The New York Herald Newspaper, July 7, 1876, Page 3

t i THE MASSACRE. The Gallant Cavalry Leader's Death Officially Confirmed, AN INTERVIEW WITH GENERAL SHERIDAN, “A Mistake, for Which. He Paid the Penalty of His Life.” SHERMAN ON THE REASONS FOR THE Wak.. A Campaign at the Request of| the Indian Department. THE PRESIDENT DEEPLY AFFECTED Officers the | Movement. Opinion of Army Disastrous AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SITTING BULL. Sketch of the Indian Campaigns | of the Past. INCEPTION AND PROGRESS OP THE PRESENT WAR, Paiapunraia, July 6, 1876, As soon as your correspondent heard of the disaster to our troops he visited Licutenant General Philip H. Sheridan, who is here at the meeting of the Army of the Camberiand. Tho distinguished officer rece:ved the Huratp representative with great courtesy, and said be bad read the painful narrativo in the morning papera, Your correspondent asked the General whether he had any news trom the fleld, to which the General re- plied that be bad no news at all. The whole thing was | surprise to him, a mystery, and so incredible that he could not believe it, He was the more surprised becuuse the news came in such a roundabbat way. Why were there no narratives in tne New York papers from the special correspondents? Your correspondent called attention to the full despatches that had appeared in the Hxratp from the eommand of Crook, and said that, perhaps, some acel- dent had happened to the scout, Here another officer called attention to the name of the scout who was reported in the despatch as bring- ing in the news. His reputation was not such as would Justify any one in accepting his story without reserve, “More than that,” said Genoral Sheridan, “if you ‘will anatyze the despatch you will see that it comes ‘without any of the marks of credence, It does not come to Headquarters, It does not come to the leading papers from special correspondents. 1t is not given to ———$———— | bis imformation. the: press for telegraphing, but appears first in a Salt Lago and Montana paper. These scouts on the frontiét have a way of spreading news, and all frontier stories, especially aboat Indian wars, are to be very carefully considered.” Your correspondent asked the General if he gave no Credence to the news, The General answered that the story wasso horrible that he could only accept it when it came officially. Anyhow, when the truth was | Known, even looking at it from the worst side, it would be found less alarming than is here printed. Your correspondent asked the General whether nis latest news from the expedition gave him any cause lor apprehension. AN INCREDIBLE RATURE. The General said that the march as described was ‘She march General Custer intended to make, but even f Custer had follen into an engagement there would aot have been the siaughter here described. That is the incredible feature of the story, A’Ught was proba- ble and a defeat pussible, but no uch defoat as is here | described. “When did you last hear from General Custer?’ wsked your correspondent, The General said he last heard from Terry on June 21. Terry is in command of the expedition. He was thea north of the Rosebud. He had discovered signs of a fresh Indian camp, showing that Ladians were in that vicinity. It was his pian then to send General Custer, with his twelve companies of cavalry ap the Rosebud amd to cross irom there over to the Little Horn, You will see from this despatch that the courier reports that it was om the Little Horm that the action 1s sald to have taken piace. While Custer was march- | ing ap the Rosebud to the Little Horn Terry went with @ steamer to the junction of the Big Horn and Little Horn, and ferried General Gibbons’ command te the south side of the Yellowstone. You wee the Littl Horn empties into the Big Horn, and that into the Yellowstone, It was then the purpose of Gibvons to march up the Big Horm and; meet Custer, ‘who was coming down. All of this confirming cer- tain features of the news, makes me regard tho report with anxiety, but still I am in hopes that it ts not true, and at the worst an exaggeration. If truo the news should have come more direetly. ‘The General then left to preside over the mecting of the Army of the Cumberiand. THy sews, About three o'clock your correspondent callea on the General again, and found him at his room in the Continental. Several oMfcers were with him, and he ‘was reading « long despaich from General Terry. After be had concluded he said, with much feehng, that bis pews from General Terry confirmed the reports to a certain extent, siill they were imper- fect despatches with allusions to @ report of the details of the action that was on the way, and he had tele- Sraphod (or it, Until he received this he could not say | ‘what the disaster had been. Your correspondent asked if this was an official fde-paten. ‘The Gencral said it was not, Only a confidential de- | ‘Wpatch which it was his duty to sead to General Sher. ‘van, It seems that there was ao action, that Custer | tttacked the Iudians, who outoumbered and deteated H tim, aoa he wus killed. Yoar correspond: the death of Custer. STKRTCHERS POR THR WOUXDRD. BYes; Terry says that in so many words. But be also speaks of sending up stretchers for tae wounded, which, as I said this morning, shows that there were | wounded, and, not as the despatch shows, a complete iked If this despatch confirmed | Rilis to meet him, but could not cross the Yellowstone, j ‘NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY. JULY 7, 1876.