and the ' prayer of a squaw,' we furnish the exact words, as translated by an interpreter soon after the final surrender of the chief:
'Be brave, my friends, be brave. The white men have brought us food; They will not hurt us ; Their hearts are full of pity for us, My father and my mother, be not afraid, Your hunger once more is stayed, And there is still food in abundance. My brother and my sister, comb your hair, And paint your faces with vermilion, For the Great Spirit has softened The hearts of our enemies, and they feed us with food.
He has, within the writer's knowledge, given three distinct accounts, and no two of them alike, of Custer's last battle against him in the valley of the Little Big Horn,, and there can be no doubt as to his first report being in the main correct. It was about as follows :
He heard the long-haired chief and his soldiers were coming, and he sent out thirty young men on the day before the battle, and that night twenty of them returned and reported the white soldiers coming, and he then told his braves and all his old and young men to get ready for battle* On the morning of the battle seven more of the young men came in and said the soldiers were closing in upon their village, and not long afterwards the remaining three came in and reported the whole column of cavalry in sight, and he then sent the women and children away, and before they had been gone long the white soldiers made their first charge, and just at this time his wife came running back, saying she was so badly scared that she forgot her baby. He at once brought the little one from his tepee, and giving it to his wife and telling her to run, he then turned toward his braves, who were just resisting a bold and gallant charge made by Custer at the head of his men. He then raised a pole with a flag, and at the top of his voice shouted, ' I am Sitting Bull, the big chief and leader of all the Sioux warriors.' His men had but little trouble in driving our column back, and every charge that was made by our men after that was met and checked by his braves, and those not killed on the field were driven back into new positions; and when the cavalry was finally reduced in numbers to a handful of men, they all rallied to where Custer stood, and then the fighting was soon over, they all falling nearly at the same time.
He then gave orders to go over to the other band, meaning ' Major Reno's command,' leaving the squaws on the field, which was near their village.
It is supposed by those who came upon the field first after the battle, that just at this period some one of the chiefs gave orders not to mutilate Custer's body, and also made a mark across his nose and cheeks for a notice to the squaws to that effect, which was obeyed; hence we find Custer's body not mutilated.
The chief further stated in this report that Reno and his whole command would have shared the fate of Custer had it not been for the arrival of 'Terry and Gibbon' with reinforcements.
Another report he gives about as follows: saying he sent his wife and child out back to hide and then started to go over where they were fighting, and just then a heavy shock of thunder and many sharp streaks of lightning struck the whole of Custer's command, and that was what killed so many men, and when the thunder was over, his warriors killed all there was left.
Another statement is, that after his braves had killed nearly all of Custer's men, he told them to cease firing, as they had killed men enough, but they still insisted upon wiping out the whole command, and then Custer's men made such fearful charges they had to kill them all in order to save their own lives and their women and children. Now, it is more than probable that his first report is the nearest correct, as it compares very favorably with the two made by ' Crow King and Low Dog,' at Standing Bock, only a few days after the surrender of the chief. It is doubtful if we ^ver arrive at the actual facts in relation to that battle any nearer than is embraced in those three reports, which includes the first one made by the chief, and those two by Crow King and Low Dog respectively, who were leading war chiefs in the fight.
We have never, up to this time, heard of thunder and lightning making an attack on a battalion of cavalry, nor are we willing to believe that Sitting Bull ordered his warriors to cease firing, at the same time telling them they had killed men enough, and that the soldiers were not to blame, as they were told to do so and were fighting under orders from their government, etc., etc.
Such action on his part is not one of his characteristics, nor is it consistent with his mode of warfare against either white men nor his red brethren, for only a month or six weeks before his surrender he annihilated a small band of .Nez Perces, some seventeen in number. This, however, has recently come to light. In 1877, when the Nez Perces surrendered to General Miles, a small band escaped and fled to Sitting Bull's band across the boundary line, and it appears of late they drifted away from the Sioux warriors. 'We are at the present time unable to get the exact facts in regard to the trouble, but, as far as we can learn, a sudden quarrel broke out in the lodges and the Nez Perces were killed to a man.
Sitting Bull's report that he ' ceased firing ' is only a lame Indian plea in the shape of begging for mercy, thinking our authorities will be more lenient with him should he be fortunate enough in making them believe that he really did save the lives of some of the survivors of Custer's last battle. He has mustered his ingenuity in this plea, thinking it will be the means of drawing an additional amount of mercy to that already shown him. We will soon show how it was
that he happened to be so humane and thoughtful as to give his much talked-about order, and just at this particular time, to ' cease firing.'
It was the day after Custer fell that our men came on the hill and at once discovered that Custer's body was not mutilated, and a mark had been made across his cheeks and nose, just below his eyes. This was done by some one of the leading chiefs as a notice to the squaws that this body must not be mutilated on account of his bravery; and well they knew and felt it, for over one hundred empty cartridge shells were found near by where his feet had stood just before he fell, and there can be no doubt but that he brought down many a warrior before he fell. It so happened that Major Reno found that he was overpowered, and being fore-sighted enough to entrench himself, was thus enabled to hold at bay the unrelenting hordes until Generals Terry and Gibbon came to his relief, and just about this time the chief no doubt did give an order to retreat and also to cease firing. At all events he retreated to the hills in a very short space of time, which was, of course, done to save his own men instead of Reno's, who were entrenched, and were alone giving him a hot battle.
As before stated, the writer has taken no little pains in procuring facts from the most reliable sources at his command, and at the same time has been very cautious in arriving at conclusions, in order to get at actual facts and circumstances as they have transpired during this important campaign, and must say that not until the present time have we been able to get an Indian account of the Custer battle from their own lips any way satisfactory, or that looked half way reasonable.
We have quite recently noticed an account given by two leading chiefs, ' Crow King and Low Dog,' both subordinates under Sitting Bull, and were in the ' Custer battle.' It appears that Captain Howe, at Fort Yates, or more generally known as the ' Standing Rock Agency,' succeeded in getting a voluntary statement from these two chiefs, and it is the clearest and most satisfactory account that is known, to have been given by Indians who knew the facts. We
have known Captain Howe since 1873, and know him to be a most upright and conscientious officer and gentleman, and would not allow himself to stoop to anything that had a shadow of trickery or falsehood about it. He is highly respected by the Indians, and more particularly on account of his being at all times strict, yet just, and very obliging.
The readers can now have the latest and most authentic Indian account that ever has been procured by a white person.
Captain Howe has, during the eight years just past, been in command of several military posts on the Missouri River, and has the reputation of managing Indians with great credit to himself, and general satisfaction to them. It will be remembered that ' Crow King and Low Dog ' surrendered last winter, after being driven and forced by the frostbitten troops under ' Major Hges,' near Fort Buford, and have since had opportunities to get acquainted with the officers, and have, without doubt, made a very correct account of ' Custer's last battle.'
Low Dog said: ' We were in camp near Little Big Horn Eiver. We had lost some horses and an Indian went back on the trail to look for them. We did not know that the white warriors were coming after us. Some scouts or men in advance of the warriors saw the Indian looking for the horses, and ran after him and tried to kill him, to keep him from bringing us word; but he ran faster than they, and came into camp and told us that the white warriors were coming. I was asleep in my lodge at the time. The sun was about noon (pointing with his finger). I heard the alarm, but I did not believe it. I thought it was a false alarm. I did not think it possible that any white men would attack us, so strong as we were. We had in our camp the Cheyennes, Arrapahoes, and seven different tribes of the Teton Sioux-a countless number. Although 1 did not believe it was a true alarm, I lost no time getting ready. When I got
