Eagle Pass News-Guide. (Eagle Pass, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 14, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 16, 1909 Page: 6 of 8
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, ASHINGTON. — Red
Cloud was a Sioux
warrior more terrible
than Sitting Bull. It
it true that the chief
who met and killed to
the last man the force
of Gen. Custer is ac-
counted in the east
the greatest brave, but
the people of the plains will scoff at the
accounting. Red Cloud, it is said, is
still living.
Sitting Bull had' 5,000 fighting men
with him when he met the Seventh cavalry under the
“Yellow-haired Chief,” who rode into the valley of death
with less than three hundred following troopers. It is
the custom of the whites to speak of every battle with
the reds in which the pale face loss was severe as a
massacre. The Custer affair was a massacre, but it
was one of the few fights in which the whites were
defeated which rightly could be so called.
Red Cloud’s name is suggestive of the warrior, and
In the years that are gone he made its significance ter-
rible. With his braves he swept the settlements and
gave battle to the soldiery, rarely giving heed to the
odds that might be against him.
Red Cloud was a Sioux of the pure blood. There
were always men of the tribe who said that Sitting Bull
Siad a trace of white in him, and to the full-blood this
was the equivalent of discrediting him with a “streak of
yellow. ’ But this was only the Indian way of looking
at it and Sitting Bull probably never showed a coward’s
face to any foe. no matter what may be the opinion of
him as a plainsman general;
In his old age Red Cloud is said to be an object of
pity, but it was a different story in the earlier days,
•when his arm was strong and his heart was vengeful.
Almost immediately ht'ter the civil war Red Cloud met
in battle the field-tried heroes of that conflict and they
found in him a foe worthy of their skill and steel.
Mineral wealth had been discovered in Montana and
the rush of prospectors and settlers made it necessary
for the government to begin the erection of military
posts along the trail leading over the prairies to the
mines. On the trail to the Powder river was built Fort
3Phil Kearney. While the troops ordered to the new
.ipost were on the march overland, a scout came riding
in to the column as if he had death at his heels. Col.
Fetterman was in command, and after a hurried talk
with the scout the two rode forward, leaving the ’column
;*Jit a halt. Officer and scout skirted a patch of timber
.®nd came to the banks of a small prairie stream from
which the view was unbroken for miles. To the front
fand about 600 yards distant they saw a solitary Sioux
warrior standing on the plain with his spear thrust into
the ground at his side, while from the end of the weap-
on’s handle fluttered a bit of colored cloth. It needed
but little frontier knowledge to make interpretation of
that signal easy. It was the Sioux sign of warning that
there must be no trespassing on the lands over which
they held dominion.
Warning Is Spurned.
Red Cloud, the chief, had ordered the warrior to
display what was at once a notice and a menace, and
later he took a terrible vengeance because his warning
Jiad been spurned.
Col. Fetterman rode back to his command, knowing
•well what the signal of the planted spear meant, but,
rgoldier like, fully determined to disregard its conveyed
threat. He pushed ahead with his men, throwing out
scouts to feel the way. The Indian sentinel had van-
ished, but he had left his spear with its pennant of cloth
'to stand as a forbidding sign. Not another Sioux was
-seen on the march to the new post, but the scouts knew
•that Red Cloud was not far off and was biding his time.
A few hours after the occupation of the fort a detail
t0f soldiers was sent out with a small wagon train to cut
and to bring in needed timber. Two hours later a
courier rode in and had barely time to tell his story
before he sank into unconsciousness from the pain of
his wounds. The timber detail was surrounded by Sioux
and was in imminent danger of death.
In the fort were many women and children, the
wives and sons and daughters of the officers and en-
listed men. Col. Fetterman knew that he must leave a
strong guard for the protection of the post, for the
attack on the timber party might be but a diversion to
draw away the troops, and so, taking but 50 men with
him, the commanding officer rode out to the rescue of
the surrounded soldiers. Not one man of the gallant
barld ever rode back.
That Fetterman and his men exacted a heavy price
for their lives goes without saying, but how many of
the savage followers of Red Cloud fell on that day no
man ever knew nor will man ever know unless the chief
in the hour of his dotage may one day babble the tale.
To the memory of Fetterman a fort bearing his name
rose in the wilderness, but even the remembrance of the
memorial is now passing away. News of the killing of
the troops that had gone to the aid of their fellows only
to die was sent to the nearest garrison by ourier, who
made his way through the hostile country with peril
besetting every hoof stroke on the path. He eluded Red
Cloud only by matching cunning against cunning, and
the white craft won over the red.
