THE AMERICAN INDIAN WAR.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue XXII, 23 November 1867, Page 7

THE AMERICAN INDIAN WAR.

DESFERATE COMBAT BETWEEN 50 WHITES AND 100 INDIANS.

The desperate nature of the fiehtiug which is now going on between the United States Government and the Indians will be gathered from the following letter in the Philadelphia Fress, dated Fort Wallace, Kansas, June 27. The writer says : — " I woke about half-past five on the morning of the 26th inst. The sun was rising up 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' for ' a little more slumber,' when I heard the rapid stamping of feet outside — then my door was thrown wildly open, and n voice called out, ' Major ! Major ! get up ! The Indians are attacking Pond Creek, and advancing on the post !' Two minutes afterwards I was hurrying to the outside of the fort, scarcely crediting the story that the Indians would attack our reinforced garrison. My doubts were soon at rest. There were the Indians betvreen the fort and the station, and there at their head rode the warrior with the long lance, and mounted on the white horse, the very individual we supposed had fallen in the fight of Friday. We could see their movements distinctly ; and while watching them, four horses rushed past them from the station, and galloped towards the fort. The Indians gave chase and fired, but still the horses galloped on. They entered the fovt 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 Halo had ordered the handful of mounted men in the fort out, and Bent an orderly with the information to Captain Barnifz. The bugle sounded, and in five minutes, at the head of his own troop, and those who joined him from the garrison, Barnitz was galloping towards the Indians. As he advanced we could see the Indians signalling by walking their horses in a circle, while the chief on the 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 the view of the advancing line. Five minutes of hard galloping and the cavalry were up, and with un slung 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 hia men somewhat scattered, Captain Barnitz formed them by platoons in line of battle, and then pressed od, driving the Indians before him. Thus

fighting, the Indians had fallen back about three quarters of a mile, when suddenly, on their either flank, two bodies of warriors, numbering about onehundred each, appeared. They halted for a few minutes, when powerful looking warrior, fancifully dressed, galloped along their front, shouting out directions, aud then, like a whirlwind, with lances poised and arrows on the string, they rushed on the little band of fifty soldiers. The skirmishers fired and fell 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 the fort. Charles Clark, 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 the head of his naked victim with his tomahawk, he 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 serjeant held out nobly till his horse was killed, and one 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. Ono 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 tNose, attacked the prostrate man with his spear. Corporal Harris, of 'G. company was near him, and struck Roman No3e with his sabre which, he held in his left hand. Quick as thought tho warrior turned on him ; but as he did, the faithful Spencer of the corporal met his breast ; the trigger was pulled, and with the blood pouring from his mouth, Roman Nose fell forward on his horse, never again to lead his ' dog soldiers' on the war path. After a severe struggle, Barnitz succeeded in dismounting threefourths 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 welldirected fire of the Spencers they fell back, carrying with them all their killed and wounded, in several cases risking themselves widly 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, aud, after an hour's apparent consultation, they fell back beyond the bills to paint their faces black, and lament one of the bravest leaders of their inhuman race. I have seen battlefields where for miles the dead and the dying, warrior and steed, lay on the gory field. It has been my 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 mo when I saw our dead, our dying and our wounded after this Indian fight. A handful of men to be sure, but with wounds enough upon them to'havo slain a battalion, if evenly distributed. Oliarles Clark, the bugler, waß stripped 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 torn off, and liis brains knocked out. Frank Rahtne was riddled with balls and arrows, but they did not succeed in getting his scalp, though, like the other two, lie was strippednaked. James Douglas was shot through the body with an arrow, and his left arm was hacked to pieces parrying the Indian lances. He was a Scotchman, a brave fellow, and breathed out his life in the arms of his comrades. Welsh was killed, but subsequent search has failed to discover his x'emaius. Let us pray that the gallant soldier may have died upon tho field within sight of his comrades. Serjeant Williams lay dead beside his horse, and as the fearful picture first met my gaze I felt like fainting. Horse and rider were stripped bare ot 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 Serjeant's scalp lay near him, but the greater part was gone. Through his head a rifle ball passed, and a blow from a tomahawk laid the brain open above his left eye. Although with the forces united at this post we may lire 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."