MILLS & KBSSLER, PROPRIETORS
Letters for publication, containing news
of general interest, are solicited from all the
camps. In all cases the writer's name must
accompany the letter. We will NOT publish
anonymous letters. Where personalities are
used they woiU not be published eczept eover
the name of the writer, and perhaps net
then.
REPULICAN NATIONAL TICKET.
FOR PRESIDENT,
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES,
OF OHIO.
FOR VICE-PREBIDENT,
WILLIAM A. WHEELER,
OF NEW YORK.
-Telegrams from Bozeman last evening
said:-" No later news from the front."
-It is believed the news of Custer's
disaster did not reach the States until last
evening.
-With this number begins the eighth
year of the NEW NORTH-WEST. We are
pretty well; how are you?
-The extra emanating from Helena
Wednesday night purporting to be a proc
lamation calling out volunteers, was a
hoax.
-Hayes has met and outrun in detail
Thurman, Pendleton and Allen. Now
'.-~aa-- e le teamed on him and put
him. But hewsi'nat
running mate and will creoss the scratch in
November half a million polls ahead.
-The largest newspaper ever issued was
the Centennial numberof the San Francisco
Spirit of the TYmes, the receipt of copies of
which we acknowledge from the publishers
and Green A. Kirtley. It is printed on
tinted paper, profusely illustrated and
contains forty pages the size of the Nuw
NORTH-WEST.
-We ask some indulgence this issue.
Everybody bad to celebrate the Centennial.
We have all the available printers here in
steady employment. Neither Orator nor
Historian could furnish us copy of their
addresses in advance. We have therefore
had but two days in which to put up the
inside of the paper and there has much
important news come to hand rendering it
imperative to reach the Friday mails. We
have therefore to defer publishing the fine
oration of Rev. Wright until next issue,
ana are debarred from that elaborate report
of the celebration and the presentation of
other matter which we have desired. We
trust our friends will appreciate the situa
tion and granting us grace this time live in
hopes we will dobetter next Centennial.
--The Democracy of Deer Lodge, on
Monday evening, ratified the St. Louis
nominations by a salute of 100 guns, brass
music and congratulatory speeches in Court
House Square. There was a large attend
ance and a good deal of enthusiasm among
the unterrified, they seeming to feel what
we are willing to concede, that they have
the best ticket in the field that they have
had up for many years. The meeting was
organized by electing CoL L. J. Sharp
Chairman, who made a brief speech and
was followed by W. A. Clark and W. W.
Dixon, Esqrs., the latter gentleman having
the principal part of the speaking to do.
It is fair to say he made a good speech and
that the addresses were characterized by
recognition of the good qualities of the
Republican candidates and by the highest
courtesy throughout.
-The Democratic Convention which
assembled in St. Louis nominated Governor
Tilden, of New York, on the third ballot.
for President, and Governor Hendricks, of
Indiana, on the second ballot for Vice
President. To our latest advices Hend
a large portion of it is devoted to dodging
the financial issue on which a bitter fight
occurred. As it now stands it is neither
one thing nor the other, and is diseatisfac
tory to many of both views. We regard
the nominations as virtually giving up the
fight, and the nomination is but the putting
up of two very respectable but antagonistic
gentlemen, neither of whom can carry their
own States, to reconcile the ill feeling ex
isting in the party before the next Presi
dential campaign. If the Republicans
vote the Republican ticket, the united
Democracy cannot beat them. Hayes and
Wheeler will, we believe, poll a greater
vote than Grant in 1872 and the Democratic
party is divided already. So, at least, we
read the signs of the times.
NWw OasELns, June 29.-I the Repub.
lioan oonvention, the majority report of the
committee on credentials came up for adop.
tios. The vote was taken amid tremen
dous applanse and deolared adopted. Then
came a deadlock. The report was adverse
to the Packard faction, throwing out sever
al delegations that favor Packard. No.
meroes calls were made for the minority
report, but without succoess. Later in the
afternoon Pinchback declared the oonven
tion adjourneda.til to-morrow, which ore
ated great oomiotioa end ories of 'Stamps.'
An attempt was made to place a Stamps or
Packard man lnthe eair. Astruggle took
place on the stage, Stamps being thrown
into the orchestra. Several fights took
place, pistols being drawn on all sides, but
were not used. k'ea yquIet having been
S restod, Packard m e a reconciliatory
speech, and the convention thereafter
agreed to take a recess till 10 o'clock to
morrow.
