Little Big
Horn
New York Times
The Little Big
Horn Massacre
LATEST ACCOUNTS
OF THE CHARGE. FORCE OF FOUR THOUSAND INDIANS IN POSITION ATTACKED BY
LESS THAN FOUR HUNDRED TROOPS - OPINIONS OF LEADING ARMY OFFICERS OF
THE DEED AND ITS CONSEQUENCES - FEELING IN THE COMMUNITY OVER THE
DISASTER.
The dispatches giving an
account of the slaughter of Gen. Custer's command, published in THE
TIMES of yesterday, are confirmed and supplemented by official reports
from Gen. A. H. Terry, commanding the expedition. On June 25 Gen.
Custer's command came upon the main camp of Sitting Bull, and at once
attacked it, charging the thickest part of it with five companies,
Major Reno, with seven companies attacking on the other side. the
soldiers were repulsed and a wholesale slaughter ensued. Gen. Custer,
his brother, his nephew, and his brother-in-law were killed, and not
one of his detachment escaped. The Indians surrounded Major Reno's
command and held them in the hills during a whole day, but Gibbon's
command came up and the Indians left. The number of killed is stated
at 300 and the wounded at 31. Two hundred and seven men are said to
have been buried in one place. The list of killed includes seventeen
commissioned officers.
It is the opinion of Army
officers in Chicago, Washington, and Philadelphia, including Gens.
Sherman and Sheridan, that Gen. Custer was rashly imprudent to attack
such a large number of Indians, Sitting Bull's force being 4,000
strong. Gen. Sherman thinks that the accounts of the disaster are
exaggerated. The wounded soldiers are being conveyed to Fort Lincoln.
Additional details are anxiously awaited throughout the country.
Confirmation of
the Disaster
DISPATCHES FROM
GEN. TERRY RECEIVED AT SHERIDAN'S HEADQUARTERS THEORIES OF THE BATTLE
- PROBABLY TEN THOUSAND SIOUX IN POSITION - THE ATTACK CONDEMNED AS
RASH BY OFFICERS OF EXPERIENCE - DISPOSITION OF THE WOUNDED.
Chicago, July 6. - At the
headquarters of Lieut. Gen. Sheridan this morning, all was bustle and
confusion over the reported massacre of Custer's command. Telegrams
were being constantly received, but most of them were of a
confidential nature and withheld from publication. It is known that
the unfortunate command broke camp on the North Rosebud on June 22 for
the purpose of proceeding in a direction which would bring it to the
point named about the 25th, at which place a bloody fight is reported
to have taken time. The following dispatch, the last received at
headquarters in this city previous to the news of the massacre,
confirms the accounts given to the extent of showing that Custer
intended to go to that place.
Camp on the North
Rosebud, June 21, 1876.
Lieut. Gen. P.H. Sheridan, Commanding Military Division of the
Missouri, Chicago:
No Indians have been met with as yet, but traces of large and recent
camp have been discovered twenty or thirty miles up the Rosebud.
Gibbon's column will move this morning, on the north side of the
Yellowstone, for the mouth of the Big Horn, where it will be ferried
across by the supply steamer, and whence it will proceed to the mouth
of the Little Horn, and so on. Custer will go up the Rosebud tomorrow
with his whole regiment, and thence to the headwaters of the Little
Horn, thence down the Little Horn.
A. H. TERRY,
Brigadier General Commanding.
A dispatch received at
the quarters of Gen. Sheridan this morning at 11 o'clock confirms the
first reports received. The dispatch states that the forces were
falling back, and that the wounded had been sent to Fort Lincoln. No
details were given, but the officers at headquarters regard it as a
full confirmation of the engagement reported. In reply to an inquiry
as to whether the attack was made by Gen. Custer of his own accord, or
under orders from the department, an answer was given that Custer made
the charge of his own volition. A still later dispatch from Lieut.
Kinzie, of the Seventh Cavalry, was received asking that he be
transferred from the department where he is now on duty to the scene
of notion. This is also regarded as another confirmation of the bloody
massacre reported. Gen. Custer's family are at Fort Lincoln, to which
point the wounded are being conveyed.
