Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1891 — INDIANS WERE VICTORS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INDIANS WERE VICTORS

THEY REPULSED THE SOLDIERS OF UNCLE SAM. Another Terrible Battle with the Kedakine Near Pine Kidge _Agency—The Troop# Go Oat to Beet the Indians and Are Driven Back—Six Soldier* Killed. [Pine Ridge (8. D.) dispatch.] The day opened with an attack on the wagon train of the Ninth Cavalry, within a mile and a half of the agency. Col. Henry and four companies of the Ninth arrived at daybreak. An hour after, the Indians fired into the wagons. In a few moments both the Seventh and the Ninth were out and in line of 'battle on the bluffs north of the agency. The firing was seen plainly from here. In one hour the skirmish was over and the soldiers started for breakfast, but were destined to go without. A courier arrived with word that the Catholfc Mission wa9 on fire, and the teachers and pupils being massacred. In twenty minutes the weary, hungry, and exhausted cavalrymen were once more in motion. They found that the fire, the black smoke of which could be plainly seen, was the day. school, one mile this side of the mission. The Indians were found ,to number 1,800 and over. The Seventh formed a line and began the fighting, which was carried on by only 300 or 400 Indians at a time, while the great mass kept concealed. Col. Forsythe suspected an ambush and did not let them draw him on into dangerous ground. Col. Henry started one hour later thaq Forsythe and. owing to the exhaustion of his horses, had to travel slowly. The Seventh became surrounded by Indians, but just as the circle was ready to charge the Ninth broke in upon the rear and they fell back. The weary soldiers slowly retreated, reaching the agency at dark. The infantry had been ordered out, but was stopped by the sight of the head of the column of cavalry. The soldiers, brave and heroic as they are, were overpowered. There are not enough troops at this point to clean out these Indians, who are still camped within seven miles of the

agency. If the infantry had gone out, the chances are that the agency would have been burned to the ground by the 2,500 so-called friendlies, who are still camped near he r e. Every one is exhausted. No sleep, little food, hard riding, and steady fighting have exhausted every one. Owing to the tiring being at long range, the damage done the troops was small. Lieut. Mann, of Company K, Seventh Cavalry, was wounded. He was shot through the side. The First Sergeant of Company K is also wounded. The fights of yesterday and to-day leave Company K without a single officer. either commissioned or non-com-missioned. Clauson, a private in Troop C; Kirkpatrick, of Troop B; R. J. Nolan, of Troop K, and W. Kern, of Troop D, Seventh Cavalry, were wounded. The only man killed was a private of Troop E, Ninth Cavalry, but his name has not been ascertained. A special to the Omaha Bee from Pine Ridge Agency says: “The Seventh and Ninth Cavalry arrived here late this evening and found, the wildest excitement prevailing. Immediately after their arrival a courier brought word that the Catholic mission, occupied by children, sisters, and priests, had been attacked' arid the small buildings and haystacks surrounding the church burned. The Indians were under the command of Little Wound and Two Strike. The cavalrymen immediately remounted on receipt of the news and hastened to the scene of the trouble. A courier just in says that a collision occurred between the troops and the Indians, and that six soldiers were killed. The fight was still in progress when he left. ” The Omaha Bee's special from Rushvllle says: ' Advices from thb seat of war give the news of another encounter between the troops and Indians at a point within four miles of the agency. The Seventh and Ninth Cavalry were just coming in from yesterday’s battlefield, followed at some distance by their provision train. On reaching the point named, a large band of Indians, headed by Chief Two Strike, dashed suddenly upon the train, captured it, and were making off toward the Bad Lands, when the cavalry wheeled and gave pursuit. In the battle which followed over thirty Indians were wounded, but no soldiers were killed. According to the latest reports Two Strike’s Indians had yesterday been considered peaceable and subdued, but their sudden change of mind causes the gravest fears here that perhaps none of the so-called friendlies can be relied on. However, word from Gen. Brooke to the settlers to-day is somewhat reassuring, it being to the effect that a great body of the savages fcave remained loyal aU the while, and that nearly all the rebels are dead. He further says the settlers here are not now in danger. Reliable news is also at hand that Col. Henry Is now approaching the agency with 700 Indians captured in the Bad Lands. This is believed to include all of the rebels on the reservation, and hopes are entertained of a speedy settlement It has cost the lives of about 250 Indians- and twenty-five or thirty soldiers killed and wounded to effect this result, if Indeed it may be said that peace is yet established. The bodies of gallant Capt. Wallace and the other dead soldiers arrived here at noon from the agency, and will be shipped

