Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, September 26, 1900, Page 9

FAMOUS I BORDER ANNALS Celebration of the Auniversary of the Fig on the Arickares Biver, FORSYTHE'S SCOUTS IN A TRAP Thrilling but Patal Charee of Roman Aowe and Hix Braves—Uattiefield Marked by a Handsome Memorial Shait, Among the many thrilling struggles for supremacy between white men and red men on the plains and mountains of the west, the nine-days’ fight of General G. A t 1,000 men upder the on the Arickaree and fifty men agal famous chief, Roman Nose, fork of the Republican river, may be classed Forsythe | THE OMAIA [and enthusiastic welcome on their very | arew nis b s 1ts full Nelgh s t appearance | his ALY, & fri |79t now saw cleas t there was but |t h g slaneing § one course to take ympletely were we | war k the palm of I rrounded, and so greatly 1, | han uth and gave tongue t [ that our only hope lay in a su " y that T Bave 8 teard [ tense, and 1 determined, in any ¢ qualed in powet asd M y | they should pay dearly for the live [ reached the river's bank scouts before oruamenting the ridgepoles | caught up by each and every | of their lodges with our recking scalps. |« arging warriors with an en Preparing for a Slege | erg bafMes ription nswered | e command was otdered to | back with blood.-curdiiug s of exultation | horses to the little island just | and prospective ve y the women ";»m;.. eifclo faciag Gutwrds, seourely tlg | 204 hildren oa the rivers blufts and by thelr horaes to the bushes Just outside of the | D Judians who Iay in ambust ¢ " irele e O e e o lves o 1o | Ou they came at a swinging gallop, rending gPound, and intrench themseives a8 rapidly | D¢ 8IF With their wild warwhe hor | an possible, two men working together, pro. | \0dividual warrior in ail his bravery of war | threw up the earth to cover themselve agles’ feathers and all stark naked | we prl By :r,,,.,loi, _“:,,':]‘P","r‘”“:‘ v ”‘l‘ but for thelr cartridge belts and moccasins, Tittte fhand.” leadiog our horses. s fow of | KeeDIng their line aimost pertectly, with 8 our best Shots deter Bescher Groves and | front of atout sixty men, all riding bare- MeCall, kept Up & rapid and steady fire | DACK: With only & loose lariat shout LHeir | which seemed for a few moments to puzzle | the Indlans; for they had a J ef . 4 ; d apparently left as the most desperate and brilllant. The | (he way open on the east, down the stream, battle or siege was fought in Eeptember 1, 1 think, looked to see us mount and 1565, and the anniversary of the event Was|aitempt a retreat that way, but 1 knew celebrated on the hflum{rln id last week. | anough of Indian craft to be certain that The town of Wray, Colo, is near the scene | by |ittle gorgé just around the bend of the of the fight, aud the celebration, owing 10| atream in that direction would be lined unfavorable weather, was held in the town. with warriors, and 1 knew, furthermore Tents were put up on Beecher island, 0D | (hat once established on the {sland there which General Forsythe and his men were | was no direction from which they could besteged, and & camp fire held by the local | take us unawares during daylight. Three Grand Army post About 1,500 people a of our best men remained temporarily in tended, and searched the island thoroughly | the long grass on the bank of the river, The principal points re marked tor relics of the fight of interest on the b ground w by stakes and flags. The camping ground of the little band of heroes was thus 1| Roman marked and also the point where ¢ Nose formed his men for the grand charge by which they hoped to ride over the men in the rifle pits, and the line along which they charged in their flerce, but to them fatal, attack. Tho point where Roman Nose fell and where be lay u f under cover of which cam and carried his body away was thus r Vilotte of M Kan., or ot the survivers of the battle, was on the ground, and described the scenes of the fight &0 vividly that it seemed that they were belng enacted anew A plain monument has been erected on the island where the men lay in their trenches and where the dead comrades were burled Two of the rescuers of General For- sythe's party wer » on the grounds. Mt Plets and Mr. Christie, both of Denver, and the latter of whom now carrl x bullets as the marks thereof in his body and an| Indian arrow head. To say that all these circumstances made @ most Interestin not express the feelings of and the effort to have the site a natlonal