ImpriestJatAmnn mems t to the 'lar lq.aw
WAsrNxeTOR, June 20.-The mining bill
peesed by the Noose yesterday, provides
that the aeual expendituraes on mining
claims shall net be requtird unti the pat
ents are issued, but only until the appliea
tic &a lpreoCpa asseems b rbee
msa4 4aePeq4o-P 4a tha4laeiam a* .
ve sla mestas ukedaa asq . .sage
the eourts.
Faeq and PIperop'oed i thel?. e
ieman that the exlstlng Ta il. c s ing
wea, and that the amendmetas re anaeo-'
eebry aid tend todatsltorb tjta. A1o &A a
noa-residents or speculats. Oid hod.
clams watheti deeloghi a theme, by adse- I
to bita ha lltlls-5a
Wl AIUNM w -4
ýnthe 1haq halg y. estýaý2F3Y:.
;.a n . .... . _.a.,.i
*s -j_ .meAnaerr silns. . J
s s e
sens tro ndalep~sisaness.
THE DEXONS OF THE PLAINS.
The news from Custer's column is ap
palling-the greatest slaughter of United
States troops by Indians on record, and in
the total annihilation of so large acharging
column without a precedent in the annals
of warfare. The charge of Balaklava was
nothing to this, and the ride
Into the jaws of death
Into the gates of hell
Was an over-painted picture until Custer
and his brave three hundred rode down the
cafion of the Little Horn to fight and die
unto the last man on the 25th day of June,
1876. The dispatches, which we received
and issued as an extra on the evening of
July 4th, seemed too horrible for belief un
til second thought and confirmatory news
left naught on which to hang a hope. The
overwhelming numbers and inhuman sav
agery of the foe, and the accounts of eye
witnesses who looked upon the dead, told
us the sad story was too true. The few
fortunate ones wounded early in the charge
and speeding to the protection of the re
serve in the rear before the mass of sava
ges enveloped the column advancing into
what seems a well-planned ambuscade, are
all who started on that journey of death
and survive. The whole three hundred,
the very flower of the American cavalry,
whose standards are emblazoned with the
names of heroic fields from the isthmus to
the lakes, with their brave chieftan at the
head, died fighting in a hopeless struggle
with a merciless foe outnumbering them
ten to one. Why Reno, from whose com
mand no lose is reported, did not reach
hva ~ harged the thickest portion o1
to the rescue, or why Custer s a
vast a force without awaiting Gibbon and
Terry, who were known to be marching t,
his support; is yet untold. Some one has
blundered. If it was him who with chival
ric courage has led his troopers on an hun.
dred historic fields and attested his fidelitl
with his life, all that is good in man prompts
but regretful words, and they who lie,
chieftain and soldier
In one red burial blent
At this new and sadder Thermopylae, are
consecrated clay whose names will live in
song and story, in grateful memory and on
Listoric page, as patriot soldiers who were
faithful unto death.
It seems more than probable this was the
same camp encountered by Crook a few
days before in the vicinity of the Rosebud,
and the wise discretion of Crook, which
has been unkindly called by harder names,
in withdrawing to await support afterdem
onstrating by a strong skirmish the strength
of the Indians, is early justified by events.
That Crook, old Indian-fighter that he is,
allowed himself to be surprised by with
drawing his pickets before putting out
flankers and advance when breaking camp
in Indian ground is almost past belief, but
that this should be followed by a charge of
cowardice is utterly preposterous. He
knew too well the strength and metal of
the foe to court defeat when delay assured
the victory. Crook therefore fell back to
arrange a combined movement. Terry Was
coming up the Yellowstone on a steamer to
join Gibbon, and Custer with something
like a thousand cavalry was with a corps of
observation flanking the steamer on the east
bank of the Yellowstone and some twenty
or thirty miles from it. Either unadvised
of Crook's retreat, or, if advised of it
knowing the imputations cast upon him,
Custer came suddenly upon the great war
camp of the Sioux. Whether unrestraina
ble ardor, or belief that unless attacked they
would escape to less favorable ground, or
rendered reckless by recent events and ea
gerness to win new laurels for himself and
command influenced his immediate attack
is not and never may be told. We know
but the sad result.
