| Show COUNCILS AND FIGHT right BE TWEEN GEN OEM MILES AND GENERAL SITTING BULL MOUTH or CABIN cadin creem CREEK MT october 21 1876 r an unexpected change has come over oven the face of the lately desolate state odthe of the sioux war close upon the report deport that 1006 lodges of sioux ahad left standing rock bock agency came a delay in the regular supply train from Glent glendive liVe nothing was heard beard from it for several days af ter the proper time timo had arrived for it to reach us and wo we began to fear for its safety scouts sent out could not find it general miles in consequence gave orders for the fifth infantry to take fourteen days supplies and march to the tho rullel of the supposed corralled train the two j companies of the twenty second an infantry fantry were left as na camp guards on the morning of the the order was given and long before daylight the troops were in readiness for a start wilh eight pack 1 mules per company and afew a few wagons every one was alive to the necessity of marching promptly to the relief of the train th the tho e crossing of or the we yellowstone river was f commenced in the mackin mackinaw aws sand and one ode flat and finished by liy 11 a m when the march was promptly taken up and the old fifth filed out through a long iong narrow ravine in slender column but looking sturdy and solid on this its first expedition as a regiment since the utah campaign jt numbered about men all told the march was continued 4 without intermission until about dusk when fifteen miles had been passed over and a it halt was made and coffee taken herd here we waited for ammunition wagons to come up they arrived a little after barkand dar kand a night march was made of thir teen miles early the next morn ing the weary men plodded forward aate a short sleep and marched ten miles when another halt for coffee was allowed f shortly after starting a n cloud of hor bor horsemen observed galloping towards usand us and proved to bo be home lome of tho the scouts who had beon been sent t forward they reported the train coming and tend also that they had had a hc lose close sharp fight with about twenty Indians who bad had killed one of their thein number and they had killed seven indians while they were in the advance tho the train came in or sight and sapa colonel otis olis rode up it appeared that the train had left with a couple of companies and b had id been beell attacked by the indians who wio had bad captured about forty mules which compelled it to return r to glendive Glen divo tCo lonel ionel otis then took five live of bis his companies and brought the tho train safely through though having had a sharp running fight with about indians dur dar 1 ing n g 13 everal several days the indians ren renewed ew these attacks charging boldly down donn on the train and firing on our men but they were on every occasion speedily driven away two friendly indians who had been sent from standing rock bock by gen carlin had ame come como in under a white flag to tell col otis that the sioux wished him to come out and have atair a tall tail with them which he had declined to do A letter ietter had also been found put upon a stick signed sitting bull ordering trains to cease run running ning through that country and frightening the buffalo the sioux had found in their three days experience that their old ene eno mies the twenty second are no more to bo be trifled with now than formerly and in col Ot otis isaman a man they could neither stop nor whip three of the lyv twenty nty second were vere wounded ani and many indians were semento fail tall li from their theli ponies that day baythe the two commands camped near each other and rested the next day each took its line of march the twenty second to tongue river biver and the filth to find the hostiles ho stiles after sending back nifty fifty men to complete the quarters already well under way that day the fifth marched fifteen miles and camped on cherry creek without having seen been any evidence of indians beyond a few carcasses of bufo buiT buffalo alo hlo on the next day eight miles beyond cedar creek where the twenty second had seen the last of the indians two indians were seen coming over the hill with a white flag which was the prelude to what was wai the most remarkable scene which has ever taken place in indian warfare the indians who proved to bo be those sent from irom standing rock bock brought word that wished to have haven a talk with general niiles milea with a view to surrendering the indians about soon appeared on tile the brow of a hill some distance away they were so suspicious and doubling that it seemed scarcely possible to arrange a meeting especially as gen miles MEW interpreter was absent finally lieutenant bailey acting adjutant consented to go over to the hostiles ho stiles with the two friendly sioux there he found a white interpreter of sitting bulls andy audy and after much difficulty a meeting was arranged to take place between the lines with a few followers on each side everything being conceded ceded to the tue reds except the removal of a rodman gu guu u which was frowning down from a neighboring height and which caused the indians much uneasiness general miles rode rodo out followed by his hia staff and orderlies his jine line being arranged with