and fierce action a certain Greek continence pervades it. A sunny sky and clear light develop all. There is an almost entire absence of the stock traits of European war pictures. The physiognomy of the work is realistic and Western.
I only saw it for an hour or so; but needs to be seen many times-needs to be studied over and over again. I could look on such a work at brief intervals all my life without tiring. It is very tonic to me. Then it has an ethic purpose below all, as all great art must have.
The artist said the sending of the picture abroad, probably to London, had been talked of. I advised him if it
went abroad to take it to Paris. I think they might appreciate it there-nay, they certainly would. Then I would, like to show Messieur Crapeau that some things can be done in America as well as others.
Altogether, ' Custer's Last Rally ' is one of the very few attempts at deliberate artistic expression for our land and people, on a pretty ambitious standard and programme, thai impressed me as filling the bill.
IN MEMOEIAM.
The sun shone from an azure sky
On that eventful day, When Custer's band of troopers bold
Rode forth in proud array; With their loved chieftain in command
No trooper on that field But what would face the cannon's mouth
And life's red current yield.
The soul of chivalry was he-
He was their boast and pride; Ofttimes they'd heard his clarion voice
Where rolled the crimson tide. Ofttimes they'd made the brave advance
Where gallant Custer led, On many a blood-stained battle-ground
The legion brave had bled.
Shrill sounds the reveille once more
That balmy summer's morn, Its echoes wake o'er hill and dale
On gentle zephyrs borne. Each heart beats in responsive note,
Each heart beats high with glee, For fame and country, home and friends,
And Custer's cavalry.
'•Forward! brave hearts!' the chieftain cried
That balmy morn in June, ' Fresh laurels gain, or cypress weave
A wreath for warrior's tomb. Our duty calls, and life, how dear,
Will not be spent in vain If laid down on the battle-field
Among the noble slain.'
And slain they were, that gallant band,
Before the setting sun; Their spirits winged their mystic flight,
Their sands of life had run. Not one was left to tell the tale-
That legion bold and brave, Their life-blood laved the distant wilds,
They found a warrior's grave.
In numbers vast the savage horde
Bore down in fiendish rage, And, ten to one, with leaden hail,
Did Custer's boys engage. No earthly force could stand such odds;
No power stem the tide. They nobly fought as heroes do,
They fought and bled and died.
The chieftain's voice is hushed in death.
The trooper's battle-cry No more shall make the welkin ring,
Or enemy defy. They nobly lived and bravely died
In honor, glory, fame. All hail! the Seventh Cavalry,
And Custer's honored name.
My 8th, 1876. J. S. Cabvell.
The above was written immediately after receiving the* news of the battle of the Little Big Horn.
Upon the opposite page will be seen a true portrait of Bain-in-the-Face, the Indian that murdered General Custer. As will be seen in the fore part of this volume, he made it his special business to encourage all the hostiles within his reach and hearing to rally and mass in the valley of the Little Big Horn, under the leadership of Sitting BulL In previous history it has been clearly shown that he murdered Dr. Houtzinger, the veterinary surgeon of the 7th Cavalry, and Mr. Balarian, the sutler, while out with the great 'Stanley expedition,' in 1873. These murders were committed on the north side of the Yellowstone Biver, nearly opposite the mouth of Tongue Biver, as well as opposite Fort Keogh, in Montana Territory, while Custer with his regiment was escorting a party of civil engineers making a preliminary survey along the present route of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
The record of this Indian is very clearly stated in these pages up to the time he escaped from the guard-house at Fort Abraham Lincoln. We have positive knowledge that he then went deliberately and actively at work recruiting all the warriors within his reach and influence, under promises that they certainly could either drive the ' long-haired chief'' out of the country, or annihilate him and his cavalry entirely; and well did he keep his word good.
There is no question about his bringing reinforcements all the way from the southern camps and agencies of the Cheyennes, Arrappahoes, Kiowas and Comanches, all then located south of the southern boundary line of Kansas, aside from the recruiting that was done at the different camps and agencies in the whole Northwest; and if Mr. Belknap, then Secretary of War, had paid less attention to his petty post-trading business, and tried to have informed himself in relation to the movements of the hostile Indians on the western plains, and went to work to help organize the Fort Lincoln column of troops, and starting it out at the proper time and without such great delay-and for no other purpose, only to give vent to his own personal spite against Custer, and to humiliate him in an official manner, just because he could do it, and on no other ground whatever only than ' might makes light'-if he had paid any attention whatever to the movements of those southern Indians, and allowed General Terry to have moved at the proper time, there can be no doubt as to the result of that campaign. Custer with his three hundred men (most of whom would have been living to-day), and the Lincoln column, under General Terry, would have started at least one month earlier, and the southern warriors could not have arrived in time to have taken part in the battle.
RAIN-IN-THE-FACE.
The writer knows whereof he speaks, because he was well and truly advised, as well as other western men, when the southern warriors crossed the Black Hills trail about one hundred miles north and east of Deadwood, and he also held communication, in private business matters, with Crook City and Deadwood every few days during that entire season; hence we claim to have' had the best of facilities for obtaining facts concerning the movements of war-parties in that particular section of the country. Bain-in-the-Face remained with Sitting Bull most of the time after the Custer battle, and a greater portion of the time across the northern boundary line, but not as a distinguished chief or leader, further than the credit allowed him for rallying the Indian forces to meet Custer in such a short space of time, knowing very well that Custer was being kept back at Washington on the Belknap impeachment case, and he shrewdly seized this only opportunity to rally such a tremendous strong force, all of whom he knew to be veterans, anxious and blood-thirsty warriors. The Indians report him as not caring to go on the war-path since his retenge on Custer. During the fall of 1880, while he was out on a buffalo hunt and mounting his horse, his gun was accidentally discharged, the ball taking effect in one of his knees, taking the cap of his knee entirely off, thus disabling him from active field service, and it is supposed that he surrendered much sooner on this account than he otherwise would have done had he not been crippled for life. During the winter of 1880-'81, the tribes he was
with became disheartened, as others had before and since,, and finally came in to ' Fort Keogh,' and made a final surrender. Some mischief-maker succeeded in making him believe that the United States Court was about to have him arrested and tried for murder, and that he would no doubt be hung. This proved to be a source of great annoyance to him for many months, but the officers in charge of him soon set aside his fears by informing him that
