Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 96, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1902 — WHERE CUSTER FELL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WHERE CUSTER FELL.

Unique Fourth of July Celebration on an Historic Battlefield. At Sheridan, W’yo., near the battlefield of the Little Big Horq, where the gallant Custer and his command of 277 troopers were butchered by the confederated Sioux Indians on June 25, 1876, a mimic but fearfully lifelike imitation of that bloodcurdling event was enacted on the Fourth of July this year. Soldiers from Fort McKenzie represented Custer’s slaughtered command, while a force of 1,500 Crows and Cheyeuiies carried on the part played in the tragedy by the bloodthirsty Sioux. The sham battle was one of the most thrilling- affairs of the kind ever held on the American continent, and the make-believe scalping by the Indians after the troopers had been shot down to

the last man sent shudders throdgh the spectators. Not far from the spot where the mimic exercises were held is the national cemetery where rest the ashes of those who fell with Custer twenty-six years ago. Originally the bodies of the dead were buried as they lay on the battlefield, little headstones subsequently being erected to mark the graves. Later the remains of the troopers were removed to the summit of the hill and a large granite shaft was erected by the national government. Custer’a body was reinterred In the military cemetery at West Point, N. Y.

WHERE CUSTER'S TROOPERS SLEEP.