ce- Thus the second considerable conflict
end
1png man, and, in an air line, about 175 miles
Ight distant. Crook has fallen back southwest
ther toward Fort Phil Kearney, Gibbon and
Terry having rescued Reno and the reserve
have gone north-east to the Yellowstone,
the and probably established quarters at Fort
ing Pease. The two commands are therefore
tic separated by the Sioux camp and over 100
be miles of country, while the entire north
e- west toward Gallatin and Meagher is left
- exposed with nothing intervening to stay
ans the Sioux except the friendly Crows and
the little scouting party of a dozen or two
and soldiers thatmay be spared from Fort Ellis
ter at Bozeman.
e To latest advioes, this triangular cam.
W' paign has been a failure. The forces mov
ing from Cheyenne, Bismarek and Montana
have not shown themselves strong enough
,b to separately cope with the %000 to 4,000
the Sioux warriors, who under Crazy Horse
p and Sitting Ball have concentrated on the
. Little Horn. Gibbon has not enoountered
tn hem in foree, but if he had it is more than
rse probable that he, as the others were, would
er- have been worsted. Perhaps it is in ignor
u. ance that we have been unable as yet to
ity comprehend the wisdom of the strategic
the movements as they have been thus far de
n. veloped. The only theory that would ex
,e plain them is that General Sheridan has
' underestimated the number and fighting
o, qualities of the Sioux and considered each
ok of the three columns equal to a contact
a with the strongest force the Sioux could I
ok concentrate, and his marching command
4 era, sharing this belief, have discovered the I
en error when it was too late. Crook's de
ry tention in waiting for his Indian allies, and p
or the difficulty of communicatmig probably n
somewhat disarranged the general plan,
and prow.dsaster has n~ot only imperilepd
Fi the sueses of the entire campaign but may e
bil result in still greaterdisaster to the isolated
es eolumns, or they be held in cheek by de- b
g taohmente while large war portions sweep an
t- into Montan esattlee .nts or ponethe Black
i- Hills mnr. Elated with vitory, m iy a
Sden with blood, their. worest peIdons.
I, 1 b y cu - c.p r. d kitmo,,
a will take the osmle!and 'that 61g e
Indian war, atr then as een known to
Sftr many y isahears, s aedy begun. It w ll
g be well if th orth ern Indias do nota y a
- withbtbe Sloe i whbose msiesagerdavbeea
I among them and induced cowOusa that to
& the best informed Indian sae bode evil
.de s
. If rook and Gibbaon a at one di
combine their eees the have' yet £amy. pgi
strength $owhithe Siox whomer oew te
ý:. *ma4 them altbo SIwiOUbe they em
. l tAo , et l ttwarsb bey a emar e _
t he r fit $t t m en aoo ag sut h te
1: 4ti r S amd wo+e.. $agtbsd d
44 d AbW . 17 the a e a
pE dn. W *ubbuVt s
Aesieasmw 'f
IdiOf~ yt lEýb]l · 3ý i'ikBtLQ
tranquil, and a winter campaign will paci
fy the Sioux permanently.
These are days of intense suspense and
-momentous interest to Montana. Tidings
from Grant, Sherman and Sheridan are
awaited with the greatest anxiety, and the
next we hear may be a call for Montana
volunters. But the spirit of the army will
be aroused bythismassacre. Sheridan will
probably take the field in person, and the
honor of the country and the army demands
certain and swift vengeance. It cannot be
that the story of June 25th will fall on
listless ears or unsympathetic hearts any
where, or that the burning disgrace of the
Fetterman disaster will be followed by the
greater humiliation of tame submission to
the latter and greater slaughter. We mis
take the temper of America and the army
if by these repeated crimes culminating at
Little Horn the Sioux have not invoked
extermination. They are the demon tribe
of the plains and there will be no more
peace till they are numbered with the evils
that were.
Since the above was written details have
been received of the fights of Crook and
Custer.
Opinions of the St. Louis Nominations
INNCINNATI, June 28.-The news of the
nomination of Tilden is received here with
quiet satisfaction by the hard money men,
and with undisguised disgust by the green
back wing of the party.
INDIANAPOLIS, June 28.-There is among
the Democrats a universal feeling of disap
pointment.