—TRIPLE SHEET. massacre, It shows that our troops were able to Tescue their wounded and retreat with them. The Indian always kills, The fact that Terry speaks of caring for the wounded shows that there was no such complete destruction of the command of Custer. But beyond Custer's death I have no news nor names of the wounded, no details of the action. ‘Those may come at any time, ‘ME RESPONSIBILITY. Your correspondent ventured to inquire whether the General had any information as to the cause or the re- sponsibility of the disaster, ‘The General said, with sorrowful feeling, that it was too soon to pass any judgment upon an action of this extent, 1t would be unfair to the memory of Custer or of any soldier who loses his lite in battle to pass an opinion until the whole story was known. Custer was @ gallaxt, daring man, who knew the Indian country well, who had served against various tribes. and who, | in addition to bis natural ability and courage, had spe. cial experience. The same could be said of General Crook, who was famous for his Indian knowledge. { Mow IT LOOKS. | It now looks, at least that 1s the impression made | upon the mind of General Terry. as ii Custer found himself with his command in presence of the Sioux; | that without waiting for reserves or reinforcements, | or even for the co-operation of the otber por- tions of the command, he mado a dash, Instead of capturing and destroying a vil- lage, as be probably expected, he found that he had thrown himself upon the main body of the Sioux, 2,000 at least, if our information is accurate. Hence the disaster. This is what General Terry thinks from I only repeat that to you as his opinion, mot more. He has all the facts; I mcrely have bis conclusions. That isthe situation now. Custer is said to bave made this mistake—and a mis- take it was, all the moro surprising im one who knew the Indian so well—but he pays the penalty with his iife OUR INDIAN POLICY. Beyond this general idea of the contents of the ! ‘Terry despatch, the General would not go. He spoke ot Custer with feeling and regard. The conversation then ran into our policy in dealing with the Indians. General Sheridan said that the truth was, the army was made to carry out the purposes of the government in ‘the Indian country by reason of its weaknes:, “I bave,” he said, “‘sent every man I could spare into that region, even taking troops from Laramie and Salt Lake, The government, in its wisdom, directs the doing of certain things in these regions It directs an expedition like this of Terry, an expedition necessary for the development of that country. We do the best we can with our material, but we are in no condition to do the work required of us.’” An officer present said with some fervor that this was one of the rosults of the polley of the democratic | House, which invited Indian defeats by cutting down | | the army. General Sheridan said that of course his business was with the army, not with politics, and he did not wish to be underatood as criticising any branch of the government. ‘ It was a question which admitted of no political construction, a question % the peace, the efficiency and the growth of the country, and that should interest democrats as well as republicans, and so Icng as they had army work to do they should have an army to do it, other- | wise there would be these disasiers, } | Your correspondent asked if Red Cioud and Spotted sregirtth, these Sioux. i The General said “No,” Highast advices from these chiefs showed that they were on good terms with the whites, make these wars, but the young men of the tribe, When peace or war is the question the Bucks will always go forth if the old chieis try to sway them from 1t, but they lose their authority.” The General had an engagement to meet the Society ofthe Army of the Cumberland, and promised to see your correspondent at midnight and give him any ad- ditional news, INTERVIEW WITH GENERAL S8HER- | MAN. Paapetruta, July 6, 1876. General Sherman was found taking bis ease in his inn, at the Transcontinental Hotel, with coats and boots thrown aside, sitting in an easy-chair by the window-side, fanning himself, He received tho HeRap correspondent with his usual simple coartesy, and anticipated that gentieman’s own words by asking. “Ig it true? What news have you got? What avout Custer t”” The correspondent told him that nothing furgher had been received than had been pablished, and asked his opinion of the trath of the desps \. “It seems almost too terrible to be entirely true, It must be exaggerated, 1 cannot believe that Custer and his whole command would be sweptaway. 