So far as an expression
in regard to the wisdom of Gen. Custer's attack could be obtained at
headquarters, it was to the effect that Custer had been imprudent, to
say the least. It is the opinion at headquarters among those who are
most familiar with the situation, that Custer struck Sitting Bull's
main camp. Gen. Drum, of Sheridan's staff, is of opinion that Sitting
Bull began concentrating his forces after the fight with Crook, and
that no doubt, Custer dropped squarely into the midst of no less than
ten thousand red devils and was literally torn to pieces. The movement
made by Custer is censured to some extent at military headquarters in
this city. The older officers say that it was brought about by that
foolish pride which so often results in the defeat of men. It seems
that a few days before Gen. Terry had offered four additional
companies to Custer, but that officer refused them.
The information at
headquarters further is to the effect that Gen. Gibbon with his force
was known to be moving up to Custer for the purpose of reinforcing
him; and that he knew of this, and knew that Gibbon would arrive by
the following day after the engagement. I have it on as good authority
as one of the leading officers at headquarters, that Custer had been
ordered by Terry to make a march toward the Little Big Horn and to
form a junction with a column of infantry that was moving diagonally
across the country to the same point. The two columns were then to
cooperate and make an attack. Instead of marching from twenty to
thirty miles per day, as ordered, Custer made a forced march and
reached the point of destination two or three days in advance of the
infantry; then finding himself in front of the foe he foolishly
attempted to out his way through and punish the red devils.
Details of the
Battle
GRAPHIC
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGHTING - MAJOR RENO'S COMMAND UNDER FIRE FOR TWO
DAYS -EVERY MAN OF CUSTER'S DETACHMENT KILLED EXCEPT ONE SCOUT -
AFFECTING SCENES WHEN RELIEF ARRIVED.
Chicago, July 6. - A
special to the Times tonight from Bismarck, recounts most
graphically the late encounter with the Indians on the Little Big
Horn. Gen. Custer left the Rosebud on June 22, with twelve companies
of the Seventh Cavalry, striking a trail where Reno left it, leading
in the direction of the Little Horn. On the evening of the 24th fresh
trails were reported, and on the morning of the 25th an Indian
village, twenty miles above the mouth of the Little Horn was reported
about three miles long and half a mile wide and fifteen miles away.
Custer pushed his command rapidly through. They had made a march of
seventy-eight miles in twenty-four hours preceding the battle. When
near the village it was discovered that the Indians were moving in hot
haste as if retreating. Reno, with seven companies of the Seventh
Cavalry, was ordered to the left to attack the village at its head,
while Custer, with five companies, went to the right and commenced a
vigorous attack. Reno felt of them with three companies of cavalry,
and was almost instantly surrounded, and after one hour or more of
vigorous fighting, during which he lost Lieuts. Hodgson and McIntosh
and Dr. Dewolf and twelve men, with several Indian scouts killed and
many wounded, he cut his way through to the river and gained a bluff
300 feet in height, where he entrenched and was soon joined by Col.
Benson with four companies. In the meantime the Indians resumed the
attack, making repeated and desperate charges, which were repulsed
with great slaughter to the Indians. they gained higher ground than
Reno occupied, and as their arms were longer range and better than the
cavalry's, they kept up a galling fire until nightfall. During the
night Reno strengthened his position, and was prepared for another
attack, which was made at daylight.
The day wore on. Reno had
lost in killed and wounded a large portion of his command, forty odd
having been killed before the bluff was reached, many of them in hand
to hand conflict with the Indians, who outnumbered them ten to one,
and his men had been without water for thirty-six hours. The suffering
was heartrending. In this state of affairs they determined to reach
the water at all hazards, and Col. Benson made a sally with his
company, and routed the main body of the Indians who were guarding the
approach to the river. The Indian sharpshooters were nearly opposite
the mouth of the ravine through which the brave boys approached the
river, but the attempt was made, and though one man was killed and
seven wounded the water was gained and the command relieved. When the
fighting ceased for the night Reno further prepared for attacks.