CINCINNATI, June 28.-The Enquirer,
in speaking of the nomination of Tilden,
the oination will fall heavily on
,ad other western
States. There will be a re nr anUm
the center, for the party init wisdom
virtually abandoned these States. We
prefer Tilden to Hayes, and shall advise
the Democratic organizations to stand by
the nominee.
NEw Yoax, June 29.-The Stoatr Zetung
is entirely satisfied with Tilden's nomina
tion and the platform, and will support
them cordially.
The Sun says it was evident Tilden would
be nominated for a long time past. This
nomination opens a way for an escape from
the evils and dangers which threaten the
Republic. The nomination cannot fail to
excite in every part of the country a most
hearty and hopeful enthusiasm.
The Herald says it must be conceded by
friends and enemies alike that Tilden has
proved himself one of the ablest and most
astute managers that ever appeared in
American politics. Having never held but
one important office, he lacks the Washing
ton experience of Thurman, Hendricks and
Bayard. His nomination therefore is a
tribute to his character and he may be
proud whether he wins or not. His nomi
nation is not equivalent to an election.
He will have a hard battle. Still the
country has reason to congratulate itself.
The platforms of both parties are so excel
lent that whether Hayes or Tilden be
elected, the country is equally sure of good
government.
The World says the Cincinnati conven
tion gave the nation a candidate without a
purpose and a platform without a meaning.
St. Louis responds with a candidate whose
name is a symbol of reform, upon a plat
form which means a beautiful revolution
in the conduct of the government.
The Times has no doubt of Hayes' elec.
tion.
The Tribune says the convention fought
briefly but bitterly, and after filling all the
St. Louis bar-rooms with riot for two or
three days, has placed an admirable candi
date upon a bad platform. It was wise to
nominate the strongest man. Whichever
side wins, we shall have a President of
high personal character and excellent
record, honest sympathies and associations.
Tilden's course has made him the repre
two, but it is the party behind the Presi
dent which rules, and Tilden is full of
rascality and deceit. The Tribunae has no
reasonable doubt of Hayes' election.
r'e The Post (Dem.) in speaking of the t.
,e, Louis candidate and the platform, says the
vital plank for the present is the financial
o plank, and as it is framed, it is a poor stick
100 indeed. We have directed attention to the
t Republican weakness in this respect, but
eft if the Cincinnati convention did not take
aY a determined step in advance, it at least
ud did not take a step backward. This the
Wo St. Louis convention has done. Such a
"Is hard money man as Tilden must either
feel that he is compelled to stand upon a
m" soft piece of timber, in giving the candi.
ov- date to the East and in not giving the
m West the. platform without qualification.
gh It looks very much as if Ohio and Indiana
were irretrievably lost in October.
rne mcieo, June 29.-The Tributs. edito.
hse rially referring to the nomination of Tilden,
says the battle ground of the campaign
will be New York, New Jersey, Connecti
ld out, Ohio, Indiana and the Pacific States.
" The Republican party have now the knowl
to edge of whom they have to do with. They
de have to do with a desperate, unscrupulous
-- foe, armed with wealth, centrolling alegion
" of agents, skilled in the machinery of fraud
as ulent elections, and despite all difference of
I opinion about men and measures, united to
nh a man for the purpose of defeating the
.t Republican party and gaining possession
Id of the government.
d- The Journal editorially says:-The St.
1 Louis convention adopted a platform of
B mialignant sladers against the Republican
-d party, and a currency plank which means
ly nothing at all, and then nominated for
4 President the hardest kindef a hard money
d Demorat, and for Vice Prsidethe soft. I
Sest kind ofa soft money demagogue. The b
d Republicas with such noble staendrd
I bearers as Hayes and Wheeler, need feel i
P no spelial alarm, and yet there is evidently !
k a fght befores, afact which it wold be
Sfollyfor us to ignor e
a Sax PFaaxcrso, June 28.-The nomina. I
5s on of Tdse ns w~re received here on
-.m. -. ._--a iu- and a
l M meetsi g wiftl be 1ee In a few lb
days. The sati-bhinese plank IntMa ta
form gives satisfactipb,.ad parotaieit E
I Dsso- t, saert thakthey ca Barr the
tate on that isue. t
mIesWam't Aaesgts4 a
I. f aWror m; Ju.ne ,Is E Rear n, aHe
drl e, barin patl* y dedtiued to be a p
did~ te Vr Vle ddP esidt In .~aest tel.. I
pmtsidsrlst ' .mo o'. tnhb aiit at b
turn Of thei
aela iUd sleiLsar s-m hie
*iS~iL~*-9ci.