1 don't think there were enough Indians there to do it like that, I'll bet,’”’ said the old warrior earnestly, “that if it is so there wasa pile of dead om the Indian side, Custer’s line of march, however, was to be just as the report says, and that tends to confirm it” “What is the latest official information you have as to the situation there 7” “General Terry left Fort Abe Lincoln, striking for the Powder River and the valley of the Yellowstone. A boat was sent at the same time up through the Yeilow- stone with provisions and supplies, He encountered no indians, and reported ali well on tho 2ist of June, when he received a messenger from General Gibbon, informing him that Gibbon was on uis way trom Fort because the stream was too bigh to ford, ana that Gibbon intended to send Custer up the Rosebud to Source with instructions to cross the country to the Little Hora, which he was to follow to whero tt joined the B:g Horn, twenty miles from the Yellow- stone. By way of this detour he was to come back to the Yellowstone, striking it at the Big Horn junction, which Gibbon could have reached by that time. This battle is reported jast where Custer would have been likely to be, The steamboat would have gone up alter Gibbon had used it to Lring over bis troops at the mouth of the Big Horn.” ts ORNERAL SHERMAN’S EXPLANATION, General Sherman explained that Terry started from Fort Lincoln with 1,500 men to march to the Junction | of the Brg Horn with the YetlowStone (a cistanee of about 40@ miles from Fort Buford), where he was to | meet Gibbon, with 500 men, coming trom Helena, by | way of Ellis, the nearest post, Ellis being 200 miles from the Big Horn junction. Custer left Terry at the Rosebud river, with a full regiment of 1,200 men, to wake a devour around by tue Little Horn, where the Little Horn empties into the Big Horn that he was surprised by the Indians and the massacre took place, This is only about twenty mites from the Yel. jowstone, where Gibbon and Terry were waiting for to join them, so that they wero « few hours’ march of Caster’s command when the massacre oc curred, Where Crook's battle took place, described in to-day’s Huna.d. cannot be much more than 100 miles Lt was near “It is not these chiefs,” he continued, ‘who } | | | than existed between G | ment, and even General Shi from where Custer was killed, according to General ‘Sberman’s calculation. “Ope reason why I think the account published is | exaggerated,” said the General, “is because we have Yet Teceived no official information. It wonld be the | Guty of the officer in command at Ellis, oven if be were only # sergeant—for only a small garrison would be there, General Gibbon taking the cavalry at this post with him—I say the frst duty of the officer left in command of this garrison would be to telegraph to Bozeman City, in Montana, 150 miles distant; thence to Montana City, 360 miles away. The despateh would bo sent frst to General Sheridan, who would forward iat onceto me” f Even while the General was finishing this sentence there was a rap at the door, and a telegram was brought to him. 1 was from General Sheri@an, an- nouncing that the death of Custer was cuntirmed, but | ‘that no details were yet received. The cespateh fur- ther stated that Terry was at the junction of the Big Horn, and was “all right.” Goneral Sherman inferred from she last assertion that Terry bad Custei wounded, and that in a very short time we enal! have the full story of the battle trom their lips. MANNER OF VIGHTING, The Hxxap cerrespondent asked why Ousier was ordered to make the detour up the Rosebud. The General replied that it was frequently done in fighting Indians “It 15 the best plan to divide soasto try and find their camp. The Indians rarely fight near their camps, where they leave their women and old men to guard their property. If you can surprise their camp and get the women out you soon get the men and bring to terms, We conquered the Kiowas and the Coman- | ches in the same way, We hemmed them in and caught them by finding their camps, There were good military reasons for Custer making this detour, He probably bad his own good reasons for weakening his force by sending Major Reno around the Indian camp ‘with seyen companies, That was probably intended to cut off their retreat after the attack had been made.” “How many Sioux do you think there aro in that | country, and what kind of land is it, physically ?”” “Te 13 mauvaises terres, the worst kind of bad land. It is full of ravines, barren and water washed, poor soil, but with a litle grass in the valleys, As to the numbers of Sioux there we have bus little means of knowing, but, I think, there can’t be more than 1,000."” and property | them REASONS FOR THR CAMPAIGN, “What were the reasons for this campaign?” “That is something I am very anxious you sbould way to the Hunatp, because I want it understood. We are doing this atthe special request of the Indian De- partment 1t does not originate with the War Depart- ment atall. You will seeom my map where the In- dian Reservation is. Our purpose is to drive these Indians, who are of the very wild. est. and most savage sort, down on the reservation. Montana,” said the General, enthusiastically, ‘is the most promising of our Territories. it is settled by an intelligent people, among whom are many old soldiers, and it iathe mchest and most promising of our settlementa, These indians have been annoying the settlers, and we are to drive them down on the reservation, You can say that wo will do it now, or exterminate them.” Speaking of tne character of the soldiers the General | said that the officers of Crook’s, Terry's and Gibbons’ armies are the best Indian fighters in the service. “General Crook bas had thirty years’ experience in In- dian wars, and he suppressed the troubles Jo, Arizona, Washington Territory ‘aud Idaho, The HERatp 18 too severe in its criticism to-day.” THE NEWS IN WASHINGTON. Wasuixcros, July 6, 1876 A thrill of horror ran through jhe whole community here to-day when the news was received” that General Custer aad his officers and command of five companies had been slaughtered in their engagement wita the Sioux Indians on the Little Horn River. At first | the news was discredited at the War Depariment, where no despatches had been received as late as three o'clock. The officers on duty at the Adjutant Gen- eral’s office shook their heads and said that as no ad- vices had been received from Iteutenant General Sheri- dan or any of the officers in the West, the whole thing looked improbable. 