a company on each flanking hlll hill and under the rodman gun lifs ills train surrounded by a skirmish jine line to the rear of the whole having moved out several hundred yards general mues halted near the centre and awaited what appeared an hour lieutenant bailey having returned and gone back to the reds atlak at last a ri motion was observed in the hostiles ho stiles and there appeared a line of some dozen warriors dismounted marching forward in perfect line without rifles accompanied 9 by others mounted and armed slowly they moved forward until they arrived about thirty yards from the generals party and halted desiring him to dismount general miles and staff then dismounted and moved up when the circle was formed it wasa magnificent spectacle from the lines and one of most painful excruciating cruc crucia lating ting interest and uneasiness on both sides the sioux to get g et their wishes and the whites in remembrance mem brance of the t canby affair tills this became especially so in the fifth when the mounted and armed warriors came forward by the dozen and completely surrounded the ht jit tle group of officers the council was much as usual tho the indians complaining in their speeches of the tho trains passing through and frighten frightening ing hway away tho the buffalo of the occupation of winter home of following and il fighting them etc sitting bull preeminently eminently pre pie their chief fighting man cannot talk or express his thop thoughts abts we talk but he is our fighting chief so spoke their orator pretty bear many prominent chiefs were at the council long and earnest was the conference the troops awalt await awaiting Dg tile the issue in the tho bitter cold tho the indiana indians deans were extravagant in demands deans deana asking the tho withdrawal of the troops at fort buford and the tho cessation of trains going through but such demands were gradually abandoned general miles persisted in demanding simply that they should go to the tongue river kiver and put themselves under sub suh subjection ecklon to the government T to 0 t this S they would not agree desiring to remain out to hunt the buffalo bitting sitting bull is a man of thoroughly savage and warlike desires wishing the sioux to leave the agencies and rations and go out and live on buffalo meat as in good old times several hours conference continued in this thia way those in line anxiously wondered how it ift could breakup break up without bloodshed when a commotion was waa observed in the crowd the parties separating as quietly as though they were vere civilized belligerents on both si desand the indans indians took their departure promising to return early on the next morning while the fifth infantry took its way back to cedar creek escorted part of the way by a few fleetly mounted sioux if in this counell it had bad been intended to delay general miles march it was af a failure allure ho marched asfar as far ashe as ho could in the direction necessary to go in order to reach the sioux that night every precaution was taken to prevent surprise but no disturbance occurred early the next morning october 21 the command moved out noi noy northward along cedar creek a few miles shortly those significant little moving black spots appeared far in our front and word soon comeback came cam baek back eback that about labout in front of us line of battle was formed the train closed epand the rodman hodman gun brought forward while the whole line steadily advanced A white flag now appeared from a prominent knoll on the left front telling that another conference was to come the ground on which we were now marching was usually rolling prairie with tracks of broken jumbled rocky and ground near cedar creek anthe on the left gradually descending to toa a similar track on the right and rising to a point on a range capped on the left by the high knoll on which the indians appeared and beyond which nothing could be seen the ilae liae was advanced to this rang ra ethe knoll occupied for which purpose the sioux retired to one elac exactly ly like it yards beyond and the he rodman bodman and company were placed on it the train was place placed cl in a hollow in the rear and the usual skirmish line around when we leached beached the tho ridge I 1 have described above a scene of wild savage pageantry burst upon the vision such sueh as seldom falls to the lot of mento behold and which made every fifth infantry heart thrill with the feeling expressed in Custar sery scry custers Ou luck here was the biggest village I 1 ever saw and the landscape comported with the rest of the picture from the ridge en an which the line was placed the prairie descended by a series serles of swells down to a creek creel a few miles in front on tho the left the knoll mentioned was but the first of a long succession stretching to the tho left and ending in a high ridge on the right the ground dese descended endel to the creek having high hills along the sides this creek bends bands around iu in front of the described field and beyond it rose precipitously the ground in broken knolls to the high divide in the far blue distance it was on this nield field the fifth infantry gazed but it was not the field that astonished them for on every knoll dispersed through the whole fied fled fied and in solid mass