Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1877 — THE CUSTER MASSACRE. [ARTICLE]

THE CUSTER MASSACRE.

Graphic Account ot the Fight as Told by Sitting Bull—How the Brave Custer Met His Death. Sitting Bull has been talking with a correspondent and telling the story of the Ouster massacre. He says: “The fight was hell. A thousand devils—the squaws—were like flying birds; the bullets like humming-bees. We thought we were whipped; not at first, but by and by. Afterward no. Your people were killed. I tell no lies about dead men. These men who came with the Long Hair (Custer) were as good men as ever fought. When they rode up their horses were tired and they were tired. When they got off their horses they could not stand firmly on their feet. They swayed to and fro, so my young men have told me, like limbs of cypresses in a great wind. Some of them staggered under the weight of their guns, but they began to fight at once. But by this time our camps were, aroused, and there were plenty of warriors to meet them. They fired with needle guns. We replied with magazine guns—repeating rifles.” Sitting Bull illustrated by patting his palms together with the rapidity of a fusilade. “ Our young men rained lead across the river and drove the white braves back, and then rushed across themselves, and then they found that they had a good deal to do. The trouble was with the soldiers. They were so exhausted, and their horses bothered them so much, they could not take good aim. Some of their horses broke away from them, and left them to stand, and drop and die. All the men fell back, fighting and dropping. They could not fire fastjenough, though. They kept in pretty good order. They would fall back across a gully and make a fresh stand beyond, on higher ground. There were a great many brave men in that fight, and from time to time, while it was going on, they were shot down like pigs. They could not help themselves. One of the officers fell where the last fight took place, where the last stand was made. The Long Hair stood like a sheaf of corn with all the ears fallen around him. ” “Not wounded ?” “No.” “ How many stood by him?” “A few.” “ When did he fall ?” “He killed a man when he fell. He laughed.” “ You mean he cried out ?” “No; he laughed. He had fired his last shot.” “ From a carbine ?” “No; a pistol.” “ Did he stand up after he first fell ?” “He rose up on his hands and tried another shot, but his pistol would not go off.” “Was any one else standing up when he fell down ?” “ One man was kneeling—that was all; but he died before the Long Hair.” Sitting Bull says there were only squaws, old men, and little children in front of Reno, keeping him in his strong position on the bluff aud preventing him giving aid to Custer.