A TURLIBZ SLAUG HT OF 0 0L
DIE8.
Caster Attacks a Camp of Sion With
out Awaiting Beinforcements.
COster, 15 Officers and 300 Soldiers
Billed.
SPECIAL To Nnw NORTH-WUST.
Dsan LODGE, JUL. 4th, 1876, 7:30 p. m.
A Times extra. Bozeman, Montana
July 8, 1876, 7 p. m., says : Mr. Tay
lor, bearer of dispatches from Little Horn
to Fort Ellis arrived this evening and re
ports the following: The battle was
fought on the 25th, thirty or forty miles be
low the Little Horn. Custer attacked the
Indian's village of from 2,500 to 4,000 war
riors on one side and Colonel Reno was
to attack it on the other. Three companies
were placed on a hill as a reserve. General
Custer and fifteen ooers and every man
belonging to the five companies were killed.
Reno retreated under the protection of
the reserve.
The whole number of killed is 815. Gen.
Gibbon has joined Reno. The Indians left.
The battle ground looked like a slaughter
pen, as it really was, being in a narrow ra
vine. The dead were very much mutilated.
The situation now looks serious. Geas
Terry arrived at Gibbon's camp on a
steamboat, and crossed the command ova
sad accompanied it to join Custer who
.auniU tr ie the fight .a
Burred. Lieut. Crittendon, son of General
Crittenen, is among the killed.
HuxAnD's SPECIAL COBE$sPONDNaT.
STILLWATER, July 2.--Muggns Taylor
scout for Gen. Gibbons got were last night
direct from Little Horn River with tale
graph dispatches. Gen. Custer found the
Indian camp of about S,000 lodges on the
Little Horn and immediately attacked the
camp. Custer took 5 companiesandcharged
the thickest portion of the camp. Nothing
is known of the operations of this detach
ment only as they are able to
trace it by the dead. Major Reno com
manded the other seven companies and at
tacked the lower portion of the camp. The
Indians poured in a murderous fire from all
directions. Bes'des the greater portion
fought on horseback. General Custer, his
two brothers, nephew and brotber-in-law
were all killed and not one of his detach
ment escaped. Two hundred and seven
men were buried in one place, and the kill
ed is estimated at 800 with only thirty-one
wounded.
The Indians surrounded Reno's mmmand
and held them one day in the hilh out off
from water until Gibbon's command came
in sight, when they broke camp in the night
and left. The Seventh Cavalry fosghtpike
tigers and were overcome by mere brute
force. The Indian loss cannot be estimat
ed as they bore off and cached the most of
their killed. The remnant of the 7th cav
alry and Gibbon's command are returning
to the mouth of Little
Horn where the steamboat lies. The In
dians got all the arms of the killed soldiers.
There were 17 commissioned officers kil
led and the whole Custer family died at the
head of their column. The exact loss is
not Iknown as the adjutant and sergeant
major were both killed. The Indian camp
mouth.
The Indians actually pulled the men off
their horses in some instances. I give this
as Taylor told me, as he was over the field
after the battle.
Signed
W..H. NORTON*
but Ake w
Tleg flat oi 1itloe or10
cant
t Details of the Battle Betwio Custer's
her Conand ad the ionx,
Id.e Be .r .,t Daca sq msa Naw Noasa-War.
the (The following is telegraphed from the
on. special correspondence of the Helena Her
,n , .-ED. N. N.-W.)
Bozr.ax, July 4.-Although the tele
ito. graph has already informed you of the dis
e4 aster which has befallen Custer's command,
ign it may be of interest to your readers to get
,ti the particulars as far as they can be asoer
es tained here. While I may not be perfectly
wl- cormet in all details, my information comes
ey from the best sources, and may be relied
is upon as substantially accurate.
on First as to the locality. The fight took
;_ place on the Little Big Horn, a stream
of emptying into the Big Horn some 20 miles
to above its month, and the Indian camp was
he situated about the same distance up the
pn Little Big Horn. This stream heads in the
Big Horn mountains, and the Boaseman
it road croses several branches of it after
of leaving the foot bills. Its general course
u is north by north west, and runs through a
.s broken bad lad country. Especially are
pr hills high on theeast ide where there is 1
J but a very narrow strip of bottom while I
i- the valley eq the left bank is wider and the
o country somewhat better and less broken.
