Indian Fights and Fighters: The Soldier and the SiouxBrady, Cyrus Townsend
History
Indian Fights and Fighters: The Soldier and the Sioux
Brady, Cyrus Townsend
Dakota Indians -- Wars; Indians of North America -- Wars -- 1866-1895
Cody, having discovered the location of the village, returned to General
Carr and advised him to take a wider detour, keeping his forces
concealed among the hills, so that he could approach the Indians from
the north, a direction from which they would not be expecting attack,
and whence they might be the more easily surprised. The advice was
followed, the command made its encircling march without detection, and
formed up in line of troops, each troop two abreast, in the ravines
about twelve hundred yards from the village.
They were between the Indians and the Platte River. The camp was located
at Summit Springs, Colorado. Every preparation having been made, Carr
ordered the bugler to sound the charge. The man was so excited that he
was unable to produce a note. Twice Carr gave the command. Finally,
Quartermaster Hayes snatched the bugle from the agitated musician and
sounded the charge himself, and the whole regiment rushed out into the
open.
The Indians made for their ponies and advanced to meet the charge. The
rush of the soldiers was too threatening, however. After a hasty fire
they broke and fled on their horses, the whole party, soldiers and
Indian scouts, following after at full speed through the village. The
attack was a complete success. Fifty-two Indians were killed, two
hundred and seventy-four horses and one hundred and forty-five mules
were captured. The soldiers had one man wounded, with no other
casualties.
In the camp were found the bodies of two unfortunate white women, who
had been captured. Swift as had been the dash of the soldiers, the
Indians had taken time to brain one of the women with a war-club, while
the second was shot in the breast and left for dead. She was given every
possible attention by the soldiers, who took her back to Fort Sedgwick,
and her life was eventually spared. Her sufferings and treatment had
been beyond description. Fifteen hundred dollars in money—in gold,
silver, and greenbacks—strange to say, had been found in the camp. This
sum the soldiers, by permission of the general, donated to the poor
woman, as an expression of their sympathy for her.
According to some accounts, Tall Bull, who was chief of the camp, and
one of the head chiefs of the Sioux, was killed in this attack. Buffalo
Bill tells another story.[53] The day after the fight the various
companies of the Fifth Cavalry—which had remained in the camp all the
ensuing day and night, at the insistence of the plucky commander, in
spite of the pleas of some of the officers, who, fearing an attack in
force, suggested retiring immediately—separated in order the more
effectively to pursue the flying Indians. Several days after the
surprise the detachment for which Cody was guide was attacked by several
hundred Indians. The soldiers fought them off, killing a number. The
chief of this party was believed by Cody to be Tall Bull.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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