Show ASHINGTON the senate ol 01 the tji cited states has in its keeping an official document wl ich conta ns one of the most splendidly graphic sto nes of india 1 fighting ever written the story in part Is the account given by gen george A for ath of his fight with the sioux and the Che ennes under tie famous chief roman nobe in eastern colorado in tre year 1868 gen forsyth went into the aimy from his native city chicago he is now living in washington the odds against his force in the fight with the band of roman nose were 20 to 1 and as the senate document has it though this part of it was not written by forsyth the battle was a splendid example of the hardihood cou age and capacity to adapt themselves to circumstances which so generally mark the conduct of bencan troops on the frontier one of gen forsyth s dubor binate officers in the battle was aleut frederick H beecher i nephew of rev henry ward beecher aleut beecher fought heroically and died just as the repulse of the indians was as gen forsyth s description of the charge of roman nose and his red band follows in a few moments after our preparations were completed roman noce and bis warriors kweit around the bend of the stream out of and well be yond rifle range with a front of about 60 men and a depth of six or eight ranks each warrior was with the exception of his cart ridge belt and box and moccasins perfectly naked and hideously painted they rode bare back with only a horsehair lariat wrapped twice around the middle of their horses and passing loosely over each knee riding well in f the center of his line roman nose led the charge a reckless gallantry that may have been equaled but could not have been excelled six feet three inches in height and perfectly naked save for a superb war bonnet on his head a crimson silk sash around his waist and his moccasins on his feet showing immense breadth of shoulder but nevertheless sinewy and slim both in wacht and flank he sat well forward on his chestnut colored cl arger with his knees under the lariat that twice encircled his horses body and his rifle held just below the trigger in his eft hand its barrel in the of his arm while the same hand grasped both his horses mane and bridle leaving his right arm free to direct his men and as he came charging on at the head of his command he was the very beau ideal of an indian chief As soon as the chaining chai ging warriors had fairly started to us our immediate assailants who lay under cover on the two banks of the river opposite an island opened a rapid fire on u from both sides with the intention of covering us to such an extent that we would not dare to rise from our rifle pits to open fire upon the attacking force and so for a few seconds bullets fell everywhere around us thia I 1 looked for but I 1 w ell knew that once the chang lag indians came within range of the bullets of their own men their fire m necessarily cease glancing back ner M command I 1 saw tl at they had all turned in their rifle pits toward the foot of the island the direction from which the charge was coming and crouching low with their kneel well under them their rifles closely gripped in their sinewy hands their bronzed faces set ike iron and their eyes fairly ablaze with wrath they lay with nos trite all aquiver impatiently awaiting the command to fire suddenly the fire from the indian riflemen ceased and placing my back against my rifle pit and leaning on my elbows against its sides I 1 shouted now and beecher mccall and grower echoed the cry instantly stalling to their knees with their rifles at shoulder as they rose and with one quick glance along the barrel 40 good men and true sent the first of seven consecutive volleys into the conr ashing savage horde welcoming the first and second volleys with beckless yell the charging warriors came gallantly on but at the third the most of them ceased to shout and I 1 could see great gaps in their ranks and men and horses going down but still the mass of them bravely held their course roman nose leading them and wildly waving his heavy spring field rifle over his head as though it were a wisp of straw he alone shouting his defiant war cry as he swept toward us at the fourth volley tl air great medicine man who was leading the left of the column went suddenly down and for an instant the column seemed to check its speed but tor a second and then with a mad rush it came bounding and leaping onward the fifth volley seemed to pile men and horses in heaps and at the sixth roman nose and his horse went down in death together A hundred feet farther and they will be upon us but I 1 tates and shakes and the scouts pour twi last a d seventh volley as a few of the wai briois reach the toot of our little island and then spring ing quickly to their feet with wild cheers and impresa eions on their foes the frontiersmen suddenly pour al most into the very faces of the mounted warriors a rapid fire from their revolvers while the column sudden ly divides on each side of the island and breaks in all directions for the shelter of either sl ore the now corn plemely defeated and panic stricken savages cowering to their horses backs fearfully demoralized and beeking only safety in eager and headlong flight gen forsyth was shot three times but he dragged him self about to care tor the wounded aleut beecher shot in the side turned to forsyth and said quietly and simply I 1 have my death wound general and then as the commanding officer tells the story he replied to hie subordinate oh no beecher no it can t be as bad as that ses good night I 1 heard him murmur once my poor mother in the sunset his life went out good night good knight after the failure of their attempt to override