There had been
forty-eight hours' fighting, with no word from Custer. Twenty-four
hours more of fighting and the suspense ended, when the Indians
abandoned their village in great haste and confusion. Reno knew then
that succor was near at hand. Gen. Terry, with Gibbon commanding his
own infantry, had arrived, and as the comrades met men wept on each
other's necks. Inquiries were then made for Custer, but none could
tell where he was. Soon an officer came rushing into camp and related
that he had found Custer, dead, stripped naked, but not mutilated, and
near him his two brothers, Col. Tom and Boston Custer. His
brother-in-law, Col. Calhoun, and his nephew Col. Yates, Col. Keogh,
Capt. Smith, Lieut. Crittenden, Lieut. Sturgis, Col. Cooke, Lieut.
Porter, Lieut. harrington, Dr. Lord, Mack kellogg, the Bismarck
Tribune correspondent, and 190 men and scouts. Custer went into battle
with Companies C, L, I, F, and E, of the Seventh Cavalry, and the
staff and non-commissioned staff of his regiment and a number of
scouts, and only one Crow scout remained to tell the tale. All are
dead. Custer was surrounded on every side by Indians, and horses fell
as they fought on skirmish line or in line of battle. Custer was among
the last who fell, but when his cheering voice was no longer heard,
the Indians made easy work of the remainder. The bodies of all save
the newspaper correspondent were stripped, and most of them were
horribly mutilated. Custer's was not mutilated. He was shot through
the body and through the head. The troops cared for the wounded and
buried the dead, and returned to their base for supplies and
instructions from the General of the Army.
Col. Smith arrived at
Bismarck last night with thirty-five of the wounded. The Indians lost
heavily in the Battle. The Crow Scout survived by hiding in a ravine.
He believes the Indians lost more than the whites. The village
numbered 1,800 lodges, and it is thought there were 4,000 warriors.
Gen. Custer was directed by Gen. Terry to find and feel of the
Indians, but not to fight unless Terry arrived with infantry and with
Gibbon's column.
The Causes and
Consequences
FRUITS OF THE
ILL-ADVISED BLACK HILLS EXPEDITION OF TWO YEARS AGO- ABILITY OF THE
ARMY TO RENEW OPERATIONS EFFECTIVELY DISCUSSED - THE PERSONNEL OF THE
CHARGING PARTY STILL UNDEFINED.
Washington, July 6. - The
news of the fatal charge of Gen. Custer and his command against the
Sioux Indians has caused great excitement in Washington, particularly
among Army people and about the Capitol. The first impulse was to
doubt the report, or set it down as some heartless hoax or at least a
greatly exaggerated story by some frightened fugitive. At the second
thought the report was generally accepted as true in its chief and
appalling incidents. The campaign against the wild Sioux was
undertaken under disadvantageous circumstances owing to the refusal of
Congress to appropriate money for the establishment of military posts
on the upper Yellowstone River. Gen. Sherman and Gen. Sheridan both
asked for these posts, which, in case of anticipated troubles would
give the troops a base of supplies about four hundred miles nearer the
hostile country than they could otherwise have. The posts desired
would have been accessible by steamboats on the Yellowstone, which
would have conveyed men and supplies. The House Committee on Military
Affairs unanimously recommended their establishment, but the Committee
on Appropriations refused to provide in their bills the necessary
means. This is regarded as the immediate cause of the disaster. The
remote cause was undoubtedly the expedition into the Black Hills two
years ago in violation of laws and treaties, authorized by Secretary
Belknap and led by Gen Custer. If there had been a post at the head of
navigation on the Yellowstone the expedition would doubtless have
proceeded thence against the Indians in one invincible column. The
policy of sending three converging columns so many hundred miles
against such brave and skillful soldiers as the Sioux has been the
cause of some uneasiness here among the few who have taken the trouble
to think about the facts and prospects. The Sioux seem to have
understood clearly the plan of attack, and threw themselves with their
whole force first against Gen. Crook's column and now against
Custer's, and both times inflicted serious disaster. The feeling was
common today that the campaign is a failure, and that there must
follow a general Indian war, promising to be costly in men and money.
