutenant C. A. Coolidge, three wounds ; First Lieutenant Wil 
 liam L. English, two wounds, one wound mortal ; Second Lieutenant C. 
 A. Woodruff, three wounds; four citizen volunteers wounded and thirty- 
 one enlisted men, one of the latter mortally; total killed and wounded, 
 sixty-nine, out of a strength of one hundred and ninety-one. Lieutenant 
 English died of his wounds August 19th. 
 
 Captain Comba, who commanded the burial party, reported finding 
 the bodies of eighty-nine dead Indians on the field. 
 
 On August 13th, fifty of Colonel Gibbon's badly crippled force vol 
 unteered, under Captain Browning and Lieutenants Wright and Van 
 Orsdale, to go with General Howard in pursuit of the hostiles, and Col 
 onel Gibbon proceeded with the wounded to Deer Lodge, Montana, 
 ninety-miles distant, where they arrived on August 16th. Captain R. 
 Norwood, with Troop " L," 2d Cavalry, started from Fort Ellis, August 
 8th, to join Colonel Gibbon in the field, but while en route was ordered 
 to report to General Howard. 
 
81 
 
 After leaving the Big Hole battle ground, the Nez Percys proceeded 
 south, past the town of Bannock, murdering settlers and stealing stock 
 as they went. They then crossed the main divide of the Rocky Moun 
 tains, east of Fort Lemhi, turned east and recrossed the Rockies again, 
 near Henry's Lake, moved thence to the Madison River, up that stream 
 to the Geyser Basin and through that to the Yellowstone. This they 
 crossed, and then moved, by an irregular course, to Clark's Fork and 
 down that to its junction with the Yellowstone, closely pursued by Gen 
 eral Howard's wearied troops and the detachment from Colonel Gibbon's 
 command. 
 
 Early in the morning of August 20th, at Camas Meadows, Idaho, the" 
 Nez Perces succeeded in capturing about one hundred mules from Gen 
 eral Howard; Major San ford, with two troops of the 1st Cavalry, and 
 that of Captain Norwood, pursued with great energy, struck the Indians 
 and recaptured about fifty of the animals. In this attack Lieutenant H. 
 M. Be/ison, 7th Infantry, attached to Captain Norwood's troop, and six 
 enlisted men were wounded ; one enlisted man w r as killed. 
 
 Information of the direction' the Nez Perces were taking having been 
 transmitted by telegraph, Colonel Sturgis, with Troops "F," " G," "H," 
 " I," " L," and " M," 7th Cavalry, numbering about three hundred and 
 sixty men, was dispatched from the neighborhood of Tongue River, to 
 try to intercept the hostiles in the direction of. Judith Gap. On August 
 27th, Colonel Sturgis received, by way of Fort Ellis, a telegram from 
 General Howard, dated the 25th, at Virginia City, Montana, stating that 
 the hostiles would cross the Stinking River, about one hundred miles 
 southeast of the Crow Agency : he also reqeived information through 
 his scouting parties which satisfied him that the Nez Percys were still 
 south of the Yellowstone, so Colonel Sturgis decided to watch both the 
 Stinking River and Clark's Fork. On September 8th he struck the trail, 
 and on September llth met the exhausted troops of General Howard in 
 the vicinity of Clark's Fork. 
 
 Colonel Sturgis pushed on, with his own command, hoping by forced 
 marches of fifty or sixty miles per day, for three or four days, to over 
 take the Nez Perces; so, joined by about fifty men of Troops " C," and 
 " K," 1st Cavalry, and two mountain howitzers from General Howard's 
 expedition, the chase was resumed. At the same time word was sent by 
 couriers to Colonel Miles, at Tongue River, notifying him of the course 
 the Nez Perec's were last following, in the belief that he might, by a 
 rapid direct march from his post, intercept the hostiles still further to the 
 north. 
 
 The first day after leaving General Howard, Colonel Sturgis marched 
 fifty miles, and the next morning, September 13th, he reached the Yel 
 lowstone and crossed the river. The Nez Perces being reported in sight, 
 the column moved rapidly down the valley six or seven miles, the advance 
 
82 
 
 guard attacking a few Indian skirmishers posted behind the crests of 
 some ridges. Colonel Sturgis' entire force soon became engaged and 
 drove these Indians back upon their main body which was moving up 
 Cailon Creek. The Indians strongly occupied both the cafion and high 
 ground on each side of it, but they were steadily driven by the troops 
 from rock to rock, toward the head of the canon, when nightfall put an 
 end to the fight. 
 
 The loss of the Indians in this engagement and in the pursuit on the 
 following day, was twenty-one killed ; the loss of the troops was three 
 enlisted men killed and Captain T. H. French, 7th Cavalry, and eleven 
 enlisted men wounded ; the number of ponies lost by the Indians was 
 altogether about nine hundred. 
 
 Early on September 14th, Sturgis resumed the pursuit, preceeded by 
 a large party of Crow scouts, who killed five more of the rear guard of 
 the Nez Perces and captured four hundred of the entire number of ponies 
 taken by Sturgis' command. Worn out by incessant marching, the 
 troops could do little, however, to diminish the distance between them 
 selves and the Indians, every officer and man of the cavalry taken from 
 General Howard's column, being on foot, owing to the exhausted condition 
 of their horses. For several days the troops had been wholly without 
 rations and the limit of endurance had been reached by both men and 
 animals; Colonel Sturgis accordingly discontinued his pursuit and waited 
 for General Howard to overtake him, when both commands were united, 
 and marched together from the Musselshell to the Missouri, reaching 
 Carroll, on October 1st. General Howard proceeded by boat to Cow 
 Island, leaving Colonel Stuxgis in command of the troops. 
 
 The night of September 17th, Colonel Miles received the communica 
 tions informing him of the movements of the Nez Perces; he at once 
 started from Tongue River, September 18th, and marched rapidly in a 
 northwest direction to intercept the enemy. His force consisted of 
 Troops "F," U G," and H," 3d Cavalry, "A," " D," and " K," 7th 
 Cavalry and Companies "B," "F," "-G," "I," and "K," 5th Infantry, 
 (mounted,) two pieces of light artillery and a detachment of white and 
 Indian scouts; he decided to push for the gap between the northern end 
 of the Little Rocky and the Bear Paw Mountains. On September 23d 
 the Nez Perec's crossed the Missouri, at Cow Island, destroying the public 
 and private stores there. A detachment of twelve men, under Sergeant 
 Molchert, 7th Infantry, was stationed at this point, in a slight intrench- 
 ment; they were repeatedly charged by the Nez Percys, who were, 
 however, as often repulsed by the little garrison consisting of but four 
 citizens and Sergeant Molchert's detachment ; two of the citizens were 
 wounded. 
 
 Major Ilges, 7th Infantry, commanding at Fort Benton, received 
 information, on September 21st, that the Nez Percys were approaching 
 
83 
 
 Fort Claggett; he immediately started with his single weak company of 
 the 7th Infantry and a party of thirty-six citizen volunteers, and reached 
 Claggett the next day. On September 26th a skirmish ensued, lasting 
 two hours, one of the volunteers being killed. Major Ilges, feeling that 
 his force was not strong enough to continue the pursuit, he withdrew to 
 Cow Island. 
 
 On September 25th. Colonel Miles received, through the citizens who 
 had escaped from Cow Island, information that the Indians had crossed 
 the Missouri, so he began very rapid forced marches which brought his 
 command to the Bear Paw range on September 29th. 
 
 On September 30th, at seven o'clock in the morning, after a march 
 of two hundred and sixty-seven miles, Colonel Miles' command was upon 
 the trail of the Nez Perces and their village was reported only a few 
 miles away. It was located within the curve of a cresent shaped cut 
 bank in the valley of Snake Creek and this, with the position of some 
 warriors in ravines leading into the valley, rendered it impossible, for his 
 scouts to determine the full size and strength of the camp. The whole 
 column, however, advanced at a rapid gait, the leading battalion of the 
 2d Cavalry being sent to make a slight detour, attack in rear, and cut off 
 and secure the herd. This was done in gallant style, the battalion, in a 
 running fight, capturing upwards of eight hundred ponies; the battalions 
 of the 7th Cavalry and the 5th Infantry charged, mounted, directly 
 upon the village. 
 
 The attack was met by a desperate resistance and every advance was 
 stubbornly contested by the Indians, but with a courageous persistence, 
 fighting dismounted, the troops secured command of the whole Indian 
 position, excepting the beds of the ravines in which some of the warriors 
 were posted. A charge was made on foot by a part of the 5th Infantry 
 down a slope and along the open valley of the creek into the village, but 
 the fire of the Indians soon disabled thirty-five per cent of the detach 
 ment which made this assault, and attempts to capture the village, by 
 such means, had to be abandoned. 
 
 In the first charge by the troops and during the hot fighting which 
 followed, Captain O. Hale, 7th Cavalry, Lieutenant J. W. Biddle, 7th 
 Cavalry, and twenty-two enlisted men were killed; Captains Moylan and 
 Godfrey, 7th Cavalry, First Lieutenants Baird and Romeyn, 5th Infantry, 
 and thirty-eight enlisted men were wounded. 
 
 The Indian herd having been captured, the eventual escape of the 
 village became almost impossible. The casualties to the troops had 
 amounted to twenty per cent of the force engaged, there were many 
 wounded to care for, and there were neither tents nor fuel, a cold wind 
 and snow storm prevailing on the night of September 30th, so Colonel 
 Miles determined to simply hold his advantage for a time, notifying 
 General Howard and Colonel Sturgis of the situation; Colonel Sturgis 
 
84 
 
 received Colonel Miles' dispatch on the evening of October 2d, and at 
 once started his troops for the battle field. 
 
 On the morning of October 1st, however, communication was opened 
 between Colonel Miles' troops and the Indians, and Chief Joseph, with 
 several of his warriors, appeared under a flag of truce: they expressed a 
 willingness to surrender, and brought up a part of their arms, (eleven 
 rifles and carbines,) but being suspicious, the Nez Percys remaining in 
 camp hesitated to come forward and lay down their arms. While Chief 
 Joseph remained in Colonel Miles' camp, Lieutenant Jerome, 3d Cavalry, 
 was sent to ascertain what was going on in the village; he went into the 
 Indian camp and was detained there by the Nez Percys, unharmed, until 
 Joseph returned on the afternoon of October 2d. General Howard with 
 a small escort, arrived upon the scene, on the evening of October 4th, in 
 time to be present at the full surrrender of the Indians. 
 
 During the fight with Colonel Miles' command, seventeen Indians 
 were killed and forty wounded; the surrender included eighty-seven war 
 riors, one hundred and eighty-four squaws and one hundred and forty- 
 seven children. The prisoners were first sent to Fort A. Lincoln, thence, 
 to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and were finally located in the Indian 
 Territory. 
 
 In the annual report for the year 18 77, by Colonel Miles, 'commanding 
 the district of the Yellowstone, the following summary of the operations 
 of his troops against Indians in that District, for the years 1876 and 1877, 
 appears; aggregate distance marched, over four thousand miles: besides 
 the large amount of property captured and destroyed, sixteen hundred 
 horses, ponies and mules were taken from the hostiles: each principal en 
 gagement was followed by important surrenders of bands, and upwards 
 of seven thousand Indians were either killed, captured, forced to sur 
 render, or driven out of the country. 
 