on the far seen divide appeared the savage forms of the sioux hither and thither to and fro were nidd ridd riding perturbed horsemen horse horst men like a neat nea of ants when routed touted the dingy warriors swarmed around and about filling the knolls knolla and ravine ravines sand and ridges ridge sand and pressing around our flanks and rear even beyond the heavy mass on tho the divide appeared another mass doubly massive and heavy heave and black which evena glass could only make out an immense throng without being able to detect riders A more magnificent spectacle was never beheld behold or a scene more wor thy the brush of or painter painted aint eror eron or pencil of artist on tho the knoll P 01 I 1 imme immediately diat ely in front of the first were assembled the tho bearers of the tho white flag one company and most of the officers went forward between the two forces indians soon swarmed to that point by tho the dozen but no meeting could be arranged liere here so bo general miles directed that it should take place on a small smail hillock immediately in front of his line and that sitting bull drav up his As iino lino no on tho the other hide iside this was hilly a agreed reed to and the two parties met at this point with the two lines duly formed A long earnest and eager conference enbe ence began this time with a little anxiety on the side of tb the e fifth by reason of officers and men going baek back and forth this conference was even more protracted than on the tho day before the sioux showing their anxiety lor the tho result by constantly riding to the council circle eagerly consulting each other and beu heu returning to their eminence the line lino of warriors that h had haq hd leen been icen formed being almost entirely broken up by these movements after long anxious consultation many of the chiefs were found willing to agree to td the terms one offering to go himself as hostage if his tribe would bo be allowed to hunt buffalo awhile at this point however sitting bitting bull eagerly broke up the conference preferring to fight to y yielding vach tach ding each party retired to its own side general miles ulles sent a final word to sitting bull buli to let him havo have his answer promptly or he would open upon him with his guns no answer was returned As Getie general ral rai miles and his bis party moved slowly back to his lines the in indians deans on the plain withdrew to the heights and crowned these and the high ground beyond the in front from the prude T t precautions taken by general miles against surprise or treachery to hl his command the indians I 1 seemed to have bad an idea lie he would rather await than mahe make an attack BO so they watched with extreme eagerness his first movement A moment sufficed for preparation and when the wished for command to move forward was given every officer and soldier joyfully responded and their eagerness could scarcely bo be restrained major or casey with company A was directed tb to move along and clear the ridge rid go left captain cartor carter dr with company K J to clear a high knoll on the right captain snyder with company F to guard the Rod bod bodman rodman mangun atin while the line advanced direct to the front the advance was not handsomely done don e owing lo 10 the too great eagerness to get forward farward after advancing a few hundred yards line was deployed as skirmishers opening out like a fan the deployment was beautifully made in perfect order sweep ing over the ground with its long waving line climbing the hillsand hills hill band sand and descending the valleys ilke jik like J h a long ripple over the billows captain carters copa company pany which had been ordered tocarra to 10 carry tnie trie height on the right crowned by about seventy five indians without firing moved steadily forward clos cios closing irig upon the sioux the latter gave way before the little line without venturing a shot meanwhile the main line was rapidly advancing company al A moving steadily swept aside the few row indians on the left ridge the line had now reached tho the creek beyond which was the battlefield battle baltie neld field on the precipitous rise immediately before us composed of high gravelly knolls were the malt main body of the sioux the ravine ravine of the stream divided to the right one i portion running far to tha the right the other extending to the north and left along the line of the advance on the left loft of this branch was a avery very high ridge commanding the whole pla pia plan pian a orthe of the field and distant from the ravine a few hundred yards this was wag covered by indians the prairie beyond the heights on which the main body of the tho sioux had taken up position posit ibn was rolling as usual each swell rising higher for several miles the ground on the right of the right branch of the stream was similar to that on the left but not so high the plan of the indians it ap appeared now was to get the fifth regiment to pasi pass the main force an i thus become entangled in jh the ravi faes laes and low ground while by crowning the surrounding heights they would bo be enabled to pour a concentrated fire on the mass and re repeat cat the custer butchery general miles was waa not the man to be thus til us entrapped and by ca elmris I 1 carter and |