1% was not until a balf hour later that @ despatch was received by Mr. Crosby, Chiet Clerk of the War Department, from Adjutant General R. C. Drum, of Lieutenant General Sheridan’s staff, at Chicago, confirming the verrible news, ag reported in the Western papers, The following is the text of THE DESPATCH :— Cnr0aao, July 6, 1876—1:15 P.M, H. B. Crosny, War Department, Washington, D.C. : Despatch from General Terry, dated from bis camp at mouth of Big Horn, July 2, contirms tho mewspaper reports of a fight on the 25th of June on the Little Big Horn and of Custer’s death. Terry had fallen back to hts present camp. I have sent full despatches to the Lieutenant General, who will prob- ably communicate them. | have not yet received General Terry’s report of the action ora list of the casualties. KC. DRUM, A. AG. Thig despatch was the acknowledgement of &@ despatch from General Terry’s camp at tie of Big Horn, dated July 2, recetved at Licutenant-General Sheridan's quarters in Chicago. This told of Gen sequent reverse, Also, im so far as he had to full back wo bis old camp on the river, which was an instant resuit of the massacre of the brave Custer and his gal- | lanteoldvers. A feeling of sadness took possession of everybody, while irequent tributes of praise were paid the memory of General Custer as a sterling and dashing officer. His magnificent record was gone over while some gravely gave expression to their apprehensions | mouth head- ‘erry’s con- | thatthe sweeping calamity met by him and his com mand was attributablo to bis reckiessness of lito and gallant but rash daring. A DXSPATCH TO THR PRESIDENT. The President, a few moments later, received a du- plicate despatch announcing the sad fate of Custer, aud was very much concerned at the calamity which our little army bad suffered in one of its bravestcom- | manders and choicest as well as most experienced body of cavairy Gghters on the Viains. As is well | Known, Cueter took boundless pride and haa uniimited | confidence ip his favorite troopers of the Seventh cav- airy, while they, in turn, were known to be willing (0 | fo whereever be would lend and to bave the greatest faith in thoir commander. Throughout the whole army of the frontier this has been recoguized, and no body of troops had any closer tie with their superior officer ral Custer and the Seveuth cavalry. For along time the progress of the pending Indian campaign has been closely watched with great concern, and m.agivings were had at the War Depart — and his experienced | staf, some of whom are familiar with severe and desperate Indian fighting, have felt GAVE APrRkwENsiOH for the fate of the smati but nd columns sent out to fight the best fighting PAs em of the | whole West. It bas been variously estimated by fron- | ersmon and the most experienced officers that the j ; Continent, from north to south, in warlike spirit, and j| amce of their bodies." | at Philadelpiia, and the fact that no communications | The blue is | Siting Bail’s bands at the Indians could mount effectively, whem on the war path, from 2,000 to 8,000 braves. Lieutenant General Sheridan, to use his own words to a HEnaupcor- | respondent on tho Plains in tho Southwest two years | ago, when the Kiowas and Comanches wore on the warpath, said he was ‘determined to give the Sioux a thrashing.”? The present movement 1s a fuililimont of his resolve, but how tar he has yet gone toward carry- | ing it out the public will jadge from the recent con- | duct of hostilities by the bravest and best oflicers of | the army iu Crook, Ferry, Custor, Gibbons and Reno. | The Sioux, besides being a numerous, feariess and do- | termined tribe of many bands, namely—the Lower and Upper Yanctonais, the Unc-pa-pas, Black- feet and Ogallallas—have strong alhes among tho Ara. pahoes and Cheyennes, the latter being among the best trained and disciplined, as well ag most warlike and proud-spirited of the Northwestern” Indians, They | are also called the ‘deg soldiers,” their Indian name | being supposed to be a corruption of the French word | “chien,” and to have been assigned to them because, | as Indian Jegendry tells, they used dogs in the winter | snows to transport themselves from place to place. | They have been known to traverse the length of the $wo years ago they sent couriers more than 1,000 miles | to the Kiowas and Comanches to encourage them to | war, saying that if they would make a good stand | aguinst the white man,and drive him out of their | country, as they bad done, tho Cheyennes would send | a lar Thus it will be seen that, owing to martial spirit and ability, number of warriers to help them out. fostered and encouraged by imposing numbers, the present war in the Northwest promises to be STILL MORE DISASTROUS, unless larger bodies of troops can be sent to engage