 September 29th, Lieutenant Bullis, 24th Infantry, with a small de 
 tachment, pursued a band of hostile Lipans and attacked them in their 
 camp, four miles from Saragossa, Mexico; he captured four squaws, one 
 boy, twelve horses and two mules and destroyed the Indians' camp 
 equipage. 
 
 November 1st, near the Rio Grande, Lieutenant Bullis, 24th Infantry, 
 with a detachment of thirty-seven Seminole scouts, had a fight with a 
 band of renegade Apaches and other Indians. Captain S. B. M. Young, 
 8th Cavalry, with a force of one hundred and sixty-two men, consisting 
 of Troops "A" and "K," 8th Cavalry, and "C," 10th Cavalry, and Lieu 
 tenant Bullis' detachment of scouts, after a very long pursuit, succeeded 
 in surprising this band of Indians near the Carmen Mountains, Mexico, 
 on November 29th. A charge by the troops dispersed the Indians in 
 every direction, with a loss of their camp equipage, seventeen horses, six 
 mules and some arms; one enlisted man was wounded. 
 
85 
 
 December 13th, at Ralston Flat, New Mexico, a detachment of Troops 
 "C," "G," "H," and "L," 6th Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant J. A. 
 Rucker, 6th Cavalry, from the Department of Arizona, had a skirmish in 
 which one Indian was killed; the same detachment had another fight with 
 Indians in Las Animas mountains, New Mexico, December 18th, when 
 fifteen more Indians were killed. 
 
 In addition to engagements between Troops and Indians, in the 
 Department of Texas, the following attacks were also specially reported 
 by various post commanders : 
 
 October 9th, 1876, Juan Marengo was killed at the mail station at 
 Eagle Springs, Texas. 
 
 Two men, named Kountz and Spears, mail carriers from Fort 
 McKavett, Texas, were killed : date not given. 
 
 February 22d, 1877, a buffalo hunter, named Soule, was killed near 
 the Staked Plains. 
 
 March 7th, 1877, four miles from Fort Davis, Deroteo Cardinas and 
 John Williams were killed. 
 
 The Commanding Officer Fort Clark, Texas, reported three persons 
 killed by Indians on April 20th, 21st, and 22d, 1877. 
 
 May 30th, 1877, Bescento Acosta was killed by Apaches, about four 
 miles from Fort Davis. 
 
 August 1st, 1877, Henry Dill, a stage driver, was killed at El Muerto, 
 Texas and on the same day, four miles from that place, a man named 
 Sandy Ball was killed. 
 
 A Mexican was killed, near Uvalde, November 16th, and two Mexi 
 can herders were also killed, near Fort Clark, on November 18th. 
 
 December 23d, Gabriel Valdez and Horan Parsons were killed in 
 Bass Canon, near Van Horn's Wells, Texas. 
 
1878. 
 
 January 5th, sixty miles northwest of Presidio del Norte, Texas, six 
 men were killed by Mescalero Apaches from the Fort Stanton reserva 
 tion, New Mexico. (Reported by commanding officer Fort Davis, 
 Texas.) 
 
 January 16th, Colonel J. E. Smith, 14th Infantry, commanding officer 
 at Fort Hall, Idaho, reported the surprise and capture by troops of his 
 command, of a party of hostile Bannocks at the Ross Fork Agency, 
 Idaho; ten warriors were disarmed and two hundred and fifty horses cap 
 tured. 
 
 On the same day, Companies " A," and " H," 25th Infantry, and 
 Troop " H," 10th Cavalry, commanded by Captain Courtney, 25th Infan 
 try, proceeded in pursuit of Indians who had raided Russell's ranch, on 
 the Rio Grande, Texas, where four Mexicans had been killed and three 
 wounded: the time which had elapsed before receiving news of the at 
 tack, and the distance to be marched by the troops were so great, how 
 ever, that the Indians could not be overtaken. The same day the com 
 manding officer of Fort McKavett, Texas, reported Mr. Doty killed by 
 Indians, near Brady City, Texas, and another person, name unknown, in 
 Mason County, Texas. 
 
 February 16th, Victorio Rios, a'nd Sevoriano Elivano, were killed by 
 Indians, at Point of Rocks, Limpia Canon, Texas. (Reported by com 
 manding officer Fort Davis, Texas.) 
 
 February 23d, the commanding officer at Fort Clark, Texas, reported 
 that R. W. Barry and Juan Dias were killed by Indians, on the Laredo 
 road, twenty-three miles below Fort Duncan, Texas. 
 
 April 15th, Lieutenant A. Geddes, 25th Infantry, with ten men of 
 Troop " K," 10th Cavalry, pursued to the Carrizo Mountains, a band of 
 Mescalero Apache Indians who had stolen twelve mules from a train near 
 Fort Davis, Texas. The same day Lieutenant Bigelow, with twenty-five 
 men of Troop " B," 10th Cavalry, pursued a band of Indians who had 
 killed a mail rider near Escondido Station, Texas; the trail was followed 
 for six days and the mail found, but the Indians could not be overtaken. 
 
 April 17th, the following named persons were killed : W. M. Mc- 
 CaJl, nine miles from Fort Quitman, Texas, Frederick B. Moore, at San 
 Ygnacio, McMullen County, and Vicenti Robledo, near Brown's ranch, 
 Texas; George and Dick Taylor were also killed, at Mr. Steele's ranch, 
 
88 
 
 on the Nueces River, Texas, by Li pan and Kickapoo Indians. (Reported 
 by the commanding officers of Fort Davis, San Diego, and Fort Clark, 
 Texas.) 
 
 April 18th, Guadaloupe Basan was killed at Rancho Soledad, Duval 
 County, Texas : near this ranch, on the same day, a Mexican shepherd 
 and his wife were shot, tied together and thrown across a horse : John 
 Jordan was also killed at Charco Escondido, Duval County, Texas. (Re 
 ported by commanding officer of San Diego, Texas.) 
 
 April 19th, Margarito Rodriguez was killed, ten miles west of Charco 
 Escondido, Texas; at Quijotes Gordes, Texas, Jose Maria Caiiales was 
 shot by Indians, thrown into his camp fire and his lower extremities con 
 sumed. (Reported by commanding officer at San Diego, Texas.) . 
 
 April 20th, Lonjinio Gonzales. mail rider, was killed near " Point of 
 Rocks," eighteen miles north east of Fort Davis, Texas; also Florentine 
 and another person, (name unknown); these were supposed to have been 
 killed by Mescalero Apaches from Fort Stanton reservation, New Mex 
 ico. (Reported by commanding officer at Fort Davis, Texas.) 
 
 The hostiles who had broken away and followed Sitting Bull to the 
 British Possessions in 1877, continued hovering in considerable numbers 
 on both sides of the boundary. Reports were received of over four hun 
 dred lodges having gone north, in various bands, since the 1st of Octo 
 ber, preceding, so Colonel Miles, with about eight hundred mounted 
 men from Fort Keogh, Montana, started in February for the purpose of 
 finding a large force of Indians then on the south side of the line ; 
 instructions were sent from the War Department, not to attack them, 
 however, if they remained north of the Missouri, so the expedition was 
 recalled under these conditions. On April 2d, the United States Indian 
 Agent at Fort Peck, hearing of the approach of a small force of troops 
 under Lieutenant Baldwin, 5th Infantry, requested that officer to visit 
 the agency, where small parties of well armed hostiles had been coming 
 in constantly, professing a desire to cease hostilities, demanding food, 
 making violent demonstrations when refused, and threatening the agent 
 by firing over his head : Lieutenant Baldwin proceeded to the agency, 
 leaving his troops on the south side of the river, and about April 25th he 
 received the surrender of a small band, five or six of whom were war 
 riors. 
 
 June 1st, the commanding officer of Fort Clark, Texas, reported that 
 two herders were killed at Mr. Nicholas Colson's ranch, twelve miles 
 west of Camp Wood, Texas. 
 
 June 28th, at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, a United States Marshal, 
 with a guard of soldiers, commanded by Lieutenant Whitall, 16th Infan 
 try, attempted to execute a writ for the arrest of Indians engaged in*an 
 attempt to kill a man named Montgomery; the Indians resisting and 
 
89 
 
 drawing their knives upon Lieutenant Whitall and his guard, two In 
 dians were killed and one wounded. 
 
 June 30th, Lieutenant C. R. Ward, with fifteen men of Troop " D," 
 10th Cavalry, pursued a band of Indians who had stolen seven horses on 
 the South Concho River, Texas; heavy rains having obliterated the trail, 
 the pursuit was finally abandoned. 
 
 Small parties of Nez Perec's having again committed murders and 
 depredations in Montana, on July 15th, First Lieutenant T. S. Wallace, 
 3d Infantry, with a detachment of fifteen mounted men, started in pur 
 suit : he overtook them near Middle Fork of the Clearwater, July 21st, 
 killed six Indians and wounded three, captured thirty-one horses and 
 mules, and killed twenty-three, without loss to his command. This party 
 were supposed to be deserters from " White Bird's " band, on their way 
 from British Columbia to their former homes in Idaho. 
 
 August 3d, Sergeant Claggett, with eleven men of Troop "H," 10th 
 Cavalry, pursued to the Guadaloupe Mountains, a band of Indians who 
 had killed a stage driver and run off stock at El Muerto, Texas. 
 
 Hostile Bannock Indians from .the Department of the Columbia, pro 
 ceeded eastward, over the Nez Perces trail of the previous year, stealing 
 stock on the way ; Captain J. Egan, with Troop " K," 2d Cavalry, pro 
 ceeded up the Madison River, in the direction of Henry's Lake, and on 
 August 27th struck a Bannock camp and captured fifty-six head of 
 stock. 
 
 Hearing of the approach of the Bannocks, Colonel Miles, with one 
 hundred men of the 5th Infantry and a band of thirty-five Crow scouts, 
 hastened to intercept the hostiles. A small party, under command of 
 Lieutenant Clark, 2d Cavalry, was detached by Colonel Miles, to make 
 a detour, and on the 29th and 80th of August struck parties of Ban 
 nocks, inflicting some damage in each case. Colonel Miles continued up 
 Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone, and on September 4th surprised a camp 
 of Bannocks, killed eleven Indians and captured thirty-one, together 
 with two hundred horses and mules: Captain Bennett, 5th Infantry, was 
 killed, also the Interpreter and one Indian scout ; one enlisted man was 
 wounded. 
 
 On September 12th, Lieutenant H. S. Bishop, 5th Cavalry, with a de 
 tachment of thirty men and some Shoshone scouts, struck a party of 
 Bannocks on a tributary of Snake River, Wyoming, killed one Indian 
 and captured seven, together with eleven horses and three mules : the 
 prisoners had escaped from the fight with Colonel Miles on Clark's Fork, 
 September 4th, and reported that they had lost twenty-eight killed in 
 that affair. 
 
 After the extensive surrenders in 1877, of the hostile Northern Chey- 
 ennes, in the Departments of Dakota and the Platte, a portion, number 
 ing two hundred and thirty-five men, three hundred and twelve women 
 
90 
 
 and three hundred and eighty-six children, with four Arapahoes, were 
 sent with a military guard from Fort Robinson, Nebraska, to the Chey 
 enne and Arapahoe Agency, at Fort Reno, Indian Territory, where they 
 were turned over to the Indian Agent on August 8th, 1877. 
 