to Fort Robinson, the nearest military post. Rushvllle is crowded with settlers. The churches and all public rooms are thrown open, and no effort Is being spared to make the refugees comfortable. They are here, as previously reported, on the advice of Gen. Brooke They are not only ready to defend their jomes, but many are anxious to enlist with the if further fighting should occur. , / - J “ \ SOT AN INDIAN W^JS'LEFT. Hew tbe Kcdi'Went Down Before the Fire of the-fioldleri. The Omaha Bee’s correspondent at the camp on Wounded Knee telegraphs as follows concerning the battle there: In the mornlttg, as soon as the ordinary military work of the early day was done, Maj. Whitesides determined upon disarming the Indians at once, and at 6 o’clock the camp of Big Foot was surrounded by the Seventh and Taylor’s scouts. The Indians were sitting in a ha'f circle. Four Hotchkiss guns were placed upon a hill about 200 yards distant: preparation was made, not especially to fight but to show the Indians the futility of resistance. They seemed to recognize this fact, and when Maj. Whitshles ordered them to come up twenty at a tithe and give up their arms, they came, but not with their guns in sight. Of the first twenty but two or three displayed arms. These they gave up sullenly, and observing the futility of that method of procedure, Maj. Whitsldes ordered a detachment of K and A troops on foot to enter the tepees and search them. This work had hardly been entered upon when the 120 desperate Indians turned upon the soldiers, who were gathered closely about the tepees, and immediately a storm firing was poured upon the military. It was as though the order to search had been a signal. The soldiers, not anticipating any such action, had been gathered in closely,and the first firing was terribly disastrous to them. The reply was immediate, however, and in an instant it seemed that the draw in which the Indian camp was set was a sunken Vesuvius. The soldiers, maddened at the sight of their falling comrades, hardly awaited the command, and in a moment the whole front was a sheet

of fire, above which the smoke rolled, obscuring the central scene from view. Through this horrible curtain single Indians could be seen at times flying before the fire, but after the first discharge from the carbines of the troopers there were few of them left. They fell on all sides like grain in the course of a scythe. Indians and soldiers lay together, and the wounded fought ou the ground. ’ Off through the draw toward the bluffs the few remaining warriors fled, turning occasionally to fire, but now evidently caring more for escape than to fight. Only the wounded Indians seemed possessed of the courage of devils. From the ground where they had fallen they continued to fire until their ammnnitioa was gone or until killed by the soldiers. Both sides forgot everything exceptingonly the loading and discharging of guns. It was only In the early part of the affray that hand-to-hand fighting was seen. The carbines were clubbed, sabers gleamed, and war clubs circled in the air and came down like thunderbolts. But this was only for a short time. The Indians could not stand that storm from the soldiers. They had not hoped to. It was only a stroke of life before death. The remnant fled, and the battle became a hunt It was now that the artillery was called into requisition. Before, the fighting was so close that the guns coaid not be ti aiiied without danger of death to the soldiers. Now, with the Indians flying where they might, ft was easier to reach them. The Gattling and Hotchkiss guns were trained, and then began a heavy firing, which lasted half an hour, with frequent volleys of musketry and cannon. It was a war of extermination now with the troopers. It was difficult to restrain the troops. Tactics were almost abandoned. The only tactics was to kill while it could be done. Wherever an Indian could be seen, down to the creek and upon the bare hills, they were followed by artillery and musketry fire, and for several minutes the engagement went on until not a live Indian was in sight.

TWO STRIKE'S BAND ATTACK A SUPPLY TRAIN.