3K\
ASHINGTON.—The senate of
the United States has in its
keeping an official document
which contains one of the
most splendidly graphic sto
ries of Indian fighting ever
written. The story in part
is the account given by Gen. George A. For
syth of his fight with- the Sioux and the
Cheyennes under the famous chief, Roman
Nose, in eastern Colorado in the year 1868.
i Gen. Forsyth went into the army from his
native city, Chicago. He is now living in
Washington. The odds against his force in
the fight with the band of Roman Nose were
20 to 1, and as the senate document has it_
though this part of it was riot written by
Forsyth—the battle “was a splendid example
of the hardihood, courage and capacity to
adapt themselves to circumstances which so
generally mark the conduct of American
troops on the frontier."
One of Gen. Forsyth’s subor
dinate officers in the battle was
Lieut. Frederick H. Beecher a
nephew of Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher. Lieut. Beecher fought
heroically and died just as the
impulse of the Indians was as
sured.
■ChUn. Forsyth’s description of
the charge of Roman Nose and
his red band follows:
. “In a few moments after our
preparations were completed
Roman Nose arid his warriors 6wept around
the bend of the Stream. Out of and well be
yond rifle range, with a front of about 60
men arid a depth of six or eight ranks. Each
warrior was, with the exception of his cart
nd&e belt and box and moccasins, perfectly
naked and hideously painted. They’rode bare
back, with only a horsehair lariat wrapped
twice around the middle of their horses and
'-'ll
the center of'h.Y Un^^NoS’EMTe££%£
a reckless gallantry that may have been equafed hut
could not have been excelled. Six feet three inches in
on t ’ “d vertectiy naked save for a superb war bonne"
on his head a crimson silk sash around his waist and
ld8 “0^aslns on hls feet. showing immense breadth
of shoulder, but. nevertheless, sinewy and slim both n
wa,st and flank, he sat well forward on his barebacked
that 'C0l0ref c,harger' with his knees under the lariat
i^st ijlow ®nci"c!ed hlf horse’s b°dy, and his rifle held
hn nw ^M trlSger his left hand- barrel in the
hollow of his arm. while the same hand grasped both
his horse s mane and bridle, leaving his right arm free
to direct his men. and as he came charging on at the head
of his command he was the very beau ideal of an Indian
chief.'
"As soon as the charging warriors had fairly started to
ward us our immediate assailants, who lay under cover on
the two banks of the river opposite an island, opened
a rapid fire on us from both sides, with the intention
of covering us to such an extent that we would not dare
to rise from our rifle pits to open fire upon the attacking
force, and so for a few seconds bullets fell everywhere
around us.
I his I looked for, but I well knew that once the charg
ing Indians came within range of the bullets of their own
men their fire must necessarily cease. Glancing back
over my command. I saw that they had all turned in their
rifle pits toward the foot of the island, the direction from
which the charge was coming, and crouching low, with
their knees well under them, their rifles closely gripped
in thqjr sinewy hands, their bronzed faces set like iron
and their eyes fairly ablaze with wrath, they lay with nos
trils all aquiver, impatiently awaiting the command to
fire.
“Suddenly the fire from the Indian riflemen ceased, and
placing my back against my rifle pit and leaning on my
elbows against its sides, I shouted: ‘Now!’ and Beecher,
McCall and Grover echoed the cry.
“Instantly starting to their knees, with their rifles at
shoulder as (hey rose, and with one quick glance along
the barrel, 40 good men and true sent the first of seven
consecutive volleys into the onrushing savage horde.
Welcoming the first and second volleys with reckless yell,
the charging warriors came gallantly on, but at the third
the most of them ceased to shout, and I could see great
gaps in their ranks and men and horses going down, but
still the mass of them bravely held their course, Roman
Nose leading them and wildly waving his heavy Spring
field rifle over his head as though it were a wisp of
straw, lie alone shouting his defiant war cry as he swept
toward us.
"At the fourth volley their great medicine man, who
was leading the left of the column, went suddenly down,
and for an instant the column seemed to check its speed,
but only for a second, and then with a mad rush it came
bounding and leaping onward. The fifth volley seemed
to pile men and horses in heaps, and at the sixth Roman
Nose and his horse went down in death together.