 Subsequent to that date, other small parties surrendered and some died, 
 so that on July 1st, 1878, the number of Northern Cheyennes, at Fort 
 Reno, Indian Territory, was nine hundred and forty-two. An attempt 
 had been made by General Pope, commanding the Department of the 
 Missouri, to disarm and dismount these Indians, so as to place them on 
 the same footing with the Southern Cheyennes, but as it was found this 
 could not be done without violation of the conditions of their surrender, 
 they were permitted to retain their arms and ponies. 
 
 A large part of these Northern Cheyennes found friends and kindred 
 among the Southern Cheyennes at Fort Reno, mixed with them, and 
 joined the various bands. About one-third of the Northern Cheyennes, 
 however, under the leadership of "Dull Knife," " Wild Hog," "Little 
 Wolf," and others, comprising about three hundred and seventy-five 
 Indians, remained together and would not affiliate with the Southern 
 Cheyennes. Dissatisfied with life at their new agency at Fort Reno, 
 they determined to break away, move north and rejoin their friends 
 in the country where they formerly lived. As nearly as could be 
 ascertained, those who escaped from Fort Reno numbered eighty-nine 
 men, one hundred and twelve women and one hundred and thirty-four 
 children. Their intention to escape had long been suspected and their 
 movements were consequently watched by the troops, but by abandon 
 ing all their lodges, which they left standing, they stole away on the 
 night of September 9th. Two troops of the 4th Cavalry, under Captain 
 Rendlebrock, the only mounted force at Reno, started immediately in 
 pursuit, and the garrisons were ordered out from Forts Supply, Dodge, 
 Lyon and other places, near the Arkansas River, to intercept or overtake 
 the escaping band; some cavalry was also ordered up to Fort Reno, from 
 Fort Sill, to prevent an extension of this exodus, and two troops of the 
 4th Cavalry, were also directed to march rapidly from Fort Elliott, Texas, 
 to Fort Dodge. Besides these precautions, the garrisons of Fort Wal 
 lace, two companies of 16th Infantry, Fort Hays, three companies of 3d 
 Infantry, and Fort Leavenworth, the latter consisting of one hundred 
 mounted men of the 23d Infantry, altogether two hundred and fifty men, 
 were disposed along the line of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, to watch for 
 the Cheyennes, should they succeed in eluding the troops upon the Ar 
 kansas. 
 
 In the Department of the Platte, dispositions of troops were made 
 along the line of the Union Pacific Railroad, at points where the Indians 
 might be expected to cross, should they escape between the detachments 
 in the Department of the Missouri. 
 
91 
 
 On September 16th, Lieutenant Colonel Wm. H. Lewis, 19th Infan 
 try, commanding officer at Fort Dodge, Kansas, reported that the Chey- 
 ennes were raiding about the mouth of Bluff Creek, Indian Territory, 
 and were driving off stock. Colonel Lewis sent all the force he could 
 spare (about forty men of the 19th Infantry,) to Pierce ville, north of the 
 Arkansas, and west of Fort Dodge, to try and strike the Indians, if they 
 attempted to cross the river. On September 19th, he sent Captain 
 Morse, with his company of thirty-five men of the 16th Infantry, ten 
 more men of the 19th Infantry, and Troop " I," 4th Cavalry, all of whom 
 had arrived at Fort Dodge, to assist in pursuit south of the Arkansas. 
 
 All the operations along the line of the Arkansas were finally placed 
 under direction of Colonel Lewis, whose force at last numbered about 
 two hundred and fifty men, only one half of them being cavalry. 
 
 On September 21st, about dark, the united companies of Captain 
 Rendlebrock and Captain Morse, numbering about one hundred and fifty 
 soldiers, with some fifty citizens, had a skirmish with the Indians on Sand 
 Creek, south of the Arkansas, and again upon the following day. 
 
 On the 24th of September the trail of the Indians was found north 
 east of Pierceville, showing that they had succeeded in crossing the 
 Arkansas, and on the morning of the 25th, Colonel Lewis, in command of 
 all the detachments of troops in the immediate neighborhood, started in 
 pursuit, his cavalry having only just arrived at Fort Dodge, after a very 
 hard forced march from Fort Elliot, Texas. 
 
 Colonel Lewis pursued rapidly in a northwest direction, through 
 Kansas, until about five o'clock in the evening, on September 28th, when 
 he overtook the Cheyennes on " Punished Woman's Fork " of the Smoky 
 Hill River, where the Indians were found very strongly intrenched and 
 waiting for the troops. Colonel Lewis attacked them at once, and in 
 gallantly leading an assault upon their position, he was mortally wounded, 
 dying the same night whilst being conveyed in an ambulance to the 
 nearest military post, Fort Wallace, Kansas; three enlisted men were 
 wounded, one Indian was found killed, and seventeen dead saddle ponies; 
 sixty-two head of stock were captured. 
 
 On the morning of September 28th, the senior surviving officer, 
 Captain Mauck, 4th Cavalry, continued the pursuit and reached the 
 Kansas Pacific Railroad, on the morning of September 29th, the Indians 
 having succeeded in passing between the infantry detachments patrolling 
 the line of that road, and having crossed the track near Carlyle, Kansas, 
 during the night of September 28th. 
 
 All the troops on the line of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, under com 
 mand of Colonel Jeff. C. Davis, 23d Infantry, were then pushed north 
 ward in pursuit, as was also the cavalry under Captain Mauck, but the 
 Indians tore through the country, murdering arid devastating the settle 
 ments on the Beaver, the Solomon and the Republican, killing every 
 
92 
 
 settler they encountered, remounting themselves with some two hundred 
 and fifty horses stolen on the way, and abandoning about sixty worn 
 out ponies in crossing the state of Kansas. 
 
 On November llth, the Governor of Kansas in writing informed the 
 Honorable Secretary of War that in this raid through his state the Chey- 
 ennes had murdered over forty men and had ravished many women. 
 
 Simultaneously with the escape from Fort Reno, of this party of 
 Northern Cheyennes, under "Dull Knife" and other chiefs, a band of one 
 hundred and eighty-two surrendered Northern Cheyennes, from Fort 
 Keogh, Montana, were also moving, with a small military escort, towards 
 the Indian Territory, to be located on the same reservation at Fort Reno. 
 These Indians were at once halted at Fort Sidney, Nebraska, and for a 
 time serious apprehensions were felt that they might learn of the escape 
 of their people from the Indian Territory, and attempt to unite with them. 
 
 The utmost activity prevailed on the part of the few troops which 
 could be collected upon the line of the Union Pacific Railway, and a train 
 of cars was kept ready at Sidney, with steam up, to rapidly throw all that 
 could then be assembled, ( about one hundred and forty infantry and 
 cavalry, under Major Thornburgh, 4th Infantry,) upon any point on the 
 road where the fugitives from the south might attempt to cross. General 
 Merritt, with the 5th Cavalry, was ordered to move as rapidly as possible 
 to Fort Laramie, and Colonel Carlton, with the 3d Cavalry, to Fort 
 Robinson, while other troops in the Department also joined in the 
 pursuit. 
 
 In spite of all precautions, however, on October 4th the Cheyennes 
 crossed the Union Pacific Railway at Alkali Station, a considerable 
 distance east of Sidney. Within an hour after receipt of the news, Major 
 Thornburgh, with the troops at Sidney, were on board of a train, hasten 
 ing toward the place of the crossing. Captain Mauck, with the troops 
 following on the trail from the Department of the Missouri, arrived only 
 a few hours later. Major Thornburgh, with his small detachment of 
 cavalry and mounted infantry, pushed ahead rapidly upon the trail, the 
 rest of his infantry following in wagons as fast as they could, through a 
 very difficult country, selected by the Indians, full of high hills of soft 
 sand and destitute of water and grass: All of Thornburgh's wagons were 
 soon abandoned and his troops pressed on, from October 6th, to October 
 10th, with only such supplies as could be carried on their horses. On 
 October 10th, Thornburgh's command, wholly out of rations, joined a 
 column of five troops of the 3d Cavalry, under Major Carlton, near the 
 Niobrara River where, finding further immediate pursuit impracticable, 
 the two commands marched to Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, having suffered 
 severely for want of food and water, and being completely worn out by 
 the hard pursuit through the sand hills. Captain Mauck's command was 
 exhausted by their long march all the way from Texas and their rapid 
 
93 
 
 chase of the fugitives, so they moved to Fort Sidney, whence they con 
 ducted the Northern Cheyenne prisoners, held there, to the Indian 
 Territory. 
 
 On October 15th, the commanding officer at Fort Robinson tele 
 graphed that Indians had run off stock in that vicinity, so Major Carlton's 
 column of the 3d Cavalry started from Camp Sheridan for Fort Robinson. 
 The same day the commanding officer of Fort Sidney reported the capture 
 of two Cheyennes, by a party of cow boys, on Snake Creek; the prisoners 
 stated the fugitives had intended to reach the Cheyennes supposed to be 
 at Fort Keogh, Montana, where, if permitted to stay, they would them 
 selves surrender, otherwise that they should try to join Sitting Bull who 
 still remained in the British Possessions. These prisoners also stated, 
 through Mr. Ben Clarke, Cheyenne Interpreter, that they had lost fifteen 
 killed in the various fights subsequent to their escape from Fort Reno. 
 
 The fugitives having now eluded capture in both the Departments of 
 the Missouri and the Platte, the troops in the Department of Dakota 
 were added to the pursuing forces, and on October 17th, Major Tilford, 
 with nine troops of the 7th Cavalry, two companies of the 1st, and two of 
 the llth Infantry, numbering four hundred and thirty enlisted men, 
 reached Camp Sheridan, from Bear Buttes, (Fort Meade,) Dakota. 
 
 On October 18th, Acting Indian Agent Tibbetts, Red Cloud Agency, 
 reported the capture, by Red Cloud's Indians, of a party of ten of the 
 fugitives. On October 21st, Major Carl ton reported that " American 
 Horse," an Agency Indian, expressed the opinion that two parties of the 
 Cheyennes had escaped northward, but that a third party still remained 
 in the Sand Hills, and that the Agency Indians wanted to catch them, if 
 they could keep their captured arms and horses. Major Carlton detached 
 a force in search of this party, and on October 23d, Captain J. B. John 
 son, commanding Troops "B" and " D," 3d Cavalry, captured one hun 
 dred and forty-nine of the Cheyennes and one hundred and forty head of 
 stock: Chiefs " Dull Knife," " Old Crow " and " Wild Hog," were among 
 the prisoners. Their ponies were taken away, together with such arms 
 as could then be found, but the prisoners said they would die, rather than 
 be taken back to the Indian Territory. On October 25th, when told they 
 must go to Fort Robinson, regarding this as a step toward the Indian 
 Territory, they began digging rifle pits and constructing breastworks in 
 their camp; a fight seemed inevitable, but by great coolness and good 
 judgment, on the part of the officers, a collision was prevented : rein 
 forcements, with two pieces of artillery arrived, when the Indians yielded 
 and accompanied the troops to Fort Robinson, where all arms which 
 could be found remaining, were taken from them and the prisoners were 
 confined in an empty set of barracks. The remainder of the fugitives, 
 under " Little Wolf," succeeded in making their escape, by scattering 
 
94 
 
 among the sand hills, where a dense snow covered their trail, though troops 
 kept up the search until numbers of the soldiers were badly frozen. 
 
 On October 5th, the commanding officer Fort Clark, Texas, reported 
 that one boy and three girls, belonging to a family named Dowdy, were 
 killed by Indians at a ranch on Johnson's Fork of the Gaudaloupe, 
 Texas. 
 