park, suitably occasion does those present of the battle mad marked and preserved, will be carried for-" ward with renewed energy and hopes of success Looking for Trouhle. The battle or siege thus commemorated was described In detail by General Forsythe in a paper in Harper's Magazine a few years ago. The clrcumstances leading up to the fight were the usual opposition of the In- dians to the encroachments of the whit Acting under orders from General Sheridan, General Forsythe, then a major, organized a company of fifty scouts in August, 1868 and took the fleld against the hostiles, com- posed of Northern Cheyenne, Ogallala and Brule Stoux Indlans. The command moved out from Fort Hayes on August and reached Fort Wallace September 5. — As General Forsythe was about to start for Blson Basin to protect settlers there he Jearned of an Indian raid at a little town a dozen miles east of him. The signs in the vicinity of the raid indicated a party of about . twenty-five Indlans. There was a distinet trail northward and the pursuit was at once begun. But the Indians bad dis- covered the fact that they were belng chased and gradually dispersed. The trail grew fainter and fainter and the second day disappeared entirely. For several days the command went northward seekiog tralls, and finally a broad trail was struck leading to the Republican river followed and grew broader until it became & well-beaten road. It soon became evident that the little band was rapidly closing up on & large body of Indians The approach to what was later the bat- tleground Is thus told by the general “It was about 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 16th of September that, as we fol lowed the sinuosit of the trail, at a little dlstance from the south bank of the stream as it wound in and out among wild plum | thickets, alder bushes and swamp-willows a bend in the river, as we passe through a little gorge, opened out upon a small well-grassed valley of perhaps two miles in Jength and nearly the same in width. From our sido of the water the land sloped slowly down to the stream from the rolling plain on the south, while upon the other side It receded from the water at almost a dead level for nearly three-quarters of a mile, and then terminated in a line of low hills or blufts, varying from forty to fifty feet in height, which shut out the view of the plains from that direction. We were nearly out of supplies, save a little salt and coftee, and my animals had to subsist upon such grazing as we could find. * * * Dismounting about the middle of the valley, we en camped on the bank of the stream, opposite the center of a small island which had been formed in the sand in the middle of the bed of the stream, owing to a gravelly rift at its head, at which point the water divided and gently rippled along each side until it again united about 250 feet below. The little island in the center of its bed was fully seventy yards from the bank on either side. It was raised about a foot above the water at its head, while on either side of it was a flowing stream , fitteen feet in width, and with an e depth of less than five inches, that at the foot of the island 1 down to the level of the stream.” of, ave came together which here slop bed of the main atiles Charge the Camp. Here (he command went into camp, ex traordinary precautions being taken in view of the close proximity of the host At early dawn these pr wer justified, as & body of In camp, beating drums and hides in an attempt tc horses. The general's story The attempted stampede ure. ‘Saddle up aquickly, men!' was my next o and in an ineredibly short time the command was saddled and bridled and in Another moment every man was fully and completely equipped. It had begun to be light emough by this time to see dimly surrounding obfects within @ few hundred yards, when su 1denl ver who stood by my side, placed his hand on my shoulder and sald: ‘Oh, heavens, gen lock at the Indians!’ look at the Indians! cral “Well might he say The ground scemed to grow them. They appeared to start out of the very earth On foot aud on horseback from over the | hills, out of the thickets, from the A of the stream. from the north, south and | west, along thes opposite bank, and out of | the long grass on every side of us, with wild cries of exultation they pressed to ward us A few sharp volleys from the command, who stood coolly to horse, each man haviog his bridle thrown over his left arm, staggered them for a moment, and then they hastily fell back out of range 1t was scarcely so much of a surprise part as they had planned. and they were some- what astonished to find an active and responsive reception committee promptly on hand and ready (o accord them s warm | facing squarely toward where we lay, be |l This was steadily | covering the north end of the island, thereby ,dy of massive fighting resistless welght | kether a compact strength and of almost Boldly they rode, and well' with their borses' bridles in their left hands, while | with their right they grasped their rifles | at the guard and held them squarely in tront of themselves, resting lightly upon their horses' necks. Riding about five paces in front of the ater of the line and twirling his heavy around his head as if it were a wisp of | ri w (probably one of those he had cap tured at the Fort Fetterman massacre) Roman Nose recklessly led the charge with bravery that could only be equaled, t holding in check any sually adv urou got eaeailed, Whils ¢ Tedloiny M (9 | warriors who might be inclined to ate |0t CXCETSC e ne le man, an | tompt to crawl up: that _why through the | m‘"‘: ‘\“”“; o ”lrl' h r‘Y{“' 4 :],l‘,:,, FIVEE DEEtth. MEmrau(e Ware the: Borae tied| 0, NAvante OF thy deft OF LN CUAE | in a circle ’v«hr-n .vrn‘ v\v -:n '-1 r.)“ )x’nfx ~ “,: column. To say that I was surprised at this n th A | splendid exhibition of pluck and discipline on the ground and began firing from beneath 24 N . | the animals, when it seemed to cuddenty | 18 to put it mildly, and to say, turther, tha 1 i MERWY | por an instant or two 1 was fairly lost in | da pon the savages that t ad been i BUTaRnerRIeaT tof ‘at "“':“i s 1‘“( \‘r'm‘” | admiration of the glorious charge is simply Is Judging by their actions in signaling [ {0 state the truth, fof i o vawiy ahoty ;hmr ‘comtades on the opposite bank, they | Beyond aythine & had tedtt W ot ully expected that we would er the | OF even im € egardin ndia @ | str Paw 1 bl he | pire. A quick backward glance at my stream. Now they saw thelr error and also| G/ I e realized, too lat istake the was mo n i pot - s ; thi . ‘Hz: Y hem. | turned in pit toward the elve D Ry In i ated. at theis| direction from which the charge was com IOk0ss ske Kraseet staptly sempiihaniing | I00:, SYOUSKIDE (0w SH0 [ttty tor the advantage we Wc ave should we| Vard their knees well under them, | | onslaught upon us, their various chiefs rid :n the u: m.,\i\“, st ;).Ihl.u.‘yll:; k(rln'w‘rfl:'il» ) ]!N rapidly around just outeide of rifie | tetiI0E B i cor, thiot tranued | | ounted warriors to close in upon us oo all | flashing fire, they 's;rn’. y lay waltl he | sides. Many of the mounted Indians sprang i of Mg LB A S | trom their horses also, and, ruoning for- ;‘j:‘l ", ORI ( o a S dipdl ”‘) hetd [ ware, ‘they lined both banks of the river | little comany ot MeR B ST ourage. No and from the reeds and long grass poured in | C47 X i"“ o s .'nxr-n S F(of LRI | a steady and galling fire upon us. A few of \m‘ I“ r'“ “) e m‘ i “‘Iv;'m_“ e wis ahts | | e i ¢8| |ndians who lay in ambush around us in wera being shot down on all sides, the poor animals plunging and rearing at their tethers and adding their cries to the wild shouts of the savages and the steady crack of the rifles on every side.” Forsythe ns o Target. This first fight lasted half an hour and then | the Indiuns retreated out of short range. | Meanwhile the men had been rapidly scoop- ing out shallow trenches, with the excavated sand banked around the sides in which to lie protected. And noy began a series of ex- traordinary disasters to the gallant officer. During all this time he had been standing but bad not been wounded. As he sought shelter he received a severe wound, and constartly thercafter the slightest exposure of any part of his body resulted in the infliction of a serious injury from the bul- lets of the hostiles. There is a distinct tone of resentment to be noted in the gen- eral's relation of how he received these many wounds, a resentment that a quarter of a century does not seem to have at all diminished. He tells his own story thus: still,stood upright, walking from man to man, but/from every side came appeals for me to lie down. As we we now in | tairly good shape and the men cool and determined I did so. Scarcely had I lain | down when I recelved a shot in the fore | part of the right thigh, the bullet rauging upward, and notwithstanding it remained imbedded in the flesh it was by far the most painful