them, and may result in the depopulation by massacre | or fear of the many advanced frontier wwns, The | Ogallalias, at last count, in August, 1875, numbered, according (o Indian Agent Saviile’s report, 10,330; the Northern Cheyennes, 2,138; Northern Arapahoes, 1,563, while many of the northern Indians refused to be counted. The sending of a mere band{ul of troops, however brave and invincible, to compete with a horde of blood- thirsty savages, |s regarded liere as preposterous, and some who discuss it about the hoteis speak of itas | criminal, One gentleman said that :— “The sending of Custer off with his detachment was like patting a squad of men before a park of artillery to withstand being blown to pieces by tho sheer resist- 18 CoxaREss, | The butchery of Custer and bis men was very freely talked about in both Houses of Congress to-day, and has occasioned the most intense excitement and in- terest. Here, too, tho frightful story was deemed in- credible, and among the beiter informed was set down as the crazed narrative of a demoralized scout who had | not gotten over a fright or stampede, The pending bill Tor the transfer of tho Indians to the War Department has been given much more favorable consideration in the tight of today’s news, and the appropriations for the Sioux tribes will, perhaps, be reconsidered andro | duced. Reference is also made to the killing of Canby by the Modocs, the carnage experienced by Captain \ McClellan’s command near the Washita River, Indian | Territory, and other similar occasions of slaughter. | i \ THE SECRETARY OF WAR Secretary of War Cameron returned late this even- ing to Washington and immediately called upon the President, trom whom, he says, all that he ascertained in regard to the massacre of Custer and his troops was | | with a “coup” stick, takes bis scalp and hangs it to what is conveyed In the despatch of Assistant Adjutant Genoral Drum to Chief Clerk Crosby, of the War Department, Ho thought that no later informa- tion had been received by the War Department or it | would have been forwarded to his residence, After examining what telegrams were on his table he said that there was nothing further from the fight up to midnight It is understood that insteuctions | will be given to send reinforcements at once to the troops in the fleld, and possibly some steps taken to provide a volunteer organization of 3,000 or 4,000 men atonce, General Sherman's staff are also without any advices additional to the despatch to Mr. Crosby. ANXIETY OF FRIENDS. During the day many persons who were related to the men and officers of Custer’s column called at the War Department to inquire for further particulars and details of tho startling nows; but owing to the absence of the Secretary of War with tho General of the Army had been received from the West, tue solici- ous inquirers could obtaim no nformation nor derive any consolation at the War Office. One of the officers on duty said that possibly Lieutenant General Sheridan was bolding back the worst of the news so as to not demoralize public opinion. Up tofveP. M. be had not communicated | with them or the President, though a despatch to the War Department trom his Assistant Adjutant General, | Colonel Drum, intimated that the particulars had been | telegraphed im full to the Lieutenant General who, he | presumed, would give them to the President. Every one here who snows anything of Indian fight- ing looks for trouble fer the columns of Terry, Crook and Grifin, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SITTING BULL, Wasuixotox, July 6, 1876, | Among she many ghastly souvenirs preserved at the Arty Medical Museum of this city 1 autobiography | of Sitting Ball, gotten up in the highest style of tue art | of savage picture history and telling, in fifty-five draw. ngs or sketches, the story of his life down to the year 1870. Each picture is radely outlined with ik, the men, horses and other objects being such as children would make. Many of them are partly filled in with red and bjuo colors, as if Sitting Bull had at some time 1 possession of one of the red and blue pencils so well known in newspaper offices, and with It elaborated his pictorial efforts, Biood or a wound is indicated by a red blotch with streamers falling down used generally im indicating the white man’s pantaloona ach picture is made on a sheet of paper eight by ten inches, aud is pasted into @ book of blank leaves, such as are used for @ scrap book, By hoiding the ets up to the light it is seen | hat they are the muster rol! blanks of the Thirty-first | Cnited States infantry, of which Colonel De Trobriand | ‘was the commandant, The papers probably jell into acustion of a camp, or, as ia more likely, wero stolen by him during a visit to from it. some of our outposts Sitting Bull is not at all modest in committing to posterity she STORY OF WIS GREAT DExDA, Whether it be tho scalping of a soldier in battle or | the aly theft of a male, he brags equaily of his prowess | ‘2 bis curious autobiography. This literary work, } which is now likely to be famous, fell into the hands of Assistant Surgeon James ©. Kimball, of the army, in the month of Aagust, 1870, whiic he | was stationed at Fort Buford, Dakota Territory. He had the pictures translated and sent them, with the translation avd index, to the Curator of the Army Medical Musenm, Washingten, Surgeon