 October 22d, Major G. Ilges, 7th Infantry, with a detachment of 
 troops from Fort Benton, Montana, captured a camp of thirty-five half- 
 breed Indians, with eighty horses and fourteen guns, trespassers in Mon 
 tana, from the British Possessions. The same day, John Sanders, a stage 
 driver, was killed near Flat Rocks, Texas. (Reported by the command 
 ing officer of Fort Stockton, Texas.) 
 
 November 27th, the commanding officer of Fort Ellis, Montana, re 
 ported that " Ten Doy," a friendly. Indian, had arrested seven hostile 
 Bannocks, disarmed them and sent them under an Indian guard, to Col 
 onel Miles, at Tongue River. 
 
879. 
 
 The Northern Cheyennes held in confinement at Fort Robinson, were 
 informed that the Indian Department had directed their return to the 
 country from which they had escaped ; only a few of the prisoners, how 
 ever, expressed a willingness to go, and upon attempting to remove 
 their effects from the prison room, were forcibly detained there by the 
 other Indians who, fearing punishment for the crimes which they had 
 committed during their flight, were determined to die, rather than be 
 taken back to the south, again. 
 
 On January 9th it was decided to arrest " Wild Hog," the principal 
 disturber, and he was securely ironed only after a very severe struggle, 
 in which a soldier was stabbed. The Indians in the building used as a 
 prison, immediately barricaded the doors and covered the windows, to 
 conceal their movements, tearing up the floor and making rifle-pits to 
 command all the entrances. Ai first it was supposed the Indians had 
 only knives, but when captured they had also succeeded in concealing 
 some pistols and carbines; armed with slings and other weapons, their 
 prison room was described in an official report as "like a den of rattle 
 snakes," into which it was certain death for any white man to enter. 
 
 About ten o'clock on the night of January 10th, while six sentinels 
 were on guard around the prison building, shots were fired from the 
 windows, killing two of the sentinels and wounding a corporal in the 
 guard room. Simultaneously a rush was made from all the windows, 
 the Indians dashing out resolved to kill or be killed. The guard and 
 the troops of the garrison gave chase, the Indians fleeing toward the 
 creek near the post, and keeping up an incessant fire upon their pursuers. 
 All refused to surrender, when called upon to do so, and in the various 
 struggles which took place, altogether five soldiers were killed and seven 
 wounded ; thirty-two Indians were killed and seventy-one were recap 
 tured. The pursuit of the remainder was continued, and on January 
 llth, about twelve miles from the post, they were overtaken in a strongly 
 intrenched position, where skirmishing was kept/up all day, the Indians 
 appearing to have plenty of ammunition. On January 13th, Lieuten 
 ant Simpson, of the 3d Cavalry, attacked them and had one corporal 
 killed ; later in the day he struck them again near the Hat Creek road, 
 where he had another enlisted man wounded. On January 14th the 
 Indians were again attacked by the troops, in a strongly intrenched place, 
 
96 
 
 about twenty miles from Fort Robinson ; shells were fired into their 
 position, but no damage appeared to be done and during the night they 
 again succeeded in making their escape. Of the fugitives only forty-five 
 now remained unaccounted for by death or capture ; of these nineteen 
 were warriors, and all were evidently bent upon joining " Little Wolf's" 
 band from which they had become separated whilst escaping from the 
 Indian Territory. 
 
 On January 18th, a lot of horses were taken from a ranch on the 
 Sidney road, believed to be stolen by some of Little Wolfs band, and 
 troops from Fort D. A. Russell were sent in pursuit. 
 
 On January 20th, Major Evans with Troops "B" and "D," 3d 
 Cavalry, intercepted the Cheyennes who had left Fort Robinson, strongly 
 posted upon some cliffs ; they escaped, however, during the night, toward 
 the Red Cloud Agency, but Captain Wessells, with Troops " A," " E," 
 "F," and "H," 3d Cavalry, overtook them again on January 22d, near 
 the telegraph line from Fort Robinson to Hat Creek, where they were 
 intrenched in a gully. They refused all terms of surrender, so Captain 
 Wessells' force charged them and killed or captured the entire party : 
 Captain Wessells and two men were wounded and three enlisted men 
 were killed ; twenty-three Cheyennes were killed and nine were cap 
 tured, three of whom were wounded. The prisoners reported that "Dull 
 Knife" had been killed by a shell, in the artillery attack upon their 
 position a few days before. 
 
 February 13th, "Victoria," with twenty-two Warm Spring Apache 
 Indians who had made their escape when about being taken to the San 
 Carlos Agency, Arizona, surrendered to Lieutenant Merritt, 9th Cavalry, 
 at Ojo Caliente, New Mexico ; after his escape, Victoria had been to 
 old Mexico, and now desired to send to the Fort Stanton Indian reserva 
 tion, where he believed there were other Indians belonging to his band. 
 He was given a pass to send two of his Indians, and in a few days a total 
 of thirty-nine Warm Spring Indians were gathered at Ojo Caliente. 
 Learning, however, that the whole band were to be sent to the Stanton 
 reservation, on April 15th they all broke away again from Ojo Caliente 
 and escaped to the San Mateo Mountains, New Mexico. Two troops of 
 the 9th Cavalry and one company of Indian scouts were sent in pursuit, 
 followed Victoria into Arizona whence, joined by other Indians from the 
 San Carlos Agency, they all succeeded in escaping into old Mexico. 
 
 March 15th a Mexican herder was killed about fifty miles from Fort 
 Ewell, Texas. 
 
 March 25th, near Box Elder Creek, in the Department of Dakota, 
 Lieutenant Clark, 2d Cavalry, with Troops " E " and " I," 2d Cavalry, a 
 detachment of infantry, a field gun and some Indian scouts, overtook 
 "Little Wolf" and his band of Northern Cheyennes who had escaped 
 from Fort Reno, Indian Territory, the previous autumn, and had thus far 
 
97 
 
 eluded every attempt at capture. The Indians were persuaded to sur 
 render without fighting and gave up thirty-five lodges, with all their 
 arms and about two hundred and fifty ponies, and marched with the 
 troops to Fort Keogh, Montana. The band numbered thirty-three men, 
 forty-three squaws and thirty-eight children. 
 
 For murdering two members of this band, a party of eight Indians 
 had been driven out of Little Wolfs camp previously, and this small 
 party, on the 5th of April, attacked a signal sergeant and a private soldier 
 of the 2d Cavalry, on Mizpah Creek, killing the private, severely 
 wounding the sergeant and capturing their horses. Sergeant Glover, 
 Troop " B," 2d Cavalry, with ten men and three Indian scouts from 
 Fort Keogh, pursued this small party and captured them all on April 
 10th. 
 
 March 1st, several head of stock were stolen by Indians from 
 McDonald and Dillon's ranch near Powder River, Montana. March 4th, 
 twenty-three head of stock were also stolen from Countryman's ranch, 
 near the mouth of the Stillwater. March 28th, Indians attacked two white 
 men, near the mouth of the Big Horn River, killed one, named H. D. 
 Johnson, and wounded the other, named James Stearns ; a man named 
 Dave Henderson was also killed the same day, near Buffalo Station, on 
 the Yellowstone. Horses were also run off from Pease's Bottom, near the 
 mouth of Buffalo Creek, and sixty-seven ponies were stolen from the 
 Crows* at their agency. The Indians committing these depredations 
 were ascertained to be Sioux from the north, with a few Nez Percys; 
 Captains Mix and Gregg with their troops of the 2d Cavalry were 
 dispatched in pursuit, but after a very hard chase were unable to over 
 take the marauders. 
 
 April 4th, the commanding officer of Fort Ellis, Montana, reported 
 that Indians had stolen twenty-five or thirty horses, the previous night, 
 from Countryman's ranch on the Yellowstone, and that a party of citizens 
 and some friendly Crow Indians had gone in pursuit. On April 5th, the 
 same officer reported that Sioux and half-breed Nez Perces had raided 
 the Crow Indians on the Stillwater. On April 6th, Indians also attacked 
 the ranch of Sebezzo and Peterson, near Powder River, killed the 
 former, wounded the latter and ran off eight or ten head of stock. 
 The Indians were recognized as Gros Ventres, and came from the 
 Northwest Territory. 
 
 On April 10th, the commanding officer of Fort Ellis reported that 
 Indians attempted to steal stock at Young's Point, but were discovered 
 and driven off; on April 14th, seven horses were stolen by Indians on 
 Pryor's Fork ; on April 22d, the same officer reported that some Crow 
 Indian scouts had overtaken a party of Sioux who had stolen horses from 
 Countryman's ranch, and had killed one of the hostiles. 
 
 Lieutenant L. H. Loder, 7th Infantry, with fourteen mounted men, of 
 
the 3d and 7th Infantry, and six Indian scouts, pursued a party of Sioux 
 who had been committing depredations, and on April 17th attacked them 
 near Careless Creek, at the head of the Musselshell Canon, Montana, and 
 killed eight of the hostiles ; two of the scouts were killed and one 
 wounded. 
 
 May 3d, Indians ran off twelve head of stock from the east side of the 
 Little Big Horn : the commanding officer of Fort Ouster sent a detach 
 ment of Crow scouts in pursuit, but the thieves could not be overtaken. 
 
 May 1st, a Mexican teamster was killed between Fort Ewell and 
 Corpus Christi, Texas. (Reported by commanding officer Fort Mclntosh, 
 Texas.) 
 
 May 18th, John Clarkson was murdered near Van Horn's Wells, 
 Texas. (Reported by commanding officer Fort Davis, Texas.) 
 
 May 29th, Captain Beyer with Troop "C," and a detachment of Troop 
 "I," 9th Cavalry, attacked Victoria's Apaches in the Miembres Mount 
 ains, New Mexico, captured the camp with all the animals, and wounded 
 four Indians, two of them mortally : one enlisted man was killed and two 
 wounded. The band fled into old Mexico, five of their number being 
 killed near the San Francisco settlement, New Mexico. 
 
 June 1st, the commanding officer of Fort Clark, Texas, reported that 
 the wife and two daughters of N. Colson were killed by Indians, near 
 Camp Wood, Texas. 
 
 June 16th, a party of Texans pursued a band of Indians and recap 
 tured nineteen horses which had been stolen near Fort McKavett, Texas. 
 
 June 19th, a party of ten Sioux, with thirty stolen horses, crossed the 
 Missouri River about eleven miles above Fort Benton, Montana ; Lieuten 
 ant Van Orsdale, 7th Infantry, with a detachment of eight men caught up 
 with five of these Indians", killed one and drove the rest into the " Bad 
 Lands." 
 
 June 29th, Indians stole seven head of stock on the Little Big Horn, 
 about seven miles from Fort Custer, Montana : some Crow scouts also 
 had a fight with a band of Sioux near the head of Alkali Creek, about 
 twenty-five miles from Terry's Landing, on the Yellowstone, killed four 
 of the hostiles and captured thirty-three ponies : one Crow scout was 
 killed and four wounded. 
 
 June 30th, a man named Anglin was killed in a fight with Indians 
 near the head waters of the North Concho River, Texas. (Reported by 
 the commanding officer of Fort Concho, Texas.) 
 
 July 14th, a Mexican woman, (name unknown,) was killed about four 
 miles northeast of Fort Clark, Texas. (Reported by commanding officer 
 of Fort Clark.) 
 
 July 27th, Captain Courtney, 25th Infantry, with a detachment of ten 
 men of Troop "H," 10th Cavalry, had a fight with Indians at the salt 
 lakes near the Carrizo Mountains, Texas ; three Indians were wounded, 
 
99 
 
 two of them mortally, and ten ponies were captured ; two enlisted men 
 were wounded. 
 