“A hundred feet farther and they will be upon us! But
now tne column hesitates ami shakes, and the scouts pour
in their last and seventh volley just as a few of the war
riors reach the foot of our little island, and then spring
ing quickly to their feet, with wild cheers and impreca
tions on their foes, the frontiersmen suddenly pour al
most into the very faces of the mounted warriors a rapid
fire from their revolvers, while the Indian column sudden
ly divides on each side of the island and breaks in all
directions for the shelter of either shore, the now com
pletely defeated and panic-stricken savages, cowering
to their horses’ backs, fearfully demoralized, and seeking
only safety in eager and headlong flight.”
Gen. Forsyth was shot three times, but he dragged him
self about to care for the wounded. Lieut. Beecher, shot
in the side, turned to Forsyth and said, quietly and
simply: ‘‘I have my death wound, general,” and then as
the commanding officer tells the story, he replied to his
subordinate: "Oh, no, Beecher, no, it can’t be as bad as
that.”
“‘Yes. Good night!’ I heard him murmur once: ’My
poor mother.’ In the sunset bis life went out.
“Good night. Good knight!”
After the failure of their attempt to override the little
band of soldiers the Indians besieged the whites for nine
days and the second chapter of the story has much of
the stirring interest of the first, as it is told by the officer
in command in that campaign on the eastern Colorado
frontier.
With Col. Forsyth were 51 officers and men. Before
the Indian lines were broken, as they charged down on
the detachment the bullets of the Cheyennes and the
Sioux found 24 victims, one-third of them being killed
and the others badly wounded. Col. Forsyth had a bul
let in his right thigh, his left leg was broken below the
knee and his scalp had been torn open by a ricochetting
shot.
Let Col. Forsyth tell the story of the siege:
"Orders were issued to unsaddle the dead horses, to
use the saddles to strengthen our works, to connect the
rifle pits and to deepen them still more and to cut off
large steaks from the dead horses and mules and to
bury them deep in the sand to avoid putrefication.
“Having made the wounded as comfortable as possible
with water dressings (the surgeon had been mortally
wounded,) and a strong guard having been posted, I ate
a few mouthfuls of raw horse flesh and dozed away until
morning. The Indians, evidently believing that we would
try to escape in the night, approached at early daylight to
take up our trail. Owing to some one accidentally dis
charging lys rifle they threw themselves flat on the
ground and we succeeded In killing only one of them. The
next day was very hot and we that were wounded suf
fered intensely.
“During all this time I noticed that there was a steady
beating of drums and death chants among the women
in the main camp of the savages. It was a weary enough
day for we were out of food save horse and mule meat,
which we had to eat without cooking, but fortunately we
had plenty of good water. ... At noon, Scout Gro
ver informed me that the Indian women and children
were beginning to withdraw and I concluded at once
aj causing the bone to part and protrude
1 through the flesh, much to my savagely
expressed wrath.
"On the sixth day I called the well
men together and told them that as
there was no certainty that our messen
gers could get through they were en
titled to a chance for their lives. I
believed that most of our enemies had
withdrawn, and as the men were well
armed I doubted if any ordinary body
of Indians would dare attack them on
their way to Fort Wallace. As for
the wounded, we must take our chances
if attacked.
"For a few moments there was a dead
silence, then rose a hoarse shout:
‘Never! Never! We’ll stand by you,
general, until the end;’ McCall saying:
‘We've fought together, and, by heavens,
if need be, we'll die together!’
"The next two days—the Indians only
keeping a vidette in sight, and most
of them having disappeared—seemed to
me to be almost interminable. Wo
all became weaker for want of food.
. . . On the morning of the ninth
day one of the men lying near mo
suddenly sprang up, and shading his
eyes with his hands, shouted: ‘There
are some moving objects on the far
hills.’ a
“Every man was on his feet in an in
stant, and then some keen-eyed scout
shouted: ‘By the God above us, it’s an
ambulance!’