George A. Otis, | | | } { United States Army, who has filed thom. in hook shape, among the archives of the Museum. The tm- troduction, written oy Dr, Kimball, goes on to say (hat the autobiography contains a description of the princt- pal adventures in the life of Suttimg Bull, who ig an | Unk-pa-pa Chief. It was sketched by himself in the picture language in common use with the Indians, Since the establishment of Fort Buford, tp 1866, Sit- | Ung Bull, at the bead of trom sixty to seventy warriors, | dad been the terror of mail carriers, wood choppers and small parties in the vicinity of the post and from 100 to 200 miles from it either way, up and down the Missouri River. During the time from 1866 to 1870, when the biography was written, this band hud several times captured and destroyed the mail, und had stolen and run off over 200 head of cattle and killed near « score of white men im the immediate vicinity of the fort. The Unk-pa p nation hving in the Yellowstone and Powder River countries, are a tribe of the great Sioux STORY OF TitR BOOK. The book was brought into Fort Buford by a Yank- tonnais Sioux and offered for sale and purchased for $1 50 worth of provisions, Tho Indian gave conflict- ing statements regarding the manner in which he came into possession of the book, exciting suspicion that be had stolen it from Sitting Bull, who, in his turn, un- doubtedly stole the book in blank from the whites, An index has veen prepared by the assistance of Indians and interpreters explanatory of the drawings. The word “coup,” which occurs frequently in the index, has been appropriated by the Sioux from the Freneb. “Counting coup” signifies the striking of an enemy, either dead or alive, with @ stick, bow, lance or other weapon, Tho number of ‘coups’? counted are enu- merated along with the number of horses stolen and scalps taken in summing up the brave deeds of a war- rior, The following :s the index prepared by Dr. Kim- ball, descriptive of each picture or scene in Sitting Ball’s lite:— THUS INDEX. No. 1, Sitting Bull, a young man without reputation and therefore wearing no feather, engages in his firet battle and charges nis enemy, Crow Indian, who is in the uct of drawing bis bow, rides him down and strikes hin with a “coup”? stick. Sitting Bulls autograph, a buffalo bull sitting on his haunches, is inscribed over him, His shield sus- pended in front has on it the figure of an eagle which he considers his medicine, in the Indian senso of tho term. No, 2 Sitting Bull, wearing a war bonnet, is leader of a war party who take a party of Crows, consisting of three women and @ man, so completely by surprise that the man has not time to draw his arrows from the quiver, Sitting Bull kills one woman with bis lance and captures another, the man meanwhile endeavoring to drag him from his horse; trom which it ts supposed he is forced to desist by others of the war party. The fate ouly of Sitting Bull and bis vietims 1s given in this history. No, & Sittiog Bull pursuing his enemy, a Crow In- dian, whom he strikes with his tance. No, 4& Lances a Crow woman. No. 5. Lances a Crow Indian. . 6, Sitting Bull twice wounded and unborsed; his enemy, a Crow, at length killed by a shot in the abdo- men and his scalp taken and hung to Sitting Bull’s bridle? No. 7. In an engagement with the Crows Sitting Bull mortally wounds one of the enemy, and, dropping his lance, rides up and strikes him with his whip, The lines and dashes in the picture represent the arrows and bullets that were flying in the air during the com- | bat. 0, 8, Counts “‘coup’’ ona Gros Ventre de Prairie by | strixing him with bis lauce. Gros Ventre distinguished from Crow by mauner of wearing tho irr, No. 9. Lauces a Crow Indian. No, 10, A Crow Indian attompts to seize Sitting Bull's horsey the, bridle; Sitting Yall knocks bim gown bas bridle. No, 11. Sitting Bull, with his brother mountea bo- hind bim, kills a white man, a soldier, No. 12. Counts “coup” on a white man by hitting him with a “coup” stick, No. 13 In a warm engagement with the whites, as shown by the bullets flying about, Sitting Bull shoots an azrow through the body of a soldier, who turns and fires, wounding Sitting Bull in the hip. No, 14, Sitting Bull counts ‘‘coup”’ on a white man by striking him with his bow, Sitting Ball wearsa jacket and baridanna handkorchief taken from some of his victims, Nos, 16 to 22 are repetitions of No. 14, Sitting Bull in each counting ‘‘coup” on a white man. No. 23, Sitting Bull shoots @ frontiersman wearing a buckskin shirt, takes hia scalp, which he hangs to his owm bridle, and captures bis borsc, Sitting Bull wears a blanket. No, 24 Sitting Ball strikes « white soldier with his “coup” stick, takes his scalp and bis mule; wears a war shirk No. 25 counts ‘coup’? on a soldier mounted, with overcoat on, gun slung across nis back, by riding up and striking with his riding whip. No. 26, Kills a white man and takes bis scalp, Captures a mule and a scalp. . In a warm engagement captures a horse and a scalp. No. 29, Steals a male, No, 30, Captures two horses im action, ‘ No, 32. Steals and cuns offs drove of horses from the Crows. No, 33. In an engagemont captures a government horse and mule and scalp. a horse. three borses and a scalp. drove of horses from the Crows, sa government horse. No. 38, Steals a drove of horses from the Crows, No, 39. In an engagement