 Many depredations having been recently committed by Indians in the 
 vicinity of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, it was ascertained that 
 large numbers of hostiles, half-breeds and foreign Indians, from British 
 Columbia, including the Indians under Sitting Bull, were roaming upon 
 United States territory, south of the boundary line. From a number of 
 reliable persons who had seen the main hostile camp, this was estimated 
 at not less than five thousand Indians, of whom two thousand were 
 warriors, with twelve thousand horses. Half-breed Indians had also been 
 trading with the hostiles and furnishing them with ammunition, so in 
 July Colonel Miles was sent from Fort Keogh, Montana, with a strong 
 force to break up their camp, separate the doubtful Indians from those 
 avowedly hostile, and force the foreign Indians to return north of the 
 boundary. 
 
 Colonel Miles' force consisted of seven companies 5th Infantry, seven 
 troops 2d Cavalry, a detachment of artillery and some friendly Indian 
 and white scouts. At Fort Peck he was joined by two companies of the 
 6th Infantry, and his entire command then numbered thirty-three 
 officers, six hundred and forty-three enlisted men and one hundred and 
 forty-three Indian and white scouts. 
 
 The hostiles consisted of the Uncapapas, under Sitting Bull, the Min- 
 neconjous, under "Black Eagle," the Sans Arcs, under " Spotted Eagle," 
 and the Ogallalas, under "Big Road " and " Broad Tail." 
 
 Colonel Miles reported that the depredations of the hostiles hack 
 resulted in the killing of not less than twenty men and the stealing of 
 three hundred head of stock, all of which had been taken to the hostile 
 camp. 
 
 As a preliminary step the Yanktonnais camp of about three or four 
 hundred lodges, were first moved to the south side of the Missouri, about 
 June 23d. 
 
 On July 17th, the advance guard of Colonel Miles' column, consisting 
 of a troop of the 2d Cavalry, a company of the 5th Infantry and about 
 fifty Indian scouts, commanded by Lieutenant Clark, 2d Cavalry, had a 
 sharp fight with from three to four hundred Indians, between Beaver and 
 Frenchmen's Creeks ; the Indians were pursued for twelve miles, when 
 the advance became surrounded : Colonel Miles moved forward rapidly 
 arid the hostiles fled north of Milk River. Several of the enemy were 
 killed and a large amount of their property abandoned; two enlisted men 
 and one Indian scout were wounded and three Indian scouts killed. 
 Sitting Bull himself was present in this engagement. 
 
 On July 31st, Colonel Miles reported that the main hostile camp had 
 retreated north, across the boundary, to Wood Mountain ; the column 
 
100 
 
 followed and halted on the main trail at the British line, whence it 
 returned to Milk River. 
 
 Attention was then turned to the camps of the half-breeds which had 
 formed a cordon of out-posts around the main hostile camp, furnishing 
 the latter with the supplies of war. On August 4th, Captain Ovenshine, 
 5th Infantry, with a portion of Colonel Miles' command, arrested a band 
 of half-breeds on Porcupine Creek, capturing one hundred and forty- 
 three carts and one hundred and ninety-three horses. On August 5th, 
 four camps of half-breeds were arrested, numbering three hundred and 
 eight carts. On August 8th, Colonel Miles reported the total number of 
 half-breeds arrested by various detachments, eight hundred and twenty- 
 nine, with six hundred and sixty-five carts. 
 
 On August 14th, Lieutenant Colonel Whistler, 5th Infantry, with 
 part of Colonel Miles' command, captured a band of fifty-seven Indians 
 with one hundred ponies, who had left the Rosebud Agency and were in 
 the act of crossing the Missouri, near Poplar Creek, on their way to join 
 Sitting Bull in the north. 
 
 On August 28th it was officially reported that extensive fires were 
 raging in the mountains west of Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado, the work 
 of Indian incendiaries. On September 10th, Mr. N. C. Meeker, agent 
 for the White River Utes, wrote to the Governor of Colorado that 
 Indians had fired upon an agency employe, whilst plowing, that his 
 house had been attacked, himself driven out of doors and injured con 
 siderably. Mr. Meeker stated that the lives of the people at the agency 
 were in danger and that at least one hundred soldiers should be sent 
 there to protect the people ; he therefore requested the governor of 
 Colorado to confer with General Pope, commanding the Department 
 of the Missouri, and with Senator Teller of Colorado, with the object of 
 obtaining the required aid. 
 
 On September 16th, directions were given by the Honorable Secretary 
 of War, in compliance with request from the Interior Department, for 
 the nearest military commander to send a force to the White River 
 Agency, to protect the agent and to arrest the ringleaders of the Indians 
 who had committed the outrages reported. Accordingly General Crook, 
 commanding the Department of the Platte, ordered Major T. T. Thorn- 
 burgh, 4th Infantry, with Troops " D " and " F," 5th Cavalry, " E," 3d 
 Cavalry, and Company u E," 4th Infantry, to proceed to the White River 
 Agency, Colorado. This force, numbering about two hundred officers 
 and men, left Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, September 21st, and reached 
 Fortification Creek, Colorado, September 25th. The infantry company 
 numbering about thirty men was left there, to establish a supply camp, 
 and the cavalry proceed to Bear Creek, September 26th. During the 
 afternoon of September 26th, several Ute Indians of prominence came 
 into the cavalry camp, talked freely with Major Thornburgh, on the 
 
101 
 
 subject of the troops coming to the agency, and departed about night, 
 apparently in good humor. At Williams Fork of Bear River, the next 
 day, September 27th, an employe of the White River Agency, named 
 Eskridge, accompanied by several prominent Ute Indians, arrived with 
 a letter from the agent, Mr. Meeker, to Major Thornburgh, stating that 
 the Indians at the agency were greatly excited and wished the advance 
 of the troops stopped, though agreeing to a proposition that the com 
 manding officer with five soldiers should come to the agency. Major 
 Thornburgh replied that he would camp his command at some convenient 
 place, the following day, and proceed on September 29th to the agency, 
 with only five men and a guide, as suggested ; but he also renewed a 
 former request for Mr. Meeker with such chiefs as the latter might select, 
 to come out and meet the command on the road. 
 
 On September 29th, at one o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Meeker 
 accordingly wrote that he would leave the agency, with several chiefs, 
 on the following morning, to meet Major Thornburgh. 
 
 On September 28th the cavalry camped at Deer Creek, and on the 
 29th reached Milk River, about ten o'clock in the morning. After 
 watering the horses, Troop " D," 5th Cavalry, was left to continue the 
 march along the road with the wagons, while Major Thornburgh, with 
 the rest of the cavalry, turned off from the road, taking a trail which bore 
 away to the left. After placing a mile between themselves and the 
 wagons, the troops with Major Thornburgh, in crossing a high ridge 
 commanding the main road along which the wagons were traveling, came 
 suddenly upon the Indians in heavy force. 
 
 The whole attitude of the Indians was hostile, so Major Thornburgh 
 at once dismounted and deployed his men, but at the same time tried to 
 open communication with the Indians. His overtures were, however, 
 met by a volley and a hot engagement at once began. The Indians had 
 not only the advantage of position but were superior in numbers to the 
 troops in advance, so Major Thornburgh determined to withdraw and 
 join the escort with the wagon train. The skirmish line retired slowly, 
 leading their horses, but returning a fire which did great execution 
 among the Indians. Failing to break the line of skirmishers, the Indians 
 attempted to get between them and the wagon train, which had gone 
 into park on the right bank of Milk River. The Indians took a strong 
 position commanding Thornburgh's line of retreat, and a charge by about 
 twenty men under Captain Payne was ordered, so as to clear a command 
 ing knoll of Indians, reach the train and arrange for its protection. This 
 was done and Major Thornburgh himself started for the train soon after 
 giving this order, but he was shot and instantly killed, just after crossing 
 the river and when within five hundred yards of the wagons. 
 
 The line of skirmishers in front commanded by Captain Lawson, 3d 
 Cavalry, steadily fell back toward the wagons, their retreat skillfully 
 
102 
 
 covered by a detachment under Lieutenant Cherry of the 5th Cavalry. 
 The wagons were formed into an elliptical corral, about two hundred 
 yards from the river, the side toward the stream being exposed to a 
 furious fire from the Indians who were making determined efforts to 
 capture and destroy the train. The animals were crowded in the space 
 formed by the wagons ; about twenty or more which were wounded 
 were led out upon the open side of the corral, toward the Indians and 
 shot there, to form a slight defence for some of the men acting as sharp 
 shooters ; the wagons were unloaded and with their contents slight 
 breastworks were hastily made, the Indians keeping up a most destruc 
 tive fire under which officers and men rapidly fell. 
 
 A high wind was blowing, at this time, and the Indians set fire to the 
 tall grass and sage bush down the valley, the flames spreading rapidly 
 toward the troops, igniting bundles, grain sacks, wagon covers and other 
 combustibles, threatening the train with entire destruction. The Indians 
 attacked the command furiously, at this critical moment, but the troops 
 succeded in extinguishing the flames among the wagons, with considera 
 ble loss to themselves in killed and wounded. The Indian supply train 
 of Mr. John Gordon was parked, within seventy-five yards of the posi 
 tion of the troops ; to prevent the Indians obtaining a lodgement there, 
 the train was ordered set on fire and destroyed. 
 
 From three o'clock in the afternoon until nightfall, the Indians kept 
 up a constant fire upon the position of the troops, killing fully three- 
 fourths of their animals. At dark a large body of Indians charged down 
 from behind Gordon's burning train, delivering volley after volley, but 
 they were repulsed with the loss of several warriors seen to fall from 
 their saddles. 
 
 During the night a supply of water was obtained, better intrench- 
 ments dug, the wounded cared for, dead animals dragged away, ammuni 
 tion and rations distributed and, at midnight, couriers slipped away 
 toward the railroad, with dispatches reporting what had occurred and 
 asking for aid. 
 
 The whole of the following day, September 30th, the Indians kept up 
 an almost incessant fire, killing all of the remaining animals excepting 
 fourteen mules ; during the night of September 30th, the Indians sus 
 pended firing, but after that time gave the troops no rest. At night on 
 October 1st, a small party, while procuring water, were fired upon at close 
 range and one man wounded, but the guards returned the fire, killing 
 one of the Indians. 
 
 On October 1st, Captain Dodge and Lieutenant Hughes, with Troop 
 " D," 9th Cavalry, who had been scouting in that section of country, met 
 the couriers who had left the intrenched position on Milk River. Appa 
 rently camping for the night, to deceive any Indians near him, Captain 
 Dodge issued two hundred and twenty-five rounds ammunition and three 
 
103 
 
 days rations to each man, and after dark pushed for Milk River, with but 
 two officers, thirty-five men and four citizens. At four o'clock on the 
 morning of October 2d, they reached the main road about five miles from 
 the intrenchment on Milk River, and found the dead bodies of three 
 men, near a train loaded with annuity goods, burned by the Indians. 
 Half an hour later Captain Dodge arrived at the intrenchments and suc 
 ceeded in forming a junction with the troops there. Captain Dodge was 
 hardly inside the trenches, when the Indians opened a fire which was 
 kept up at intervals for the next three days, killing all but four of 
 Dodge's forty-two animals, and these four were wounded. 
 