“The strain was over. It was Col.
Carpenter with a troop of the Tenth
* cavalry.”
Not long afterward the sub-chiefs of
the warriors who had surrounded and
f fought Col. Forsyth’s band admitted
that the Indians in the fight lost 75
killed and many wounded. There were
1,000 warriors in the band that at
tacked Forsyth's force of 51 men—and
in the end the white men won.
It was a great fight and the fact
that the white men won proved a sure
Indication of final victory on (he fron
tier, which caine about a short time
later. The records of the war office iu
i - zr=r__
that the Indians had decided to give up the fight. Ac
cordingly I penciled the following dispatch:
“ ‘Col. Bankhead, or Commanding Officer, Fort Wal
lace: I sent you two messengers on the night of the
7th inst., informing you of my critical condition. 1 trtfcd
to send you two more last night, but they did not succeed
in passing Indian pickets, and returned. If the others
have not arrived, then hasten at once to my assistance.
. . . The Cheyennes alone number 450 or more. They
are splendidly armed with Spencer and Henry rifles. . .
We are living on mule and horse meat and are entirely
out of rations. If it wras not for so many wounded I
W’ould come in and take the chances of whipping the
reds if attacked. ... I can hold out here for six days
longer, but please lose no time. Very respectfully, your
obedient servant, George A. Forsyth.
“P- S.—My surgeon having been mortally wounded, my
wounded have not had their injuries dressed, so please
bring a surgeon with you.’
“I confided this to two excellent men, Donovan and Pli
ley. They left our intrenchments at midnight, and as
they did not return I was hopeful that they had escaped
the vigilance of the Indian sentries ard were on their
way to Fort Wallace. It was these tw’o men who fell in
wdth Fol. B. H. Carpenter’s command two days later and
gave the first intimation of our plight.
“The wound in my thigh having become exceedingly
painful, I asked some of the men to cut the bullet out, but
as it lay very near the femoral artery they all declined
to attempt it. Taking my razor, which happened to be
in my saddle bag, I managed to cut it out myself, greatly
to my almost immediate relief. On the fourth day our
horse and mule meat became putrid, but one of the men
shot a little gray wolf that helped out somewhat.
“I had the men raise me on a blanket to get a better
view of affairs and suddenly the Indians sent in a fusil
lade of aboyt 20 shots. The man w-ho held the corner of
tho blanket upon which rested my broken leg dropped it,
—-—— -
Washington ten of these great battles and they are open
to the curious public. While they are more or less in
the form of reports and lack the romantic details which
writers have wrapped around them, they still prove of
great interest.
KNEW ALL TO BE KNOWN.
He was a middle-aged man who had graduated from
the school of experience, who believed he was master of
arts, with a diploma acquired by profound study of the
world and so he went out to make a call on a leading citi
zen at his superior country place. The leading citizeif
was not at home, nor any member of tiro family excel*
the youngest daughter, a child of 14 or thereabouts. Sh™
tumbled out of a hammock and surveyed the strange
visitor with a cool, calculating eye. Sizing him up, and
recognizing no sign of the book agent or burglar about
his clothes, or his manners, she calmly bid him welcome,
“until father should return.” The visitor with a mental
shudder prepared to entertain mademoiselle, but to his
amazement she took that duty ont of his grasp, and re-,
marking that she presumed he would like to see “th*
place,” somewhat haughtily indicated that she would tah'
him en tour. So they walked to and fro, the middle-agf1
man vainly trying to label or to approve with the ri>
word many beautiful objects on the millionaire’s es
but nothing fluttered or amused the youngest dans
She called everything by its right title, knew the di
breeds, the pedigrees of all the prize livestock, the
cal names of every tree and precious shrub, and
off information with all the icy manner of an e\pl'
specialist. Nothing jolted her. Finally they arrj*
section of the garden where laborers were busy, an
against the wall of a greenhouse stood a box filler
beer bottles. The youngest daughter glanced at the- ,
With a tilt of the head and a wave of the hand, she said:
“And this is the Anheuser Busch!” So they passed on ta
the next,