wound I have ever received For & moment I could not speak, so intense | was the agony. Several of the men, know- | ing T was bit, called out to know it I still ed, but it was at least a full minute | betore 1 could command my volce and | agsure them I was not mortally hurt * ¢ * | As 1 was now the only man of the com- | mana unprotected by a rifle pit, Dr. Moores (who had been doing splendid service with | his rifle, as he was & capital shot) suggested enlargement of his pit to accommodate us toth. Several of the men promptly went to his assistance in enlarging and deepening it, but while they were doing so, in lean- ing over to caution one of the men, who 1 thought was firing a little too fast for really good shooting, 1 was obliged, in order to case my wounded thigh, to draw up my left leg as 1 lay prone on the earth and, unfor- tunately for me, one of the Indiaus sent a bullet through it, breaking and shattering the bone badly about midway between the knee and ankle. Three minutes later 1 was pulled down into the now eularged pit and was under cover * * * In my pres- ent condition, with my left leg broken and a bullet in my right thigh, 1 was, for the once, save for the fact that I still retained command, something of a spectator. Grad- ually working myself to one end of the pit on my elbows, dragging my body along with no inconsiderable pain, I was able partially sit up, and by resting my elbows against and upon the fresh earth crane my head forward so as to obtain a clear view of the fleld.” | | | A Close Call, A few hours later he had this to say “Twice since the opening of the engage- ment 1 had distinctly heard the notes of an artillery bugle. Leaning too far forward to get a better vlew of the mounted warriors, | who seemed to ie moving toward the can below us from where had on the you we preceding day debouched into th little valley we were now besieged in, I rathe rashly exposed my head and some one of the Indian riflemen promptly sent an ex | cellent line shot toward it. The bullet | struck me just on the top of my soft felt | hat, which, having a high crown, was for | tunately doubled down, so it glanced off utting through several thicknesses of felt | but nevertheless knocked me almost sense ess to the bottom of my rifle pit. It was o seconds ere 1 could completely recover myselt and crawl back to my sitting posi tion. At the time of this occurre thought little of it; of course a large lu | swelled up at once, and just then I many other things to occupy my attes 1 took little heed of the intense headache for a short time half blinded me. A month later. however, the surgeon's probe | disclosed the fact that my skull Lad been | tractured aud he removed a loose piece of it By this time it was learned (hat the fa- mous chief, Roman Noge, was in command the hostiles. Shortly after ( al For | sythe received his third wound it was seen that preparations were being made for a charge in mass. Magnificently does he tell the story of that terrible charge | A Gloriows Char Turuing his face for an instant toward the women and children of the united tribes,. who literally by thousands were watching the Bght from the crest of the | 1ow bluffs back from the river's bank, he | (Roman Nose) waved his hand with u royal | gesture in answer to their wild cries of rage fnd encouragement as he and his | command swept down upon us; and, again to | tently watching our every movement in t vain hope that they might suficlently cow us to protect thelr charging column against our rifles. 1 had expected this action, but I well knew that once their horsemen came certaln radius their fire must within a cease. For elght or ten seconds it seemed to rain bullets and then came a sudden Sitting upright in my pit as well as| and leaning backward on my | w!' was jrover. lull I was able. elbows, 1 shouted, ‘Now!' and echoed by Beecher, McCall and Cinah of Bullets. Instantly the scouts were on thelr knees with their rifles at their shoulders. A quick flash of their eyes along the barrels | and forty good men and true sent their first of seven successive volleys into !ln‘ ranks of the charging warriors | “Crash! “On they came, answering back the first volley with & ringing warwhoop. “Crash! “And now I begin to see talling warriors aye, and horses, too; but still they sweep | forward yet with wilder yells. | “Crash! “They seem to be fairly falling over each other; both men and horses are down in| heaps and wild shrieks from the women and | children