 The following were the casualties in Major Thornburgh's command : 
 killed, Major T. T. Thornburgh, 4th Infantry, and nine enlisted men. 
 Wounded, Captain Payne and Second Lieutenant Paddock, 5th Cavalry, 
 Acting Assistant Surgeon Grimes and forty enlisted men. Wagonmaster 
 McKinstry, guide Lowry and one teamster were killed and two teamsters 
 wounded ; total, twelve killed and forty-three wounded. The strength 
 of the Indians, who were well armed and supplied with abundant ammu 
 nition, was estimated in the official report of the affair at from three 
 hundred to three hundred and fifty ; the Indians themselves afterward 
 admitted a loss of thirty-seven killed. 
 
 The couriers sent out on the night of September 29th succeeded in 
 getting through safely. As quickly as possible after receipt of orders at 
 Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming, Colonel W. Merritt, with Troops " A," 
 " B," " I," and " M," 5th Cavalry, was upon a special train for Rawlins. 
 From this point, by a march of almost unparalleled rapidity, in something 
 over forty-eight hours Colonel Merritt's column, consisting of three 
 hundred and fifty men, one hundred and thirty-one of whom were 
 infantry following in wagons, marched one hundred and seventy miles 
 over a most difficult road and reached the command at Milk River, at 
 half-past five o'clock in the morning on October 5th. 
 
 In anticipation of a general war with the Utes, a force consisting of 
 nearly two thousand cavalry and infantry, was hurried to Rawlins; of 
 these, 1,428 took the field, with Colonel Merritt, while 526 remained 
 at Rawlins, under command of Colonel Brackett, 3d Cavalry. Another 
 force, aggregating 1,109 cavalry and infantry, commanded by Colonels E. 
 Hatch, 9th Cavalry, R. S. Mackenzie, 4th Cavalry, and G. P. Buell, 15th 
 Infantry, was also despatched to the Ute country, from the Department 
 of the Missouri, to watch the confederated bands of Utes in Southern 
 Colorado, should they attempt to join the White River Utes, in the 
 hostilities which the latter had begun. 
 
 Colonel Merritt's light advance column having reached Milk River, 
 the crippled command there with the wounded were sent back to the 
 railroad at Rawlins. Other troops having joined Colonel Merritt, making 
 his force strong enough for an advance against the hostiles, he proceeded 
 
104 
 
 to the White River Agency, the Indians all having- disappeared before the 
 troops. It was found that the Indians had burned and utterly destroyed 
 the agency, had killed the employe's and the agent, Mr. Meeker, and had 
 carried off all the females into the horrors of savage captivity. Colonel 
 Merritt's command buried the bodies of seven men, including that of 
 Mr. Meeker. 
 
 Colonel Merritt was about moving against the hostiles, when his 
 operations were suspended at the request of the Indian Department, 
 pending special negotiations with the Utes for release of the captive 
 females and surrender of the ringleaders in the late outrages. 
 
 While these negotiations were in progress, however, on October 20th 
 a reconnoitering party from Colonel Merritt's command, under Lieutenant 
 Hall, 5th Cavalry, was attacked by the Indians about twenty miles from 
 White River ; they defended themselves until night, when they suc 
 ceeded in returning to camp, but with the loss of Lieutenant W. B. 
 Weir of the Ordnance Department and the chief scout Humme, both of 
 whom were killed ; two Indians were reported killed by Lieutenant Hall's 
 party during the fight. 
 
 In September New Mexico was again raided by Victoria with his 
 band of Indians from old Mexico, reinforced by Mescaleros and some 
 Chiricahuas. 
 
 On September 4th the herd guard of Troop " E," 9th Cavalry, Captain 
 Hooker, commanding, were attacked near Ojo Caliente, New Mexico ; 
 eight men were killed and forty-six horses captured by the Indians. 
 
 On September 17th, Major Morrow, 9th Cavalry, reported that near 
 Hillsboro, New Mexico, a fight occurred between a party of citizens and 
 about one hundred Apaches ; the hostiles killed ten of the citizens and 
 captured all of their stock. 
 
 On September 18th, Captain Dawson, with two troops of the 9th Cav 
 alry, struck Victoria with about one hundred and forty Apaches, at the 
 head of Las Animas River, New Mexico ; Captain Beyer, with two 
 more troops of the 9th Cavalry, arrived and took part in the fight, but 
 the Indians having the advantage of a very strong position, the troops 
 were obliged to withdraw, during the night, with a loss of five men killed 
 and one wounded, thirty-two horses killed and six wounded, and two 
 Navajoe scouts and one citizen killed. 
 
 On September 26th, Major Morrow, 9th Cavalry, with six officers and 
 one hundred and ninety-one men, attacked Victoria not far from Ojo 
 Caliente, New Mexico, and after two days of fighting, killed three 
 Indians and captured sixty horses and mules, among them twelve or 
 more of those previously lost by Captain Hooker. On September 30th, 
 one of Morrow's videttes was killed, whilst on post, the hostiles again 
 retreating before the troops. On October 1st the scouts captured a 
 squaw and a child, from whom the position of the Indians was learned, 
 
105 
 
 and by a quick night march, Victoria's strongly fortified camp was cap 
 tured, the Indians escaping, however, in the dark. 
 
 Morrow's force, reduced to less than one hundred available men, 
 continued pursuit of the hostiles, following them, by very hard marches, 
 into old Mexico, and on October 27th again overtook Victoria, about 
 twelve miles from the Corralitos River, Mexico. With about forty men 
 Morrow charged the Indian breastworks, in the moonlight, and drove the 
 Indians from them, losing himself one scout killed and two wounded. 
 The command had been three days and nights without water, ammunition 
 was nearly exhausted and men and animals were utterly worn out, so the 
 troops returned, reaching Fort Bayard, New Mexico, November 3d. 
 
1 S SO. 
 
 On January 2d, Victoria and his Indians were again reported raiding 
 in southern New Mexico. All the cavalry in that section were pushed 
 after him and on January 12th, a force commanded by Major Morrow, 
 9th Cavalry, struck Victoria near the head of Puerco River, killing and 
 wounding several of the hostiles, the troops losing one enlisted man 
 killed and one Indian scout wounded ; the fight lasted from two o'clock 
 in the afternoon until sunset, when the Indians escaped. On January 
 17th, Major Morrow's force again struck Victoria in the San Mateo 
 Mountains, New Mexico, and drove him from his position, but with what 
 loss could not be learned. Lieutenant French, 9th Cavalry, was killed 
 and two scouts wounded. 
 
 February 3d, a war party of Uncapapas attacked some citizens on 
 Powder River, Montana ; Sergeant Glover, Troop " B," 2d Cavalry, with 
 eight men and eleven Indian scouts, pursued the hostiles for sixty-five 
 miles and surrounded them near Pumpkin Creek, killing one Indian and 
 wounding two, losing one soldier killed and one wounded ; three Indians 
 were prevented from escaping until the arrival of Captain Snyder, with a 
 company of the 5th Infantry, when they all surrendered. 
 
 February 6th, a band of Sioux stole fifteen horses from settlers in 
 Pease's Bottom, on the Yellowstone, and a number of horses from camp 
 at Terry's Landing ; Crow Indian scouts pursued and overtook the 
 Sioux, near Porcupine Creek and killed or recaptured all of the stolen 
 stock. 
 
 March 3d, Companies " I " and " K," 5th Infantry, left Fort Keogh, 
 Montana, in pursuit of hostile Indians north of the Yellowstone, and on 
 March 8th, after a continuous gallop of forty miles, Company "K" suc 
 ceeded in surrounding the Indians, captured thirteen ponies and sixteen 
 mules. 
 
 Martfli 4th, two citizens were attacked by Indians on Alkali Creek, 
 Montana^ and one of the men wounded. 
 
 March 5th, Lieutenant Miller, 5th Infantry, with nine soldiers and 
 eight Indian scouts, attacked a band of hostile Indians, thirty miles west 
 of the Rosebud, Montana, killed three of the hostiles and eight of the 
 ponies, captured some arms and a large amount of ammunition, and 
 destroyed the hostile camp; two Indian scouts were killed in the affair; the 
 Indians escaped across the Yellowstone, and were closely pursued by Cap 
 tains Baldwin, 5th Infantry, and Hamilton, 2d Cavalry. On March 9th, 
 
108 
 
 Captain Baldwin overtook the Indians, on Little Porcupine Creek, chased 
 them for thirty miles and captured all their animals, excepting those on 
 which they escaped. 
 
 March 13th, the commanding officer of Fort Davis, Texas, reported 
 the killing of a Mexican boy, a sheep herder, near Russell's ranch, Texas. 
 
 March 24th, a party of thirty or forty Sioux ran of about thirty ponies 
 belonging to the enlisted Crow scouts at Fort Custer, Montana ; Captain 
 J. Mix with Troop " M," 2d Cavalry, numbering forty-four officers and 
 men, started in pursuit and after traveling sixty-five miles in eleven 
 hours, overtook and engaged the hostiles, recapturing sixteen of the 
 stolen stock. These Indians were also pursued by Lieutenant Coale, 
 with Troop " C," 2d Cavalry, from Fort Custer, and by Captain Huggins, 
 with Troop " E," 2d Cavalry, from Fort Keogh ; Captain Huggins sur 
 prised the camp, April 1st, captured five Indians, forty-six ponies and 
 some arms ; Lieutenant Coale had an engagement, April 1st, on a fork 
 of O'Fallon's Creek, when one enlisted man was killed. 
 
 The Mescalero Agency at the Fort Stanton, New Mexico, Reservation, 
 had largely served as a base of supplies and recruits for the raiding 
 parties of Victoria, and it was determined, with the consent of the Indian 
 Department, to disarm and dismount the Indians there. Pursuant to 
 directions from Headquarters Military Division of the Missouri. Generals 
 Pope and Ord, commanding the Departments of the Missouri and Texas, 
 arranged that a force under Colonel E. Hatch, 9th Cavalry, numbering 
 four hundred cavalry, sixty infantry and seventy-five Indian scouts, 
 should arrive at the Mescalero Agency simultaneously with Colonel 
 Grierson, 10th Cavalry, and a force of the 10th Cavalry and 25th Infantry, 
 numbering two hundred and eighty officers and men, from the Depart 
 ment of Texas. 
 
 On March 31st, Colonel Grierson's column, whilst passing Pecos Falls, 
 Texas, learned of the stealing of stock from citizens in that vicinity, the 
 previous night, and Lieutenant Esterly, with a detachment from Troops 
 "F" and " L," 10th Cavalry, was sent in pursuit. On the third day 
 Lieutenant Esterly overtook the Indians, one of whom was killed and 
 eight head of stolen stock were recovered. 
 
 On April 6th, Colonel Grierson detached Captain Lebo, with Troop 
 " K," 10th Cavalry, to scout near the line of march, and on April 9th 
 Captain Lebo attacked a camp of Indians at Shakehand Spring, about 
 forty miles south of the Penasco, Texas, killed the chief of the band, 
 captured four squaws and one child, and between twenty and thirty 
 head of stock, destroyed the camp and recovered a Mexican boy, named 
 Coyetano Garcia, who had been taken captive by the Indians. 
 
 On April 8th, Colonel Hatch's command struck Victoria in a strongly 
 fortified position in the San Andreas Mountains, New Mexico ; three 
 Indians were killed, Captain Carroll, 9th Cavalry, and seven men were 
 
109 
 
 wounded and twenty-five horses and mules belonging to the troops were 
 killed ; many of the Mescaleros and some Comanches were in the fight ; 
 their trail was followed to the Mescalero Agency. 
 
