Show by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HIS vear marks the fiftieth an of the bast known mast talked about and most writ ten about bittle in all american history Offic lilly it Is known as alie battle of the lit tie big horn river montana but the picturesque figure of gen george armstrong custer whose dashing career as a cavalry leader lea der in the civil war and as a successful indian fighter on alie western plains has so the popular fancy and so dominates this engage ment that it probably will never be known gen tilly by adv other name than custer s last haht or austera Cu stera last rally or more commonly albeit inaccurately the custer massacre binns for the semi centennial celebration of this famous engagement are under the direction of the custer memorial association organized lit year in montana but including in its mem a score of persons nationally known who ore prominent in alie work of patriotic societies end perpetuation of historical spots one of them Is gen E S godfrey US A retired who was a lieutenant in austers ousters Ou regiment alie seventh ta valry on that fateful day fifty years ago the program calls for participation in alie celebration by the present personnel of the seventh cavalry now stationed at fort bass texas and sioux and cheyenne indians the sons and grand bons eons of the savage warriors who overwhelmed custer 3 men on the little big horn the unit ed states government Is operating cooperating co hav ing been appropriated bi compress recently for the transportation of the troops to and from the celebration congress has also passed a bill au thorl zing the secretary of the interior to acquire a tract of land of ago acres on the site of the fight between the indians and the detachments corn by major rano and captain benteen which was a part of the custer battle and to erect on it a suitable monument and historical tablet the dedication of which will be a part of the celebration but the most interesting part of it all will be the march of the seventh under colonel lee from the month of the rosebud river beginning at noon on june 22 and following the route taken by ouster and his doomed men they will arrive on the custer battlefield the property of the federal government upon which a monument was erected many years ago on the morning of june 25 there they will be met by the indians and a formal ceremony symbolical of the burying of alie hatchet between red men and white hlll take place alius in a celebration which Is attracting na alon wide attention w be recalled a tragedy which shocked alie entire nation a half century ago echoes of which have been heard every year of the fifty that have intervened since americas six hundred rode into their valley of death the story of this battle Is so well cnown that it needs no repetition here it has been told and re told so often eliat there seems to be little that Is new to tell again over it has raged many a bitter controversy and around it has sprung up a great mass of tradition mith misinformation and sheer bunk fortunately however it has had its historians who have worked industrious ly to debunk the story of the custer battle and although there still are many details over which there Is and always will be a chance for dl in the main certain facts which have been oft enest distorted have been established in their true light first of all the custer battle was not the custer massacre as it Is so often called cus ter attacked the indians and fought desperately until he and all of the men in the five corn canles of the seventh which accompanied him were killed but there was no ambush no slaughter of unarmed men none of the other factors which would justify calling this battle n mas caare cacre one of the points over which there has been alie most acrimonious debate Is whether or not custer disobeyed alie orders of his superior om gen 11 terry and by his disobedience brought dl sister upon himself in many respects this dispute resolves idelt into an academic affair to which there can be no solution without a strict limitation interpretation and definition of the terms used in the debate opinion on this matter Is about oquilly divided general godfrey la tho most eminent among those who believe that the disaster did not result from disobedience of orders and the general Is probably as well qualified as anyone in the world to make a positive state cent in tills regard belll jr sz c dext to the matter of responsibility for the disaster Is the question of whether or not there were any survivors of the custer battle the center of the cintrov ersy over this point for many years was the crow indian scout curley whose claim to the title of survivor depends entirely upon an interpretation of aliat that term means curley was with custer after the general had separated his command and was with him when he first came into contact with the indians just when he left custer at the order of the corn mander by the dav Is not known definitely but it has been pretty well established that he was not with him when custer made his last stand on the barren hillside over which the red wave of destruction st swept blot out he companies of the seventh the onla genuine survivor of that last desperate struggle was not a human being but a horse comanchie Coman clie the claybank bank sorrel charger ridden by capt myles keogh of I 1 troop of the seventh comanche was found after the battle wounded in seven places but with tender cire his life was saved and he hied to an honored old age despite indisputable evidence that there was only one real survivor n horse and one human being who had a flint claim to being a survivor curley the crow during the last halt cen fury there have come to light innumerable sur v ivors whose claims have been easily exploded by competent authorities but who have succeeded in deceiving many persons not familiar with the custer battle in the