on the hills proclaim that they, too, see the slaughter of their braves, but still they come. | ‘Crash! | hey have ceaged to yell, but yet come | bravely on. What? No! Yes, down | ther medicine man, but Roman Nos recklessly leads the column, but now 1 ¢ | gee great gaps in their ranks, showing that | | cur bullets have told heavily among them. | | “crasn! | | “Can’t believe my eyes? Roman Nose i& | down! He and his horse lle dead together | on the sand and for an instant the column shakes, but a hundred yarde more and they are upon us! ‘Crash! “They stagger! T halt draw They hesitate! They are breaking! “"Orash! And like an angry wave that hurls itselt | mighty rock and breaks upon its| the Indians divide each side | of the little breastwork, throw themselves almost beneath the oft side of their charg- | ers and with hoarse cries of rage and anguish break for either bank of the river and scatter wildly in every direction, as the ecouts, springing to their feet with a ring- ing cheer, pour in volley after volley from their revolvers almost in the very faces of their now demoralized and retreating foe.” After the Repulse, The fighting continued all that day in a blistering sun without food or water. With night came rain and a cessation of hostill- This was the condition of the com- rein! upon o rugged front | ties mand at that hour | 'As for myself, with a bullet in my right | thigh, my left leg broken below the knee and ap inconvenient scalp wound that gave me an intense headache, it was all I could do to pull myselt together and getting out of the dangerous position into sot about which T had my command. I had an | | abundance of ammunition and still twenty- | eight fairly sound men and at a pinch all | but six or seven of the wounded could also | Indi to stéal through the an | way to Fort Wallace, which 1 judged to be about 110 miles d | On the fourth day our sufferings were intense. It was very hot, our meat had be- | q butr of wo 1 wer | dclirious ster from the dea | horses 1ying und 1 tin ‘- ble As the ball igh high | had begun to pain excessively 1 decided | to extract it 1 appealed to several of th | meu to cut it out, but as soon as they | how close it lay to the artery they declined “M.g 80, alleging that the risk was too | &r However, 1 determined it should come out, as I feared sloughing, and the he artery would break in any event; so | taking my razor from my saddle pocket and | getting two of the men to press he adjacent | flesh back and draw it taut, I mana 1 to | cut it out myself without disturbing the | | artery, greatly to my alnost in mediate r llet. At dawn of th day the Indian r men bad se times kept | ambuscade | and in the [ meantime and at odd from 1 gridually in quite a volle sending shots but they grew afternoon almost ceaed. In the but few could be seen in | the vicinity and I began to suspoet that th body was withdrawing. Accordingly sked several of the men to lift me upon in Indians wtive DAILY e —————————————————————————————————————————————— In o few moments a gencral murmur ran through the command. * iod above t's an ambulance!’ the men; and then went up a wild cheer that made the little valley ring tr men grasped hands and then flung their armse round each other and laughed and eried and fairly danced and shouted again in glad relief of their long-pent lings. It was A troop of the Tenth cavalry, under Lieu- tenant Colonel L. H. Carpenter, the ady of ( 1 Bankhea nd from Fort Wallace 1 that officer had fairly burled forward as soon as ws of our it reached him through Donovan and ¥ An hour later e wa y side with his infantry, and in 1 another hour Colonel Brishin af the nd cavalry was there with the adva G 1 Bradley's command, which had hurried to my atd When Colonel Carpenter rode up to me, s I lay half covere sand in my rif it 1 to be reading an old novel that one of the men had found in a saddle pock It was only af n, though, for I had all T could do to keep from breaking down, as I was sore and feverish and tired and hungry and I had been under a heavy strain from the opening of the fight uutil bis arrival.” The Indians had meantime fled inio the interior and the great fight was over. It was perhaps the pluckiest fight ever made in | wartare. Ag overwhelming odds the hand if required in a hot fight. 