Relief reached the post, but by this time the whole
Sioux nation had declared for war and the northwest
was aflame, nor did the fires of conflict kindled by Red
Cloud die out for more than a score of years, the last
flicker of the flame lighting the battle field of "The
Mission,” near Pine Ridge, S. D., in the year 1891.
Red Cloud, at the agency near the scene of the last
fight, saw the wounded brought in from the field. He
had seen the beginning of the great war and he was the
witness of it* end.
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Reno’s Gallant
Fight.
While Sitting
Bull with his
5,000 warriors
was engaged in
the annihilation
of Gen. Custer
and his devot-
ed following of
troopers, in
June, 1878, Maj
Reno’s squad-
ron of the Sev-
enth cavalry
was battling
with a band of
Sioux not many
miles away in
the country of
the Little Big
Horn.
The “Custer
massacre” over-
shadowed all
the other Indi-
an fights which
took place in
that red month,
and thus it is
that but little is
known outside
the circles of
the army about
the gallant
fight which the
unfortunate Re-
no and his men
put up that day
against the
swarming
hordes of sav-
ages.
After it was
known that Cus-
ter and his
command had
been killed
there was criti-
cism of Major
Reno for not
pushing for-
ward to Cus-
ter’s assistance.
The major had
been given or-
ders to take an-
other trail, and
when he felt
the shaft of
criticism he de-
manded that a
court of inquiry be convened to pass upon his conduct.
he court met, heard the evidence and found him
blameless.
Later in his army life Reno, a man of tried courage,
committed indiscretions which resulted in a court-mar-
tial and a sentence of dismissal from the army in which
he had served in peace and in war for years.
1 here was an Incident in connection with Reno’s
fight with the reds nearly 30 years ago concerning wrhicli
the only facts set down in army history are that for a
specific act of gallantry on that field of battle Sergt.
Richard P. Hanley was awarded a medal of honor. The
noncommissioned officer received his decoration for rid-
ing a mule, a dangerous proceeding at almost any time,
but a proceeding on that day of battle so precarious
that neither Hanley nor his comrades believed when the
ride began that it could end in anything but death.
Reno found himself confronted by a tremendous
force of Indians. The fight that ensued was one of the
fiercest ever fought on the plains. A charge made by a
part of Reno’s command, a charge that literally led the
troopers into the jaws of death, turned the tide of de-
feat, though a score of officers and men gave up- their
lives that victory might come.
The men in Reno’s command knewr that they were a
match for five times their number of savages, but they
were short of ammunition and every time that the Sioux
were driven away they returned again to the assault,
and every assault cost the troopers dear in powder and
lead.
Finally all the ammunition in the outfit with the ex-
ception of that which the men carried in their belts
was on the back of a huge, bad-tempered Missouri mule,
chosen for the job of cartridge carrier because of his
prodigious proportions and his unflagging energy.
Daring Deed of a Trooper.
The mule was with the pack train to the right and
rear of the squadron, which was lying along the edge
of a wood with its face toward the enemy. A Sioux
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taken one chance in a thousand and
had won out.
The army mule lived, but it did not
escape unscathed, as did Hanley. A*
a man in the fight said afterward:
"That mule came back with as muehj
lead in his hide as he had in his pack.”*
'I
warrior who was no sharpshooter sent a bullet which
might have been aimed at the noonday sun. Probably
before it came to earth it tore a fragment out of a cloud,
but on its way to the ground it "creased” the ammuni-
tion-bearing mule, which instantly broke loose and, mad-
dened by pain and fright, went tearing through the wood,
knocking down a trooper who attempted to stay its
course, and then made straight for the outlying masses
of the enemy.
When the flying mule had reached a point about a
hundred yards distant from where the feathered heads
of the reds were showing, it stopped short and, forget-
ting its pain, began to graze on the bunch grass.
On the back of that mule was the ammunition upon
which depended the troopers’ salvation. In order to
reach the animal any man brave enough to make the
attempt must needs cross an open plain swept by a
thousand rifles.
The officers consulted and a desperate plan for the
recapture of the mule was under discussion. Suddenly
one of the enlisted men called attention to a movement
in the grass far over to the right. In a moment the
head of a white man was seen. It was a trooper who
was crawling slowly toward the stampeded animal.