sime minner innumerable custer scouts have gilded wide publicity they bob up at such regular that the head line last of custer scouts dies has become a commonplace evidently every packer wagoner or other civilian lovee of the aimy who ever had any remote connection with custer s regiment bome time before he dies gets the idea or hla friends get it for him that he was a custer scout and either living or dying lie enjoys a brief moment of fame if all of the men who have claimed to be survivors or custer scouts had been with custer on the big horn on juno 25 it Is difficult to see how ten times the number of indians who were there would have been able to have wiped out austers ousters command 1 one of the favorite pieces of fiction about the little nig horn battle Is that the indians were led by sitting bull and that rain in the pace per custer while it has never been definitely established just how prominent a part sitting bull had in the battle some authorities eay that he was not even in the fight it has been fully proved that the leaders who were principal ly responsible for vers of the indians on that day were chief gall of the sioux chief crazy horse of the oglala sioux and chief two moons of the Chei ennes As to iraln in the faces claim to distinction it Is true that there was a feud between him and capt tom custer brother of the general and that he had threatened to cut out tom austers ousters Ou heart it Is also true that tom austers ousters body was found after the battle thua mutilated and although rain in the race la accused of having done this in the closing ears of bis life he denied it ills denial was made to a man of ids own race dr charles A lasam in and under all the circumstances it Is reasonable to believe that he told doctor the truth within the last year there ani been much als over the arms which custer and hla men carried into the battle many artists alio have drawn pictures of tha custer battle have shown the soldiers using swords when as a matter of fact there was not a tabar in the entire command the men of alie seventh were armed only wath ancient single shot springfield and colt revolvers and it was partly because of these ineffective single shot carbines that custers corn mand perished another trite piece of lays vy ka iTil Aritt all photograph copyright by D F barr part of the responsibility for the disaster upon the cowardice of major reno in not going to tho support of custer D A a historian who has made a special study of this campaign and who has brought to light many important facts about it has definitely disproved this impe of cowardice on the part of major keno and has done much to show that the man who for so long was the goat in this unfortunate affair in reality was something of a hero it has remained for prof 0 G elbby of the de apartment part ment of history at the university of orth dakota to remove the stigma from the names 0 other brave men connected with the custer bat tie in addition to the crow scouts who accod palled the custer expedition there were also a number of arleara or ree indian scouts the manner of referring to their part in the battle by most historians Is to say the cowardly rees fled at the first fire professor investigation among the surviving members of this group of scouts published by the alorth dakota historical society under the title of the arleara egowa conclusively that the term cowardly rees Is utterly unfair and untruthful when the arak ara scouts fled they did so expressly upon the orders of general custer who told them that they were to guide him to the indian village but were to take no part in the fighting but for all the disputes controversies charges and countercharges counter charges connected with this battle to make it unique among indian fights and for all that the general features of its etory are well known to most americans there Is much that lg interesting and thrilling and inspiring which ha acer yet become widely known there Is the story of the narrow escape from death of I 1 aleut leut charles 0 de dudlo sergt thomas oneall scout billy jackson and interpreter geraid who became separated from renos detachment during the first days fighting and after numerous narrow escapes from death managed to rejoin their command while it was beleaguered ed on the hills to which reno was forced to retreat there Is the story of the brave men in renos command who in the face of persistent indian ore risked their lives to creep down to the river to get water for wounded and dang comrades they received congressional medals of honor for their deeda it is true but they arc almost unknown except to n few historians of the custer battle and it Is to be hoped that em blazoned high on the new memorial will be their names they were the following asell bancroft abram J brant J callan frederick theodore W gold in david W harris william M harris drufua D james pym stanislaus roy george scott thomas W stevens frank peter thompson charles H welch georgo U galger henri W B mechling charles and otto volt along with their names should be those of sergt richard P hanley sergt benjamin C criswell thomas murray corp charles and private henry holden all of whom were awarded similar medals for various acts of gallantry during the two days of the battle and siege A reunion of the survivors of the battle was held on the field in 1886 the tenth anniversary of the fight and nt that time chief gall of the sioux and chief two moons of the chevennes Che vennes went over the field with officers of the and de the battle in detail as they remembered it gall Is long since dead as are all the other indian leaders on that fateful day but their spirits may be there this juno not so much to again over ona of the greatest victories the in danns ever won over the whites as to rejoice when the hatchet burying ceremony signalizes a final and lasting peace between red men am white T y w wil a |