the little band of soldiers the ind ans besieged the whites for nine days and the second chapter of the story has much of the dirring interest of the first as it Is told by the officer in command in that campaign on the eastern colorado frontier with col forsyth were 51 officers and men before the indian lines were broken as they charged down on the detachment the bullets of the and the sioux found 24 victims one third of them being killed and the others badly wounded col forsyth had a bul let in his ight thigh his left leg was broken below the knee and his scalp bad been torn open by a shot I 1 et col forsyth tell the story of the siege orders were iss aed to unsaddle the dead horses to use the saddles to strengthen our works to connect the rifle pits and to deepen them still more and to cut off large steaks horn the dead horses and mules and to bury them deep in the sand to avoid having made the as comfortable as possible with water dressings the surgeon had been mortally wounded and a strong guard having been posted I 1 ate a few mouth of raw horse flesh and dozed away until morning the indians evidently believing that we would try to escape in the night approached at early daylight to take up our tra 1 owing to some one accidentally dis charging his rifle they threw themselves flat on the ground and we succeeded in killing only one of them the next day was very hot and we that were wounded suf intensely during all this time I 1 noticed that there was a steady beating of drums and death chants among the women in the main camp of the savages it was a weary enough day tor we were out of food save horse and mule meat which we had to eat without cooking but fortunately we had plenty of go d water at noon scout gro ver informed me that the indian women and children were beginning to withdraw and I 1 concluded at once feldt the ind ans had decided to give up the fight ac cordingly I 1 penciled the following dispatch col bankhead or commanding officer fort wal lace I 1 ent ou two messengers on the night of the ath dinst informing ou of my critical condition I 1 tried to send you two more last night but tl ey did not succeed in passing indian pickets and returned it the others have not arrived then hasten at once to my assistance the alone number or more they are splendidly armed with spencer and henry rifles we are living on mule and horse meat and are entirely out of rations if it was not for so many wounded I 1 would come in and take the chances of whipping the reds it attacked I 1 can hold out here for six days longer but please lose no time very respectfully your obedient servant george A forsyth P S my surgeon having been mortally wounded my wounded have not bad their injun esi dressed so please bring a surgeon with you I 1 confided this to two excellent men donovan and all ley they left our entrenchments ments at midnight and as they did not return I 1 was hopeful that they had escaped the vigilance of the indian sentries and were on their way to fort willice it was these two men who fell in with col carpenters command two days later and gave the first intimation of our plight the wound in my tl agh having become exceed angly painful I 1 asked some of the men to cut the bullet out but as it lay very near the femoral artery they all declined to attempt it taking my razor which happened to be in my saddle bag I 1 managed to cut it out myself greatly to my ain ost relief on the fourth day our doroe and irule meat became putrid but one of the men shot a little gray wolf that helped out somewhat I 1 had the men raise me on a blanket to get a better view of affairs and luddeni sud deni the indians sept in a fusil lade of about 20 shots the man who held the corner of the blanket upon which rested my bicken leg dropped it causing the bone to part and protrude through the flesh much to my savagely wrath on the sixth day I 1 called the well men together and told them that as there was i certainty that our sers could get through they were en titled to a chance for their lives I 1 believed that most of our enemies had withdrawn and as the men were well armed I 1 doubted it any ordinary body of indians would dare attack them on their way to fort wallace As tor the wounded we must take our chances it attacked for a few moments there was a dead silence then rose a hoarse shout never never well stand by you beneral en eral until the end mccall saying we ve fought together and by heavens if need be we 11 die together the next two days the indians only keeping a vidette in sight and most of them having disappeared to me to be almost interminable we all became weaker for want 0 food on the morning of the ninth day one of the men lying near me suddenly sprang up and shading hil eyes with his hands shouted there are moving objects on the fat bills every man was on his feet in an in slant and then some keen eyed scout shouted by the god above us it s an ambulance the strain was over it was col carpenter with a troop ot the tenth cavalie not long afterward the sub chiefs ol 01 the warriors who had surrounded and fought col forsythe Forsyt hs band admitted that the indians in the fight lost 76 killed and many wounded there were 1 warriors in the band that at tacked forsyth s force ol 01 51 men and in the end the white men won it was a great fight and the fact that the white men won proved a sure indication of final victory on the tron tier which came about a short time later the records of the war office in washington leu of these great battles and they are open to the curious public while they are more ar less in the form of reports and lack the romantic details which writers have wrapped around them they still prove of great interest |