The Sioux are a distinct race of men from the so-called Indians of the
Southwest, among whom the army found such easy work two and three
years ago. The Sioux live by the chase and feed chiefly upon flesh.
The Southern Indians are farmers and eat fruits and vegetables, the
latter are at their worst cruel, cowardly robbers. The former are as
much like the brave and warlike red men representing by The Last of
the Mohicans as ever existed outside the covers of fiction and
romance. This difference between the foes in the North and Southwest
seems not to have been well counted upon, nor provided for, and
formed, as it might, prudently, no restraint upon the reckless fatal
charge of the 300. If the tale told by the courier Taylor is true, the
charge has scarce a parallel in the history of civilized or savage
warfare. The massacre of Major Dade and his command in the Florida war
is alone comparable with it in American history. The reason for an
expedition against the Indians this Summer is not well understood, nor
has any satisfactory explanation been published. The wild Sioux had
never been willing to live upon the reservations marked out for them,
and the understanding has been that they were to be whipped into
submission, and compelled to live like Red Cloud and Spotted Tail,
with their bands, about the Government agencies. The question of the
policy and right of the war will now be renewed and discussed, and,
indeed, is discussed today. Those who believe in the policy of the
extermination of the Indians, and think the speedier the better its
accomplishment, look upon the condition of war as inevitable, and are
for pouring thousands of troops into the Indian country and giving
them a terrible punishment. This class is small, even in the Army,
where the policy of extermination is not popular save with a few high
and restless officers. The invasion of the Black Hills has been
condemned over and over again by the peace party, and there are very
many who can truthfully say, "I told you so." From that unwarranted
invasion the present difficulties have gradually sprung up, so that an
expedition that originally cost a hundred thousand dollars perhaps,
must lead to an expenditure of millions, which will advance
civilization in no way, except by the destruction of the uncivilized.
The Army, if the present campaign wholly fails, is in no condition to
renew hostilities with sufficient force, and there is little reason to
expect Congress will this session provide for an Indian war. Thus by
force of circumstances a continuation of the war would probably be
with the Government forces upon the defensive, protecting as far as
possible agencies and settlements. There is another result that some
hope for. It is the union of the three columns of troops and the
delivery of a blow against the Indians that will place them at the
mercy of the Army and compel them to sue for peace. The chances are,
however, so far as the information now at hand may be relied on, that
the Government forces are much too small in number, reduced as they
are by two battles, to meet the powerful and exultant Sioux.
Until advised of the
particular five companies of the Seventh Cavalry with which Custer
charged the Sioux, with results so disastrous to his command, the War
Department will not be able to furnish the list of casualties. From
the dispatches printed today, based on the information furnished by
Muggins Taylor, the scout, it is inferred that Capts. Thomas W. Custer
and Myles Moylan, and Lieut. James Calhoun, of the Seventh Cavalry,
and Lieut. A. B. Crittenden, of the Fourth Infantry, were among those
killed. Capt. Custer was a brother of Gen. Custer, Calhoun was his
brother-in-law, and Moylan was brother-in-law to Calhoun. Gen. Custer
had but one brother in the Seventh Cavalry. The report that the
General and his two brothers were killed doubtless arose from the
relationship described between Custer, Calhoun, and Moylan. Crittenden
was the son of Col. Crittenden, of the Seventeenth Infantry, and
grandson of the late John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky. At his own
request he was detailed for active service against the Indians and
assigned to the Seventh Cavalry. The only dispatch received today at
the War Department was one from Adjutant Gen. Crum, of Sheridan's
staff, stating that Gen. Terry telegraphed from camp on Lone Horn
River, under date of July 2, confirming the report of the fight on
June 25 and the death of Gen. Custer. Terry's dispatches were sent to
Sheridan at Chicago, and forwarded from there to Philadelphia, where
Gens. Sherman and Sheridan now are.