1 had | 1 fear that the Indians would again as- | sault our ork and I knew that water | within our intrenchments could be had for [ ~— 2 R [ the digging: in tact Burke had al ! { | ready dug a small well at the bottom of | l ] d L i S e ¢ wem ofl [mmediate and Liasting jouficed that the water was rapidly seeping { hrepgh tead s 1 mules w food for less | F BEIL Wi | ¢ and repe 1 tha 1 ins © t sid h fted me t) eral condit s from & extended view than 1 could obtain 11 up n back in ! rifle-p about | twe shots were suddenly sent in among | 1 th 1 who had the corner of the bla b h supported my br leg | that the bone parted and partiall ruded through t h. To ray that I w gr: is hardly doing the 3 A 1 ); fear the recording angel had no easy task to blot out » pumerous expletives with which 1 anathematized th 1 scout This volley, which did no harm, was about the last sent in upon us; there were a few more stray shots sent at us now and then, and We could gee Indian vedettes posted on the crest of the adjace hille, but save a few warriors that lingered around in ambush to w our movements, we did not agaln sce any large force of the savages So the weary days passed on. General ‘orsythe continues: “On the morning of the ninth day since the attack by the In- dians one of the it me suddenly eprang to his f d, shading his eyes with his hands, shouted: ‘There gome mov- Ing objects on the far hills!* antly 1 was on his feet ection indicated every man who could sta gazing Intensely in fitty, reduced to half that number, won out A chief who took part told General Fore sythe some years later that seventy-five In- dians were killed and were wounded. The general's concludes with this quaint account the close of that interview ““Just as he started to go he stopped and #poke to the interpreter s in. He wishes to know whether you did not get enough aps' story of of it,’ sald the interpreter “‘“Tell him yes, all 1 wanted,’ was my reply How about himself”" “As my words were interpreted he gave a grim, half-humorous look, and then un- folding his blanket and opening the breast of his buckskin shirt, pointed to where a bullet had evidently gone through his lungs, nodded, closed his shir ed his blanket around him, turned and stalked quietly from the tent.” ¥ FOAMIN SHROAREMES TEMPTING 33 is most refreshing— delicious and satisfying. The embodiment of Y SLars Batmine co M ORDER A CASE, VAL.BLAYZ sRa W ING CU,, biLWAUKERE. Omaha Branc 1412 Douglas St Telephone 1081, I wili guarantes that my Rheumatism | Cure will relieve lu bago, sciatica and all rleumatic pains in two or three hoursy and cure in & fow days. MUNYON. 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Special AK-Sar-Ben Number The lilustrated Bee Official Messenger of His Royal Highness Ak=-Sar-Ben VI lllustrated from Photographs Taken ially for t Spec D S S ® I S 2 Ak-Sar-Ben's Royal Chariots Pictures and descriptions of the eighteen floats that will make up the wonderful parade — the only complete guide to tha allegorical procession—absolutely necessary to an intelligent appreciation of the gorgeous spectacle. Handsome Colored Cover Design PO OO PO PGP OO SO —D—& @ Program { of the Week ¢ . Tabulated list of , gala events scheduled ) for amusement and en- Ris tertainment of the ¢ growth of royal guests during the coming festival ¢ SC 8reata the annual ca in Omaba foi years. ) e e O week. O = S SRCECS B A Pictorial Magazine of Twenty-four Pages The Roya The queen chos: 1 Consort :n by his majesty each year rules the feminine mem- bers of the court and tress of the court ball. The queens acts as mis- ‘QOOG)OOHO’!P% Beautiful Characteristic Frontispiece 10c a Copy. Special Priceon Large Ouantities. Send Copies to Your Friends The Best Ak-S History of the Knights Interesting historical sketch of the origin and tion that has made iteelf OGP P DG PP D of past years illustrated with ’ handsome portraits. ! tures can be readily recognized. 24 oD D DD P O PP - o Electric Beauties of the Carnival Carnival week sees Omaha ablaze with novel electrical effects in daz- zling street illuminations. Photo- graphic views of the enchanting night scenes that greet the royal guests on every side. D S B S The Board ¢ of Governors The chief manage- ment of Ak-Sar-Ben is vested with a board of twelve gevernors. Who the governors are and what they have done. Portraits of the governors in review in full regalia. G- >0 e and the orguniza- reputation by roivals it has held r flve successive S Kings of the Realm Identity of the potentates who have swayed the sceptres over Ak- 2 Sar-Ben's hosts in the past, with ¢ portraits in which the kingly fea- ar-Ben Souvenir sseéeee«-:eeemmeeeee&