 On April 16th, Colonels Hatch and Grierson, having duly arrived at 
 the Mescalero Agency, the attempt was made to disarm and dismount 
 the Indians, but a desperate effort was made by the Indians to escape, 
 and ten warriors were killed, some forty more escaping ; about two 
 hundred ponies and mules were taken away from the Indians and two 
 hundred and fifty Indians, men, women and children, were taken into 
 the agency ; from twenty to thirty guns, carbines and pistols were cap 
 tured from the Indians and turned over to their agent. Major Morrow, 
 with a portion of Colonel Hatch's force, pursued the escaping Indians 
 and overtook them in Dog Canon, killed three warriors and captured 
 twenty-five more head of stock. One party of the fugitives was pursued 
 and attacked by a detachment of Troop " L," 10th Cavalry, commanded 
 by Lieutenant Maxon ; one Indian was killed and five horses captured. 
 
 May 13th, the commanding officer of Fort Davis, Texas, reported 
 that Mr. Jas. Grant and Mrs. H. Graham were killed, and H. Graham 
 and D. Murphy wounded by Indians in Bass' Canon, Texas. 
 
 After the disarming and dismounting of the Indians at the Mescalero 
 Agency, Colonel Hatch began again the pursuit of Victoria, assisted by 
 troops from the Department of Arizona, but the campaign resolved itself 
 into a chase of the hostiles from one range of mountains to another, with 
 frequent skirmishes, but no decisive fights, until the Indians again 
 escaped into old Mexico, the Mexican government declining to allow 
 further pursuit on their territory. One fight took place on May 24th, at 
 the head of Polomas River, New Mexico, when fifty-five Indians were 
 reported killed. On June 5th, Major Morrow, with four troops 9th Cav 
 alry, struck the hostiles at Cook's Canon, New Mexico, killed ten and 
 wounded three ; one of the killed was a son of Victoria ; a quantity of 
 stock was also captured. 
 
 June llth, Lieutenant Mills, 24th Infantry, with a detachment of 
 Pueblo scouts, en route to join Colonel Grierson's command, was attacked 
 by Indians in Canon Viejo, southwest of Fort Davis, Texas, his principal 
 guide killed and several horses wounded. 
 
 July 31st, the commanding officer of Fort Davis, Texas, reported that 
 E. C. Baker, stage driver, and Frank Wyant, a passenger, were killed 
 by Victoria's Indians eight miles west of Eagle Springs, Texas. 
 
 July 31st, Colonel Grierson, 10th Cavalry, with a small party of six 
 men, was attacked by Victoria's Indians between Quitman and Eagle 
 Springs, Texas ; Lieutenant Finley, with a detachment of fifteen men of 
 Troop " G," J Oth Cavalry, came up, engaged the Indians and held them 
 in check until the arrival of Captain Viele and Captain Nolan, with two 
 troops of the 10th Cavalry, when, in an engagement lasting four hours, 
 
110 
 
 seven Indians were killed, a large number wounded and the hostiles 
 pursued to the Rio Grande. Lieutenant Colladay, 10th Cavalry, was 
 wounded and one enlisted man killed ; ten horses of the troops were 
 killed and five animals wounded. 
 
 Colonel Grierson's troops continued the pursuit, and on August 3d, a 
 detachment of cavalry and scouts had a fight near the Alamo, one soldier 
 being wounded and one missing ; several Indians and ponies were shot. 
 The same day Captain Lebo with Troop " K," 10th Cavalry, followed an 
 Indian trail to the top of the Sierra Diabolo, Texas, captured Victoria's 
 supply camp of twenty-five head of cattle, a large quantity of beef and 
 other provisions on pack animals, and pursued the Indians to Escondido. 
 
 On August 4th, a detachment of Captain Kennedy's troop of the 10th 
 Cavalry, struck the Indians near Bowen Springs, Guadaloupe Mountains, 
 Texas, the detachment had one man killed and several horses shot; 
 Captain Kennedy attacked and pursued the hostiles toward the Sacra 
 mento Mountains, killing two Indians and shooting and capturing a few 
 ponies. 
 
 On August 6th, the Indians were struck again in Rattlesnake Canon 
 and scattered in every direction ; a train guarded by Company " H," 24th 
 Infantry, Captain Gilmore, was then attacked by the Indians near this 
 point, but the hostiles were repulsed with a loss of one killed and several 
 wounded ; altogether four Indians were killed, many were wounded and 
 some ponies captured. 
 
 On August 9th, the commanding officer Fort Davis, Texas, reported 
 that General Byrne, of Fort Worth, Texas, was killed by Indians near 
 old Fort Quitman. 
 
 On August llth, Captain Nolan, with Troops - 1 K," 8th Cavalry, "A," 
 10th Cavalry, some Lipan scouts and Texas rangers, struck Victoria's 
 trail and pursued the hostiles to the Rio Grande, twelve miles below 
 Quitman, August 13th, when the band were again driven into old 
 Mexico. 
 
 August 1st, company " H," 5th Infantry, left camp on Redwater. 
 Montana, and marched toward Poplar Creek Agency, Montana. It 
 returned to Fort Keogh August 14th, bringing in twenty lodges of 
 surrendered hostile Indians. The same day Troop " E," 3d Cavalry, left 
 camp on Willow Creek, Montana, and marched to the Missouri River, 
 capturing twenty-four lodges of Minneconjous, numbering one hundred 
 and forty persons, returning with them to Fort Keogh, August 14th. 
 
 August 16th, Sergeant Devlin, Troop "F," 7th Cavalry, with a de 
 tachment of eight men and three Indian scouts, followed a war party of 
 Sioux and and struck them near the folks of the Box Elder Creek, Mon 
 tana, killed two, wounded one and recaptured seven head of stock. 
 
 August 19th, a detachment of Indian scouts struck a war party north 
 
Ill 
 
 of the mouth of O'Fallon Creek, Montana, and recaptured eleven head of 
 stock. 
 
 September 8th, "Big Road" and two hundred Sioux, surrendered to 
 the commanding officer of Fort Keogh, Montana. 
 
 October 26th, at Fort Stanton, New Mexico, twenty-four Apaches, 
 consisting of seven men and seventeen squaws and children, surrendered 
 to the commanding officer at the Mescalero Agency. 
 
 October 29th, a party of from thirty-five to fifty Indians, supposed to 
 be a remnant of Victoria's band, attacked a picket party of twelve men 
 belonging to the command of Captain Baldwin, 10th Cavalry, near Ojo 
 Caliente, Texas ; one Corporal and three private soldiers were killed. 
 Captain Baldwin followed the Indians to the Rio Grande, across which 
 they escaped. 
 
 November llth, Lieutenant Kislingbury, llth Infantry, with a detach 
 ment consisting of twelve men, 2d Cavalry, and ten Crow scouts, was 
 attacked by a war party of Sioux near the mouth of the Musselshell, 
 Montana, and had one horse killed and three wounded ; one of the 
 hostiles was reported killed. 
 
1 8S 1. 
 
 The Indians who had broken away, after the Sioux war of 1876-77, 
 and had taken refuge in the British possessions, kept sending out raiding 
 parties which committed depredations as far south as the Yellowstone 
 and, when pursued by the troops, escaped again into the Northwest 
 Territory. 
 
 In September, 1880, a scout named Allison went from Fort Buford to 
 communicate with Sitting Bull and other chiefs and, if possible, to induce 
 the hostiles to come in and surrender. Allison made several visits to the 
 hostiles and numbers came in to Poplar River Agency, Montana, in the 
 latter part of 1880. At first these Indians seemed peaceable but, after 
 they had collected in force, became turbulent and arrogant, assuming a 
 threatening attitude toward the garrison at Poplar River which it became 
 necessary, therefore, to increase. 
 
 On December 15th, 1880, Major G. Ilges, 5th Infantry, with five 
 mounted companies of his regiment, numbering about one hundred and 
 eighty officers and men, left Fort Keogh and after a march of nearly two 
 hundred miles through deep snow, with the thermometer ranging from 
 ten to thirty-five degrees below zero, reinforced the garrison consisting 
 of four companies of the 7th Infantry and one troop of the 7th Cav 
 alry, at Camp Poplar River. 
 
 On January 2d, 1881, leaving one company of infantry and detach 
 ments of three other companies of infantry to guard the camp, Major 
 Ilges moved, with a force of about three hundred officers and men, with 
 two pieces of artillery, against some camps of Sioux, numbering about 
 four hundred, who were located on the opposite side of the Missouri. 
 Upon the approach of the troops the Indians fled from their villages and 
 took refuge in some timber, from which they were quickly driven by a 
 few shells and soon surrendered, to the number of over three hundred, 
 under the terms already extended to all the hostiles, viz., that they should 
 be disarmed and dismounted. Nearly two hundred ponies were given 
 up, together with sixty-nine guns and pistols, as well as the camp 
 equipage; eight Indians were killed in the attack and about sixty escaped 
 and joined others in the vicinity. On January 9th, twenty additional 
 Indians were captured and, on January 29th, eight more lodges, number 
 ing sixty-four people, also surrendered to Major Ilges, with five guns and 
 thirteen ponies. There were no casualties to the troops, during these 
 
114 
 
 operations, but many were very badly frozen through exposure to the 
 terrible weather. 
 
 On February 26th, three hundred and twenty-five hostile Sioux from 
 what was generally called Sitting Bull's camp, with one hundred and 
 fifty ponies and about forty guns and pistols, nearly all the guns being 
 Winchester and Henry rifles, surrendered to Major Brotherton, 7th 
 Infantry, commanding Fort Buford, Dakota. 
 
 February 12th, Major Ilges, 5th Infantry, reported having arrested 
 one hundred and eighty-five hostiles, forty-three of them being full 
 grown warriors, in the Yanktonnais camp at Red Water, Montana ; 
 fifteen horses and seven guns were taken from the prisoners. 
 
 April llth, one hundred and thirty-five hostiles, forty-five of them 
 men, surrendered with their arms and ponies, to Major Brotherton, 7th 
 Infantry, commanding Fort Buford, Dakota. 
 
 April 18th, thirty-two lodges of hostile Sioux, numbering forty-seven 
 men, thirty-nine women, twenty-five boys and forty-five girls, with fifty- 
 seven ponies, sixteen guns and three revolvers, surrendered to Lieutenant 
 Colonel Whistler, 5th Infantry, commanding Fort Keogh, Montana. 
 
 May 24th, eight lodges of hostiles, numbering about fifty persons, 
 twelve of them men, surrendered to the commanding officer at Camp 
 Poplar River, Montana. 
 
 May 26th, thirty-two hostile Indians surrendered to the commanding 
 officer at Fort Buford, Dakota. 
 
 July 20th, Sitting Bull, with the last of his followers, comprising 
 forty-five men, sixty seven women and seventy-three children, surren 
 dered to the commanding officer at Fort Buford, Dakota. 
 
 On July 22d, there were turned over to the Indian agent at Standing 
 Rock Agency, (Mr. J. A. Stephan,) two thousand eight hundred and 
 twenty-nine Indian prisoners, with five hundred and forty-nine ponies 
 and mules. 
 