Word was passed swiftly down the line, and volley
after Volley was directed at the Sioux to keep their
attention away from the mule and from the soldier who
was making his way toward it. The trooper crawled on
and on. He was close to the savage line and discovery
meant death. He reached a point within 25' yards of the
grazing animal, then suddenly stood up, bolted forward
and vaulted on to the mule’s back.
Digging his spurs deep into the animal’s side, Sergt.
Hanley, for he was the trooper who had dared death
to save the ammunition, started the animal back on a
run toward the squadron. There was wild yelling from
a thousand red throats. Hundreds of rifles were emp-
tied at the mule and its dauntless rider.
Straight into the lines Hanley rode unhurt.
CAREER OF “BABE” CLARKE.
In the year 1880 there reported at
the United States Military Academy as
a candidate for admission a Louisiana
boy, who was just 17 years old, but
who looked to be three years younger.
His name was Powhatan H. Clarke. No
cadet is admitted to the academy who
has not rounded out 17 years of life.
Clarke was called "Babe” by hi*
classmates because he was the young-
est among them. The oldest member
of the class is dubbed “Dad.” This
has been the custom of the class from
time immemorial and the saddling of
the word of infancy upon the cadet im-
plies nothing of weakness of body or
of character.
One day at Sunday nmrnmg inspec-
tion the tactical officer told “Babe’*
that he must shave and the boy
blushed like a holly berry. There was
fun in camp that day, for with the ad-
vent of the razor into his kit “Babe”’
bad passed from childhood.
There was a cadet at the academy
who had some grievance against
"Babe,” It must have been imaginary,,
for the Louisiana boy was in demeanor
peace and good nature to all the*
world. Clarke was challenged to ^ a
fight; the challenger outweighed him
20 pounds, but the boy refused to let!
one of his classmates take the burden
of battle on himself and he fought thei
heavier cadet and thrashed him beau-
tifully.
Young Clarke proved his pluck on
that day. Later he gave an exhibition!
of heroism. He was a southerner, with;
a southerner’s prejudice against the
negroes, but upon graduation from the
academy in 1884 he went into a black
regiment, the Tenth cavalry. He was
just 21 years of age, the youngest sec-
ond lieutenant in the army of the Unit-
ed States. He was ordered to Arizona
and before he had been at his post a
month he was sent into the field
against hostile Apaches. With a squad
of men he was directed by his troop
, „ aptach himself from the main body for
commander to aetacu
the purpose of making a reconnoissance into a part
the country that was all rock and sand. While nd-
jng with his men across the sandy waste beyond which
rose the rocks, a crashing Tolley met hie command. The
duty sergeant was shot through Doth hips and he (ell
from his horse to the ground.
Clarke knew that another volley would crash almost
instantly and he knew also that he was greatly outnum-
bered Furthermore, a mounted charge was impossible.
Clarke ordered bis men to fall back to shelter, but he
staved on the field. He jumped from his horse to the
ground and attempted to lift the wounded trooper, who
was a heavy man, to the saddle. His strength was eQua,
to the task, but the man was so injured he could not
retain his seat and in his condition Clarke found that it
would be impossible to hold him on the back of his mount.
He struck his horse on the flank with the palm of
his hand and sent him trotting back to the troopers who,
under orders, had retreated. Then the lieutenant put
himself between the Indians and the wounded sergeant,
prepared for an effort, and raised the black man to h:s
shoulder. The Apaches broke loose with another vol-
ley. Clark’s blouse was pierced twice and the sand was
kicked up spitefully about his knees, but be was unhurt.
He staggered back over the yielding sand, while the
bullets spat about him.
Back through the death-beset way Clarke carried the
black sergeant, shielding him as much as it was in his
power with his own body while he toiled along. Finally
he reached shelter and with his men he made a detour,
attacked the Apaches in flank and sent them scattering.
The black sergeant is still living, but the white lieu-
tenant who saved him is dead.
He lost his life while swimming in the Snake river
country. He had struck a rock in diving. The blow in
itself might not have killed him, but he was drowned,
while on the bank stood the troopers for one of whose
black comrades Powhatan H. Clarke had once dared
He had death in the Arizona desert.
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Boehmer, Joseph O. Eagle Pass News-Guide. (Eagle Pass, Tex.), Vol. 22, No. 14, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 16, 1909, newspaper, October 16, 1909; Eagle Pass, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1097841/m1/6/?rotate=0: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.