Adventure, August 3, 1919 — page 106: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

96 Adventure — the wood-choppers were at work, being guarded at their task by soldiers from the fort. Several extra rifles apiece and ten thousand rounds of ammunition were two of the reasons for the awful slaughter inflicted by the soldiers and wood- choppers. On the morning of August 2, 1807, the wood-choppers were barely at their task when Indians by the hundreds swarmed from the .ravines and gullies where the pine logs were being cut. Of the number at work, thirty-two man- aged to retreat in safety to the wagon-box corral, where, under the command of Capt. J. W. Powell and Lieut. John —Jenness, preparations for a stubborn fight were im- mediately begun, although their enemies outnumbered them nearly a hundred to one, Confident of being able to overwhelm the little party, Chief Red Cloud devoted some little time to preparations for the battle. Then a force of five hundred of his leading warriors, mounted on their war- ponies, detached themselves from the main command and started for the little corral out on the level plain. Whooping and yell- ing, on they came with ponies on the run. Not a shot was fired from the corral until the horde of screeching savages were within fifty yards, when a perfect sheet of flame ringed the corral, and a rain of bullets was poured into the advancing ranks. The firing was not one solid volley and then, silence, as the Indians had anticipated, but it was a steady and persistent stream of fire, which mowed them down in scores. The astonished braves could not under- stand the rapidity of the firing, knowing nothing of the new breech-loading arms which had been supplied to the soldiers but a very few days before. In the front of the corral where the brunt of the charge had been met, horses and men were cut down as by some giant mowing-machine. Dazed and chagrined by-«the failure of the first charge, the Sioux fled back out of range of those deadly rifles, where Red Cloud consulted with other chiefs upon another plan. Seven hundred Indians were ordered to prepare themselves as a skirmish- ing party, They were led by the great Red Cloud’s nephew in person. Support~ ing oe mae ne constitute the main at were the whole remaining body numbering nearly two thousand warriors, In the first attack but one of the whites was killed and two wounded. Again the Indians advanced and again the fire belched forth from the corral, mowing down the savages in scores. The Indians could not account for the sustained and frightful fire. “The white man must have made bad medicine,” they said afterward. _ Charge after charge was made on the heroic little band huddled within their miniature fort, but each was successfully repulsed. The firing was heard at the fort and relief was sent, before which the Indians retreated. They had “got enough.” Today but three men are known to be alive who took part in that most remark- able battle. They are Sergt. Sam S. Gibson of Omaha, Nebraska, Frederick Claus of Lincoln, Nebraska, and M. Litt- man of St. Louis. Some historians have contended that the wagon-boxes were lined with boiler iron, which accounted for the small loss suffered by the whites, but Sergt. Gibson has in- formed the writer that such is not the case. “They were the ordinary wagon-boxes made out of inch pine boards,” said Gibson. “Most of the bullets fired by the Sioux splintered the tops of the boxes to slivers, but our loss was slight compared to that which we inflicted.” In reminiscing regarding the Wagon-box Fight, about 1888 on the Pine Ridge reser- vation, Chief Red Cloud, then an oll man, said he went into the fight with over three thousand braves and lost over half. He was asked if he meant that over fifteen hundred were killed. The old chief sorrow- fully shook his head andreplied: “T lost them, They never fought again.” comicbooks.com fe eee