captures a male. Sitting Bull first appears here ay chief of the band of Strong Hearts, to which dignity his prowess bas raised him, ‘The insignia of his rank, a bow, baving on one end a lance head, be carries in his hand, No, 40. Sitting Bull, chief of the band of Strong Hearts, captures two horses in an engagement, in which bis horas is wounded in the shoulder, No. 41. Captures a horse im a fight, No. 42 Steals a mule. No. 43 Captures two horses ina fight, in which bis horse is wounded in the leg. Nv, 44. Mounted on a government borse captures a white man. : No 45 Steals two horses. No, 46 Captares four mules in a fight, im which his horae is wounded in the hip. Noa. 47 and 43, Counts “coup” on white mea, horse, rth, and in « band to band fight kills a white maa with hisown gun, The black marks show the ground fought and trampled over. No. 61. A fort into which his enemies, the Crows, have retreated, and from which they maintain a hot fire, through which Sitting Bull charges the fort, No, 62, Ina fight with the Crows Sitting Bull kills and scalps on Indian and counts ‘‘coup’’ on another, who fires at him, barely missing bim. No, 53. Steals a drove of mules. No. 54 Sitting Buil, at the head of his band, charges into a camp of Crows and kills thirty of them, This happened in the winter of 1869-70. No, 54. Kilis one Crow and counts “coup” on two others, who run from him disgracetaily, AT GENERAL SHERIDAN'’S HEAD- QUARTERS, Crisco, July 6, 1876. The news of the death of General Custer and .t slaughter of his entire command by the lodians near the moeth of the Little Horn sent @ thrill of horror throughout the city. At military headquarters all was contusion. Goneral Sheridan was not in the city, ‘Telegrams were being constantly received but most | of them are of a coniidential natare and withheld from publication. The officers at headquarters give the following de- spatch, which was the last reeeived here from Terry ivetora the pews of the massacre, 1} goes to conirn | | | Rosebud, and moved as i | thence to the headquar | down the Little Horn, | permanent supply camp ot General Crook, General —$—$$—$$—$ $e the move which Custer made, and woul! show slea@ that the despatches nee no further verification :— Campy ox THe Noxtn Rosesup, Juce 21, 1876. Licutenavt General P. H. Sixatbas, commanding Mille tary Division of the Missouri, 3 No Iudians large and recent camp bave been discovered twenty or thirty miles up the Rosedad. Gibbons" columa will move this morning om Yellowstone for the mouth _ of Horn, where it will be ferried across by the supply steamer and whence ft will to jhe mouth of the Littl Horn, and so on. Custer will go up the Resebud to-morrow bis whole inept, and sof the Littic * A. H. TERRY, Brigadier General Commanding. THE NEWS CONFIRMED. Custer broke camp on the 22d ult. om the Nort indicated. abeve, Atelevem o'clock this Jorenoon a despatch was received: a: Sheri- dun’s headquarters confirming the inst reports re. ceived. ‘The despatch states that the forces were fall . ing back, and that the wounded had been sent to Fort Lincoln, No details were given im thie despatch, but the officers at headquarters regard it as* full comfrma- ton of the engagement reported. A contidential despatch was received from Generak’ Terry, but beyond the fact that it embraced facts be fore the encagement no information was obtained, © A ttill later despatch from Lieutenant Kinzie, of ther Seventh cavalry, wos received, asking that he be trans- ferred from the department where he is now on duty to the scene of action, This is also rogarded as another confirmation of the bloody massaere reported, OPINION OF OFVICERS. It is the opinion at headquarters here, among these who are most famihar with the situation, that Custer struck Sitting Bull’s main camp. General Drum thinks that General Crook fell upon but a part of it tm his encounter. After the battle of the Resebud Sitting Bull is known to have retreated in a northerly direcs tion with the force that encountered Crook. ‘The astute Indian must have known that he was be ing gradually surrounded, and hence it was but nataral that he should more and more concentrate his forces, No doubt Custer dropped squarely imto the midst of ne less tham 10,000 red devils, and was literally torn to Pieces. An inquiry was mado at headquarters as to whether Custer probably made the attack of bis owm accord, and an officer who has authority to answes such @ question rephed that it was enw tirely of bis own volition, It was tarthet stated that Terry ordered two columns, one of infantry and the other of cavairy, under Custer, to form a junction at a certain point on the Little Big Horn, Custer was ordered to move twenty or thirty milesa day. Instead of doing this he pushed through, and arrived at the point where the junction was to havt been madea day or twoin advance of the infantry, Then meeting the Indians, uud probably desirous of punishing them, he made a desh upon their lines, ARMY CRITICISMS. Ceater’s movement is somewhat censured at Military Headquarters in this city. The older officers say it war brought about by that foolish pride which ao often ro sulte in the defeat of men. I: seems that a teow days before General Terry had offered four additional com~ panies to Custer, but that officer refused them. The information at Headquarters farther is to the effect that General