a There is considerable cottonwood timber I
el and numerous dense thickets along the
ly stream. Othe right bank of the stream t
a the Indian camp was located. The lodges a
stood in the edge of the timber forming a e
Slane a little over four miles long; two rows I
aon either side. The nearest bluits were s
a thickets scattered through the tim
rbe The dia aderything prepared
_ trma lae a4sperate rlse an attack
k L were piled up into bremeastok The E
e hinea se hallowed oet for plaos of Ahel. g
tet h.. hht place made impaemtra.. a
ble arfo ralr. The number of lodges is a
oiaeM t' 80g whlis waId make the C
, a1lu hers estet 4,a00 warriors andl
t PabmeoIega aser athe yoeaunsem f
sea I b** IO Joaad &Ap hlin their S
t. 4 eis ibend tolbredt f steult
aof esas.d "al his: t
Stn dee i? a. takem I
Pweisr reafsw se;f ibcas the
t seeeI em 'ao
"hbub 'try`.
of ~ l--·· ;
south with four companies and take his
division down into the valley through a
ravine opening into the bottom at the
extreme a pper (south) end of the camp.
Three companies were left on the bluff as
a reserve, while General Custer himself
with five codipanies charged into the camp
through another ravine opening opposite
the middle of the camp. The arrangements
were perfect. Both attacks were made
almost at the same moment. Here ends
our knowledge of the movements of Custer.
Not a man of his five companies lives to
give us an account of the disaster. We
can only guess that his impetuous charge
carried him too far, that he was entirely
surrounded and so closely pressed from all
sides that another charge become impossi
ble, while no single man could cut his way
through the ranks of the surrounding
enemies.
Custer seems to have fallen at the head
of his troops and probably at the beginning
of the fight, while nearly 200 men lay
almost in a heap close to him. The rest of
those killed were scattered nearer the bluffs
as if cut off while trying to escape. All
indications go to show that the gallant
seventh was true to its high record. The
boys seem to have fought to the last. Sixty
dead Indians were found within the camp
afterwards, while the line of their retreat,
as far as followed (14 miles) was lined with
bodies of men and horses.
Reno's attack had been promptly made
at the time agreed upon, but he met with
such a determined resistance that he was
compelled to fall back. Only one of his
companies succeeded in getting inside of
the camp, but it was impossible for them
to hold their position. The Lieutenaxit in
command was compelled to dismount his
men, abandon his horses and fight every
inch of his way back to join his comrades.
He accomplished this retreat without much
loss, although wounded in the head and
leg. The Indians not satisfied withhaving
beaten Col. Reno, followed up their advan
tage and compelled the soldiers to fight
their way back to the summit of the bluff
where they were joined by the reserve.
They knew nothing of Gen. Custer's fate
but supposed when the firing in his direc
tion died away that he had been compelled
to retreat. Meanwhile, the Indians gave
them sufficient anxiety on their own ac
count. They continued to press closely and
closed around them until the soldiers were
concentrated on a round hill with thouse
ands of yelling and murdering savages on
all sides. They were indeed in a desper
ate strait. The only protection they had
was the bodies of their dead horses, while
among them were 50 wounded men and not
a drop of water. During the night several
attempts were made to reach the stream to
procure a supply of water but they succeed
ed in getting only a few canteens full and
these cost the lives of 8 men. That night
and all the following day (26th) the fight
lasted continually, the Indians closing in
around them steadily. The situation was
becoming terrible, but help was close at
hand. Gen. Gibbon had left his position
on the north side of the Yellowstone and
moved up to the vicinity of Ft. Pease where
he was crossed by the Josephine and moved
up the east bank of the Big Horn towards
the Indians. On the 25th and 26th he made
forced marches, making more than 30 miles
on the 26th over a very rough country, and
although too late to retrieve the fortunes of
the day he was just in time to save Colonel
Reno and what was left of the 7th regiment
of cavalry. Only on Gibbon's arrival did
they learn of the fate of Custer. Two Crow
scouts had brought the news to Gibbon.
