The Public "I": GREASY GRASS

Thursday, June 22, 2023

GREASY GRASS - Part Two

I suppose the most amazing thing the soldiers did that afternoon, as far as the Indians were concerned, was that after they suddenly burst forth from the cottonwood trees and brush along the Little Big Horn, they stopped and formed up in a column of fours, before beginning their escape.

Private William Ephraim (Billy) Morris, from M company, who claimed to be 22, but was actually only 14, heard Major Marcus Reno tell his soldiers, "Men, we are surrounded, draw your revolvers and follow me." As they did, the mystical 34 year old Lakota warrior Crazy Horse (Lakota name Thasunjke Itko), shouted to his men, " “Here are some of the soldiers after us again. Do your best, and let us kill them all off today, that they may not trouble us anymore."

Crazy Horse (above) was told in a vision that as long as he did not take scalps in battle then bullets would never hurt him. However the modification of "in battle" had to be added to his magic in 1870 when Crazy Horse went on a "buffalo hunt" with Black Buffalo Woman. Her husband, fellow Lakota No Water, tracked the lovers down and shoved a pistol into their tepee and set off a cap The previously impervious Lothelo took a bullet to the jaw. He recovered, but collected a couple of horses when the elders fined No Water for his excessive version of fidelity.

Crazy Horse (above) avoided ostentation in dress, never took part in the public dances, rarely joked in public, and never sang. He often ignored his fellow tribe members. But in battle he was an electrifying presence, his trademark war paint of a lightening bolt and hail stones made him stand out.

And on this day, according to witnesses, Crazy Horse was right among the soldiers, "shooting them down as in a buffalo drive." The Cheyenne Two Moons described the running battle as "All mixed up. Sioux, then soldiers, then more Sioux, all shooting."

As George Herendon came out of the brush his horse stumbled and fell, throwing the scout to the ground and leaving him dismounted. He scrambled back into the brush, and encouraged his fellow refuges to let their horses go and hide.

Meanwhile Reno was now trying to lead his men back to the river ford they had crossed an hour earlier, But, "As we dashed through them, my men were so close...they could discharge their pistols right into the breasts of the savages...Our horses were on a dead run with...two or three men on one animal". When his gun was empty Reno tossed it aside.

During the ride Lieutenant Donald "Tosh" McIntosh (above), the 38 year old Canadian born commander of "G" company, emptied his pistol, whereupon a warrior - possibly Crazy Horse, closed in and at a full gallop and with a swing of his war club, knocked McIntosh from his horse. Other warriors stopped to finish him off and mutilate his body. Said Flying Hawk, an Oglala Sioux, "Crazy Horse...killed a lot of them with his war club."

As they galloped southward across the flats an Indian warrior pulled up next to 32 year old Private Edward Davern, in "F" troop, and the two swung weapons at each other, until Davern's horse was killed. The Irishman was thrown to ground, and the unknown Indian warrior dismounted to finish him off. But Davern had a round left in his pistol and shot his attacker dead, Davern then immediately grabbed the Indian pony around the neck, swung up and galloped after the command.

Most of the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors were on the open right flank of the retreating soldiers, and gradually they forced the battalion closer to the river, until, when presented with a break in the tree line Reno led the men over a five foot high bank and into the river. The horse rode by his adjutant, 38 year old Second Lieutenant Benjamin Hurbert Hodgson (above) made the jump but was shot and landed in the water dead.

Hodgson was wounded in the leg, but managed to yell, "For God's sake, don't abandon me!" As M company trumpeter, 31 year old German born Charles Henry Fisher came splashing past him in the river, he held his stirrup strap out for Hodson to grab. Desperately holding on, the lieutenant was dragged across the Little Big Horn, before dropping off on the eastern bank. As he lay in the grass recovering he was shot a second time in the back, and died.

Private Charles Windolph estimated that half of the warriors were armed with bows and arrows, one in four carried single shot rifles and muskets, and perhaps only one fourth carried Winchester, a Henry or other repeating rifles. Still, with a battle moving at the speed of a terrified horse, combat intimacy favored the Cheyenne and Sioux warriors.

Clambering ashore on the lower, eastern bank of the Little Big Horn, 33 year old Doctor James Madison De Wolf (above) was guarded by his sharpshooter orderly, 34 year old Hoosier, Elihu Clear. However, the private from the heavily Quaker Randolph County, Indiana, was shot and killed just after regaining solid ground. So the doctor started up the coulee on his own, and for some unknown reason chose to follow a side path which branched to the north of the main channel.

Those members of Reno's command who first reached the top of the coulee, saw that, 300 yards to their north, De Wolf was climbing straight toward three warriors. They shouted a warning. but De Wolf did not hear them until he had reached a plateau. Only then did the doctor pull up his horse, and pause to listen. And while he was stopped he and his horse were both shot. The horse went down, and De Wolf, hit in the belly, also fell. Despite a desperate barrage of gunfire, one Indian clambered down the slope and, in full view of the exhausted command, scalped and then murdered Doctor De Wolf.

As the last of the soldiers struggled up the coulee, Sioux warrior, White Eagle, closed with a soldier and was shot and killed. White Eagle fell from his horse, and the soldier returned and took the time to exact vengeance by scalping the warrior, before escaping to the relative safety of Reno's position with his bloody trophy. Neither he nor any of the white soldiers knew they had just mutilated the son the Oglala Sioux leader Horned Horse. Whether the warrior was dead before he was scalped would never be clear.

Reno gathered his men in a depression atop the bluff, and quickly discovered he had 3 officers and 29 enlisted men missing, presumed killed, and had 7 enlisted wounded. The Major immediately set his men into another skirmish line, but it was pretty thin - out of his original 140 men, he could only put 88 guns in his defense. Even after having his men share their remaining ammunition. it did not look as if his winded battalion would be able to hold out for long.

But 10 minutes later, at about 4:20pm, Captain Benteen appeared with his 125 fresh troopers. He observed that Reno "...was about as cool as he is now," adding, "He had lost his hat in the run..." However Benteen did say he saw, "...about 900 Indians...circling around in the bottom".

Benteen's battalion was ordered to dismount and deploy as skirmishers on the edge of the bluffs overlooking the valley. Very soon after this the Indians withdrew from the attack. Reno then called for 25 year old Second Lieutenant Luther Rector Hare (above). When the young Hoosier reported, Reno named him as his new adjutant, and then ordered him to find the pack train and hurry it to join them. Hare borrowed a horse and rode up the slope and back along Custer's trail. Until it's arrival, Benteen ordered his men to share their ammunition with Reno's beaten men. It was just about 5:00pm.