Gibbon, with his force, wae known to be moving op to Custer for the purpose of reinforcing him, and the he (Custer) kuew of this, and knew that Gibbon would arrive by the following day after the ¢ngagement, and yet, im the face of this knowledge, Custer, with a cesire to eclipse Terry and wrest from that officer some of tho spoils of a victory, rushed forward and was blindly led into the defiles and gorges of the Big Horn, where the [adians were com- centrated. - hb Up to the closing of Headquarters uo further new? had been received than is givemabove. The oficcrsare completely nonplussed at the tardiness, and aro vainly puzzling their heads for a solution. It is belteved that a serious mistake was made at Bismarck. What should have beea sent by mail was sent by telegraph, and vice versa. The report that has come to Headquarters is the sort of stuff usually transmit by mail and is so worded that General Terry took it for granted that when it reached the Lieutenant Gen- eral he would be in possession of all the leading facts, Merely incidentally is the death of Custer touched | upoa, and then only in the way of regret at the loss of 60 brave an officer. THE CAMPAIGN, Derxorr, Mich., July 6, 1878, A lotter received at the Mree Press oilice from Surgeom McGillicudy, of General Crook’s command, aated at: Fort Fetterman, Jane 21, four days before the engages ment, says that the Indikns, under Sitting Bull, the Northern chief, to the namber of 3,000 warriors, cons sisting of the Ogal , the Red Cloud and Mission SKETCH OF { River agencies, Sioax, Arapahoes and Cheyennes, were encamped in two very large fortified villages near the mouth of Rosebad Creek, at its confluence with the Yellowstone, and twenty miles or more from’ the Little Big Horn River. The Indians were well armed and supplied with ammunition, which they had been accumulating for the last three years, 1t was ree ported that Lone Wolf was on his. way North with 1,500 Northern Cheyennes to join the Sioux, POSITION OF THE TROOPS. General Crook, with the mam body of the troops 1,200 In number, and 270 Crow, Snake and Shoshone Indians, hereditary enemies of the Sioux, as scouts, and 104 six mulo wagon teams, with supplies, was at the Permanent Sopply Camp on Goose Creek, a tributary of Tongue River, whick empties into the Yellowstone to the ¢aste ward of Rosebud Creek, in Montana, im the vi- cinity of west longitude 106, latitude 4630. From the permanent supply camp to the Indian fortified village | on Rosebud Creek was 120 miles by tho practicable | wagon route, ‘The supply ci west of the site of old Fort Phil Kearney. ap is fifteen miles north. General ; Crook contemplated an tmmediace advance on the la- dians. They were audacious, and on Friday, the 16th ult, had run off the last five bead of beet trom Gencral Crook’s command, ‘The supply camp was known to be urrounded by Indians. GENERAL TERRY'S COMMAND, General Terry, accompanied by General Custer Geueral Gibbons, was encamped on thénorth side of the Yellowstone River, not many miles distant from the Indian village on Rosebud Creck. He bad had fre- quent skirmishes with them and the week previous had sent two companies of infantry across (he river to drive back the Indians, but the soldiers were repulsed ang had to return, All this, of course, greatly emboldene@ the savages, At this time (Juno 21) all the horses be- Jouging to one company of cavalry were reported ag drowned in the Yellowstone. General Gibbons wad fustructed to prevent, if possible, the cscape of the hostile Indians north across Dakota into Britis America, General Carr, with eight companies of the Fifth cavalry, was to bave left Fort Laramie on the morning of Jane 22 to scout in the country east of thé Big Horn Kiver and prevent the Sioux from golag south, ' BUPPALO Blul. Ale had with bim as « scout, W. F. Cody, Bill,” who recently left the stage to join his old com» mand, During the last might of bis appearance as ag actor at Cheyenne Spotted Tail was e spectator at th& Opera House and scrutinized Wiliiam very closely. Hid long hair will be a great attraction for the savages, From the lottor of Surgeon McGillicuddy the situation oa tho morning of the 2éth, the day of the battle, may be sketched as foliows:— BKPORK THE BATTLE ‘Tho Indians had evicently lef their fortified villagy on Rosebud Creek and retreated to the Little Big River, having that stream as a protection. iq front and = tho”) = Resebed = Mountains as 8 «shelter «im «their =rear, «= The = Litelg Big Horn flows north into the Big Horn River, whieh is a confluent of the Yellowstone, uniting with latter stream at Fort Pease, to the westward of fortified village on Rosebud Creek. To the south of the Todian position, some twenty or more miles, was the Gibbons was north of the Indians, upom the Yellow. stone, somne distance to the northward. General Cart was sixty of eighty miles to the westward and rapidly approuching the Indians with hw eight companies @ cavairy, when Custer, pursuing the valley of the Horn and Little Big Horn rivers, wag on cutting off the retreat of the westward or forming « junction with soath of him or with General Gibbons north most likely the latter, All the locations, south of the Yellowstone River and ranges com poring operations is #xty about the same distance east of the J the assumed advanced position of | airy, Frosa this sketch it will by