Miscellaneous
Dispatches
A LIST OF
OFFICERS KILLED - FEELING OVER THE DISASTER - A REGIMENT OF
FRONTIERSMEN OFFERED FROM UTAH
St. Louis, July 6. - A
telegram from Gen. Ruggles at St. Paul to Capt. Green Hale, commanding
the cavalry at the arsenal here, gives the following as the names of
the officers killed in the fight between the Sioux and Gen. Custer's
command: Gen. Custer, Col. Custer, Col. Yates, Col. Keogh, Col. Cook,
Lieut. McIntosh, Lieut. Hodgson, Lieut. Smith, Lieut. Porter, Lieut.
Calhoun, Lieut. Reilly, Lieut. Sturgis, and Lieut. harrington is
missing.
Gen. S.D. Sturgis, in
command of this post, received a telegram this afternoon from
Assistant Adjt. Gen. Ruggles, at St. Paul, Minn., notifying him that
his son was killed in the fight between the Sioux and Gen. Custer's
command.
Salt Lake, July 6. - The
citizens here are very much excited over the Custer massacre, and
several offers have been made to the Secretary of War to raise a
regiment of frontiersmen in ten days for Indian service.
San Francisco, July 6. -
A dispatch from Virginia City reports great excitement at Custer's
death. A meeting has been called to organize a company.
Toledo, July 6. - A
special to the Blade from Monroe, Mich., the home of Gen.
Custer, says the startling news of the massacre of the General and his
party by Indians created the most intense feeling of sorrow among all
classes. Gen. Custer passed several years of his youth at school in
Monroe, and his parents have resided there many years. The town is
draped in mourning, and a meeting of the Common Council and citizens
was held this evening to take measures for an appropriate tribute to
the galiant dead.
Record of the
Regiment
...Owen Hale, of New
York, commissioned First Commanding officer of the Island, was
connected with the service in the same detachment with Gen. Custer,
leaving it in 1864. "Yes," he said in answer to an inquiry from a
Times reporter. "I have seen a little Indian fighting, and I tell
you that it is the worst business a man can engage in. Here is Gen.
Custer, one of the bravest of men and one of the best Indian fighters
that ever lived, after years of successful experience beaten and cut
down and all of his command with him. He who had so often baffled the
wiles of the Indian and overmatched them in cunning, at length falls a
victim to Indian strategy. I can look at it in no other manner, and I
am pretty sure that when we get official reports we shall learn that
the unfortunate General fell into a trap. I knew Gen. Custer well. He
was a daring man. I remember an instance of his courage: We were on
the Yellowstone River. Gen. Custer in command, and we were preparing
to go up the stream. We were of course accompanied by a train, and it
was necessary that the train should go along the bluff instead of
along the bed of the river. So the General dispatched the train upon
the hills and the two companies of cavalry jogged along below. After a
while the General ordered a halt so that the train might not get too
far behind. The men unsaddled their horses and gave themselves up to
rest. Suddenly, they were attacked by Indians. There were at least
three hundred of them to eighty soldiers. Gen. Custer was not
dismayed, however. He ordered his men to return fire, and they fought
till their ammunition was exhausted. Then the men were just giving
themselves up for lost when Gen. Custer ordered a remount, the horses
having already been saddled. The men obeyed. 'Now charge for them,'
shouted Gen. Custer. The command charged, and, without a single
bullet, they put the Indians to rout, and escaped what a moment before
seemed certain death.
It may be that Gen.
Custer was too brave, too daring. Possibly he has been too rash, but I
almost think not. Indians never fight, except, first, when they are
cornered, and, second, when they have the advantage. The most natural
theory is that Gen. Custer's command reached its point of attack too
soon and was forced to attempt alone what was originally intended for
the two divisions acting in concert. I hope the reperts of the
massacre are exaggerated, but from what I know of Indian warfare I
cannot indulge the hope that they are. I have no doubt that if the
Indians were successful they murdered every man in the command. I do
not know all of the officers of the regiment, but some of them I know,
and I know them to be as fine officers as there are in the service."
New York
Times, July 1876.