 In July, " Nana," with fifteen warriors, the remnant of "Victoria's" 
 band, re-entered New Mexico, and reinforced by about twenty-five 
 Mescaleros, whirled through the territory, plundering and killing a num 
 ber of people. On the 17th of July, at Alamo Canon, New Mexico, a 
 small party of these Indians ambushed chief packer Burgess and one 
 man, belonging to a detachment commanded by Lieutenant Guilfoyle, 
 9th Cavalry, wounded Burgess and captured three mules. On July 19th, 
 Lieutenant Guilfoyle with his detachment of the 9th Cavalry and some 
 Indian scouts, following a trail westward of Canon del Perro, New 
 Mexico, had a skirmish with some of the hostiles near the Arena 
 Blanca, where they had just killed two Mexicans and a woman ; the 
 party numbered about thirteen warriors, and succeeded in making their 
 escape. On July 25th, Lieutenant Guilfoyle again struck the hostiles 
 encamped in the San Andreas Mountains, New Mexico, captured two 
 
115 
 
 horses, twelve mules, many blankets and all the Indians' provisions ; two 
 of the hostiles were shot and believed to be killed, the others escaped, 
 crossing the Rio Grande, six miles below San Jose", killing two miners 
 and a Mexican in the flight. 
 
 July 30th, four Mexicans were reported killed by the hostiles in the 
 foot hills of the San Mateo Mountains. August 1st, a party of thirty-six 
 citizens, commanded by a Mr. Mitchell, whilst at dinner in the Red Canon 
 of the San Mateo Mountains, were surprised and defeated by the hostiles, 
 losing one man killed and seven wounded, besides all their riding 
 animals, thirty-eight in number ; the Indians escaped. On August 3d, 
 Lieutenant Guilfoyle's detachment again struck this band at Monica 
 Springs, New Mexico, wounded two Indians and captured eleven head 
 of stock, some saddles, blankets, etc. This band numbered about twenty 
 or thirty warriors, led by Nana, and they had killed another Mexican, in 
 escaping from Red Canon. At La Savoya, New Mexico, on August llth, 
 Lieutenant Guilfoyle found that two Mexicans had been killed, and two 
 women carried off by the hostiles. 
 
 August 12th, Captain Parker, with a detachment of nineteen men of 
 the 9th Cavalry, struck Nana's band, twenty-five miles west of Sabinal, 
 New Mexico, lost one soldier killed, three wounded and one missing, but 
 reported an equal loss inflicted upon the hostiles who then drew off; 
 Captain Parker's small detachment, encumbered by their wounded, were 
 unable to pursue. 
 
 August 16th, Lieutenant Valois, with Troop " I," 9th Cavalry, had a 
 severe fight with a band of about fifty Indians, near Cuchillo Negro, New 
 Mexico ; Lieutenant Burnett, 9th Cavalry, was wounded twice, two 
 enlisted men and six horses were killed ; the hostiles lost several killed. 
 The same day Lieutenant Taylor, with a detachment of the 9th Cavalry, 
 also had a fight with the hostiles, captured some horses and recovered 
 some stolen property, losing, himself, a few horses killed ; the hostiles 
 were pursued toward the Black Range. 
 
 August 18th, Lieutenant G. W. Smith, 9th Cavalry, with a detach 
 ment of twenty men, struck the hostiles about fifteen miles from McEver's 
 ranch, New Mexico. The Indians were defeated, after a very severe 
 fight in which Lieutenant Smith and four of his men were killed ; a party 
 of citizens, under command of George Daly, joined Lieutenant Smith in 
 the fight and Daly was killed. 
 
 Altogether, eight troops of cavalry, eight companies of infantry and 
 two Indian scouts were in the field, personally commanded by Colonel E. 
 Hatch, 9th Cavalry, in pursuit of these Indians, and while no decisive 
 engagement took place, the hostiles were persistently driven from one 
 point to another, until they fled across the Mexican border, where, under 
 positive orders from the Government, the chase was abandoned. 
 
116 
 
 In the Department of Texas, the following murders were also specially 
 reported : 
 
 By the commanding officer, Fort Davis, Texas, January 8th, 1881; 
 in Quitman Caiion, Texas, the stage driver and a passenger, named 
 James Kelso, killed by unknown parties supposed to be Indians. 
 
 By the commanding officer, Fort Clark, Texas; Allen Reiss and 
 Mrs. McLauren, killed by Indians on the Rio Frio, Texas, about April 
 24, 1881. 
 
 By the commanding officer, Fort Davis, Texas; two railroad employes, 
 named Bell and Smith, were killed by unknown parties, at a water hole 
 between Quitman and Eagle Springs, Texas, about July 8, 1881. 
 
8 8 2. 
 
 April 23d, a detachment, consisting of six men and six Indian scouts, 
 commanded by Lieutenant McDonald, 4th Cavalry, was attacked by a 
 large band of Chiricahua Apaches, about twenty miles south of Stein's 
 Pass, Arizona, and four of the scouts were killed. One of the scouts 
 made his escape with the news, and Lieutenant Colonel G. A. Forsyth, 
 with Troops " C," " F," G," " H," and " M," 4th Cavalry, proceeded 
 at a gallop for sixteen miles to the relief of the rest of Lieutenant 
 McDonald's party, who were found still defending themselves. The 
 hostiles fled on the approach of this column, were pursued and overtaken 
 in a strongly intrenched position in Horse Shoe Canon, where the com 
 mand dismounted and promptly attacked them among rocky ridges vary 
 ing from four hundred to sixteen hundred feet high. The Indians were 
 driven from rock to rock, among the mountains, until they dispersed in 
 every direction and further immediate pursuit became impracticable ; 
 thirteen Indians were killed, a number wounded and a quantity of their 
 animals captured. 
 
 On April 28th, Captain Tupper, with Troops " G " and " M," 6th 
 Cavalry, and a company of Indian scouts, all belonging to the Depart 
 ment of Arizona, struck these Indians about twenty-five miles south of 
 Cloverdale, surprised and attacked their camp, killed six of the hostiles 
 and captured seventy-two head of stock. 
 
 After Forsyth's fight in Horse Shoe Canon, he followed upon the 
 trail and, joining forces with Captain Tupper after the latter had also 
 attacked the hostiles, continued the pursuit into old Mexico. About ten 
 miles from the scene of Tupper's fight, a squaw was found who stated 
 that the Indians had lost thirteen killed in the fight with Forsyth, and 
 six more in Tupper's attack. On April 30th Forsyth, met a column of 
 Mexican troops, commanded by Colonel Garcia, who declined to allow 
 further pursuit upon Mexican soil, and stated that his own troops had 
 just destroyed the band Forsyth had chased into Mexico. Forsyth 
 accompanied Garcia to the scene of the fight, which had lasted five hours, 
 during which time the Mexicans had lost two officers and nineteen men 
 killed, and three officers and ten men wounded ; seventy-eight Indians 
 were killed and thirty-three women and children were captured. The 
 total thus known to be killed in the fights of Forsyth, Tupper and Garcia, 
 was ninety-eight ; about thirty Indians had also been wounded who es- 
 
118 
 
 capecl, and two hundred and five horses and mules were killed or cap 
 tured, before the hostiles entered Mexico. 
 
 April 29th, Lieutenant Morgan, 3d Cavalry, with a detachment of six 
 men of Troop " K," 3d Cavalry, was sent from Fort Washakie, Wyoming, 
 to arrest " Ute Jack," a chief of the White River Utes. Armed with a 
 knife, " Ute Jack " resisted arrest and attempted to escape, when he 
 was wounded in the arm by a shot from the guard. He then took refuge 
 in an Indian teepee, where he obtained a carbine and succeeded in 
 killing the sergeant of the detachment. Major Mason, 3d Cavalry, 
 arrived on the spot and further measures were taken resulting in the 
 capture and death of the Indian. 
 
 June 23d, a party of hostile Apaches attempted to take refuge upon 
 the Mescalero Agency at Fort Stanton, New Mexico. The agent, Mr. 
 Llewellyn, assisted by some of the employes and Indian police, attempted 
 to arrest the hostiles, when a fight occurred in which three of the hostiles 
 were killed and Mr. Llewellyn wounded ; the rest of the band, about 
 seven or eight in number, escaped and fled from the reservation, pursued 
 by a small detachment of troops and Indian scouts from Fort Stanton. 
 
CONCLUSION, 
 
 IN connection with the operations of the Army, within the Military 
 Division of the Missouri, many important changes have taken place dur 
 ing the fifteen years embraced by the foregoing narrative; much of the 
 country which, at the beginning of that period, was monopolized by the 
 buffalo and the Indian, has now been opened to the settler, to the rail 
 road and to civilization. With a loss to the troops of more than a 
 thousand officers and men killed and wounded, and partly as the result 
 of more than four hundred skirmishes, combats and battles, not includ 
 ing many pursuits and surrenders of Indians, when no actual fighting 
 occurred, the majority of the wasteful and hostile occupants of millions 
 of acres of valuable agricultural, pasture and mineral lands, have been 
 forced upon reservations under the supervision of the Government; some 
 have been gradually taught a few of the simpler useful industries, 
 Indian children have been placed in schools, under instruction in a bet 
 ter life than the vagabond existence to which they were born, and the 
 vast section over which the wild and irresponsible tribes once wandered, 
 redeemed from idle waste to become a home for millions of progressive 
 people. 
 
 Following behind the advancing troops who protected the hardy 
 pioneer engaged in breaking the soil for his homestead, came the Kansas 
 and Union Pacific railways, racing through Kansas and Nebraska, to 
 gain " the hundreth meridian." Guarded by the soldiers, the surveying 
 and construction parties completed the main lines of those roads during 
 the earlier years covered by this narrative, and later their branches and 
 connections have extended into many fertile valleys which now support 
 not only a thick local population, but supply, also, material for the bread 
 of this Nation and the old world. Subsequently the Atchison, Topeka 
 and Santa Fe railway opened to the stock raisers, the rich cattle ranges 
 of the Arkansas Valley, and carried into the drowsy regions of New 
 Mexico, the implements of a new era. Across Dakota and Montana, to 
 day, the working parties of the Northern Pacific, escorted by the troops, 
 are rapidly adding another complete trans-continental highway, and over 
 all of the foregoing roads are pouring thousands of cars loaded with 
 cattle, to furnish eastern markets with their daily supply of beef. With 
 its narrow iron threadways, the Denver and Rio Grande has seamed the 
 almost vertical faces of mountain cliffs, scaled their lofty summits and 
 
120 
 
 made available the wealth of Utah and Colorado. Through the State of 
 Texas, the Southern Pacific, the Texas Pacific, and the International and 
 Great Northern, have opened complete routes to the Pacific and into Old 
 Mexico, whilst all over the Division, numerous minor roads and branches 
 are constantly penetrating what were, until recently, mysterious and 
 almost unknown regions. 
 
 As the railroads overtook the successive lines of isolated frontier 
 posts, and settlements spread out over country no longer requiring mili 
 tary protection, the army vacated its temporary shelters and marched on 
 into remote regions beyond, there to repeat and continue its pioneer 
 work. In rear of the advancing line of troops, the primitive " dug-outs " 
 and cabins of the frontiersmen, were steadily replaced by the tasteful 
 houses, thrifty farms, neat villages and busy towns of a people who 
 knew how best to employ the vast resources of the great West. The 
 civilization from the Atlantic is now reaching out toward that rapidly 
 approaching it from the direction of the Pacific, the long intervening 
 strip of territory, extending from the British Possessions to Old Mexico, 
 yearly growing narrower; finally the dividing lines will entirely disap 
 pear and the mingling settlements absorb the remnants of the once pow 
 erful Indian nations who, fifteen years ago, vainly attempted to forbid 
 the destined progress of the age. 
 
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