THE AMERICAN-INDIAN WAR.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 534, 16 December 1867, Page 2

THE AMERICAN-INDIAN WAR.

DESPERATE COMBAT BETWEEN FIFTY WHITES AND ONE HUNDRED INDIANS.

The desperate nature of the fighting which is now going on between the United States Government and the Indians will be gathered from the following letter in the Philadelphia Press, dated Fort Wallace, Kansas, June 27. The writer says :

4< I woke about imif-pasc five on the morning of the 2Gth instant. The sun was rising in the cloudless sky, but so cool and. bracing was the atmosphere, and of that temperature so conducive to sleep, that I turned over, like the sluggard, ‘ my weary head ’ fur ‘ a little mure slumber,’ when I heard the rapid stamping of feet out-side-—then my door was thrown wildly open, and a voice called out, ‘ Major f I Major 1 get up I The Indians are attacking Pond Creek, and ad.aiming nn the post!’ Two minutes ai'ter- | wards I was hurrying to the outside of the fort, scarcely crediting the story that they would attack our reiniforced garrison. My doubts were soon at rest. There were the Indians between the fort and the station, and [there at their bead rode the warrior with the long lance, and mounted on the white horse, The very individual we supposed had fallen iu the light on Friday. We could see their movements distinctly ; aud white watching them, four horses rushed past them from the station, and galloped towards the fort. The Indians gave chase and tired, but still the horses galloped on. They entered the fort in the order in which four-in-handers are harnessed, one of them bleeding from a wound in the hind leg. They proved to be a team of sorrels belonging to the Overend Stage Company. The noble animals had seen Indians before, and made their escape by a dash that showed more than mere instinct. In the meantime Lieutenant Hale had ordered the handful of mounted men in the fort out, and sent an orderly with the information to Captain Bmnitz. The bugle sounded, and in live minutes, at the head of his own troop, and those who joined him from the garrison, Barnits was galloping towards the Indians. As he advanced, we could see them signalling by walking their horses in a circle, while the chief on a white horse made signs with some instrument that flashed in the sun like a mirror. Then the Indians fell back behind the ridge, which shut them out from them out from the view of the advancing line. Five minutes of hard galloping and the cavalry wmre up, and with unslung carbines they charged a body of 100 mounted warriors who were drawn up before them. The Indians received and returned the fire of the cavalry, but after a struggle of five minutes they fell back, still fighting. Seeing his men somewhat scattered, Captain Baruitz formed them by platoons in line of battle, and then pressed on, driving the Indians before him. Thus fighting, the Indians had fallen back about threequarters of a mile, when suddenly, on their either flank, two bodies of warriors, numbering about one hundred each, appeared. They halted for a few minutes, when a powerful-looking warrior, fancifully dressed, galloped along their front, shouting out direction*, and then, like a whirlwind, i with lances poised and arrows on the string, they rushed on the little band of fifty soldiers. The skirmishers tired and 101 l back on the line, and in an instant the Indians were amongst them. Now the tide was turned. Saddles were emptied, and the soldiers forced back over the ground towards tiie fort. Charles Clarke, the bugler, fell pierced by five arrows, when a powerful warrior stooped from his horse, and hauling the bugler up before him, he coolly stripped the body, and then smashing his head of his naked victim, with his tomahawk, ha threw him on the ground under his horse’s feet. On The left of our line the Indians pressed heavily, cutting off five men, among them Sergeant Frederick Williams, With his little force the gallant sergeant held out nobly till his horse was killed, and

cue by one the fated soldiers fell,, selling their lives dearly. The warrior who appeared to lead the band was very conspicuous in the fight, dashing back and forth on his grey horse, and by his actions setting an example to his warriors. One of our cavalrymen

was thrown to the ground by the fierceness of the Indian onslaught, when the leader, who, we have since learned was the famous Cheyenne war chief Roman Nose,-attacked the prostrate man with his spear. Corporal Harris of ‘G 5 Company was near him, and struck Roman Nose with his sabre which he held in his left hand. Quick as thought the warrior turned ■on him; but as he did, the faithful

1 bpeucer' ox the corporal met his breast; the trigger was pulled, and with the blood pouring from bis mouth Roman Nose fell forward on his horse, never more to lead his ‘ dog soldiers 3 on the war-path. After a severe struggle, Barnitz succeeded in dismounting three-fourths of his men, and on foot they proved to be too much for the Indian, as the Indian was for them mounted. So, before the well-directed fire of the Spencer they fell back, carrying with them all their killed and wounded, in several cases risking themselves wildly to recover their comrades. For two hours Captain Barnitz waited with his thinned squadron for another advance of the Indians, but they prudently held back, and after an hour’s up parent consultation, they fell back beyond the hills to paint their faces black, and lament one of the bravest leaders of their inhuman race. I have seen battles where for miles the dead and dying, warrior and steed, lay on the gory field* It has been ray fate to be beside the wounded and the dead on the night of horror succeeding the day of strife, but never did I feel the sickening sensation, the giddy, fainting feeling that came over me when 1 saw our dead, onr dying, and our wounded after this Indian fight. A handful of men to be sure, but with wounds enough upon them to have slain a battalion, if evenly distributed. Charles Clarke, the bugler, was stripped 1 naked, and five arrows driven through him, while his skull was literally smashed to atoms. Nathan Frail was shot with four bullets and three arrows ; his scalp was turn uif, and i his brains knocked out, Frank Rabme was riddled with balls ana arrows, but they did not succeed in getting his scalp, though, like the other two, he was stripped naked. James Douglas was shut through the body, and his left arm was hacked •to pieces parrying the Indian lances. He was a Scotchman, a brave follow, and breathed out his life in the arms of u comrade. Welsh was killed, but subsequent search has failed to discover his remains. Let us hope that the gallant soldier may have died upon the field within sight of his comrades. Sergeant Williams lay dead beside his horse, and as the fearful picture met my gaze, I felt like fainting. Horse and rider were stripped bare of trapping and clothes, while around them the wounded horses, and trampled, bloody ground showed the desperation of the struggle at that point. A portion of the sergeant’s scalp lay near him, but the greater part was gone. Through his head a rifle-ball passed, and a blow from a tomahawk had laid open the brain above his left eye. Although with the forces united at this post we may live in comparative safety, General Wright has prudently determined not to proceed further till an escort of sufficient strength be provided to warrant him in running the line from here to Fort Lyon, in Colorado, without risk to his men.