Late on the evening of the 26th he arrived
within 6 miles of the battle field and as
soon as the Indians found this out they be
gan moving off,
When Brisbin's 4 companies of cavalry
drew near the next morning, the Sioux are
said to have formed a perfect line of battle
S.ith'airmishers thrown out in front and
troops, however, were too much exhausted
to follow and the Indians departed unmo
lested. They are said to have been six
bours passing a given point, marching four
abreast. This march was towards the head
of the Rosebud where General Crook is
supposed to be with his forces. On the
27th the dead were buried and the next day
it was the intention of the command to
move down to the month of the Little Horn
with the wounded where the Josephine is
awaiting them.
What the intentions of Gen. Terry are
Ie otter taking his wounded away is not
known. Although the Indians carried off
most of their lodges and other property
they left immense quantities of cooking
the utensils, skins, robes, meat, etc., which
rer- were to be destroyed. The circumstances
of this fight are yet too imperfectly known
ile- to express any opinion of the disastrous at.
lie tack. If Gen. Caster acted rashly he has
d, paid dearly for it. He had two brothers
get (one a citizen) his brother-in-law, and ten
er- other oooers, two surgeons and 207 men
tly killed. Of these 204 were found and ba
es rled. 8everal of the ofiloers were so badly
ed mutilated as to make idqutiflcation impossi.
ble. Coster himself was dressed in a
ok backskin hunting-sunit, and therefore not
m recognized by the Indians. He was stripped
lea but not scalped or otherwise mutilated.
as The total loss exceeds 250, .or about one
he half of the whole command. Gen. Terry
be is now left with seven companes of the 7th
ni infantry, under Gibbon; four eompanies of
or the second cavalry under Brlshin," d ser
se en companies of the 7th cavaly under Reno.
a While our people here are very much
re exercised over this disaster, we anticipate
is no danger to the settlements. When Crook
le and Terry join their forces they must have
J more than 2,500 men left.
n. We do expect, however, that we will
wr have no mote trifling on the part of the
is .government; no degrading qty as after
n the msacre at Phil. Kea ny, bas a serf
4s one, determined cainpa.gn which will not
a end ti the Sioux question is finrallysettled,
's leaving all of Eastern Montana open to
'ad 'l eaud t Ikolangerof Indians
, *. . , .., , ; p,p . ,,,zi ;L I
"" l ve killed r-Gen.
I Caster; Co Cs{I hrtesrotherof alu en l
e BRuyerJgeaqt t r; Dr. Lorad ;,C opt. Sture
gi, son of tlenera Sturgis ;Lt. Crltteden,.
a m of Gens rOrittmai 4 naOaptaiz5eo gh;
S pt. Yoates Limit. Cask, Adjt.; Ient. #
e Calhena j I~in. Perr; L ies.t Kharlly
I iet. Ead'. B i t ; d Teasa Lient. 4
SDr f;. Dr. fla nsitaoi,AiAeg Ass t
rfw ~ Pwk KMca. L
jb b igtt _ted Onskeeag t 0
S eM0
A EISTOBICAL S1ETCH OF
Deer Lodge County, Valley, and City.
BY oRAirv.,LE STUART, ESQ.
This county was created by the first Leg
islature of Montana on the 2nd day of Feb
ruary, 1865. Prior to that time it had
formed a portion of Missoula county, which
was organized in 1862 under the laws of
Washington Territory, of which it then
formed a part. Missoula county, at that
time, embraced all of that part of what is
now Montana that lies west of the Rocky
Mountains. On te ..4 of March, 1863,
Congress created the Territory of Idaho out
of portions of Washington, Oregon and Da
kota, which threw Missoula county, in
cluding what was afterwards Deer Lodge,
into the new Territory; and on the 26th
of May, 1864, Congress created Montana
out of that part of Idaho lying north of the
Bitter Root Mountains and north and east
of the Rocky Mountains, and when the
first Montana Legislature met at Bannack
City in December, 1864, they divided the
Territory into counties, Deer Lodge being
one of the number. The name of the
county, valley and town is derived from the
Hot Spring mound or butte near Belanger's
Hotel in the upper part of the valley,which
was called by the Snake Indians " The
White-tailed Deer Lodge," from the fact of
those deer (Cerous Virginianus) being very
abundant in the swamps in that vicinity,and
from the resemblance that the mound bore
to an Indian lodge of a winter's morning
when the steam rose from the hot spring
on its summit like smoke from a lodge. The
valley and county were a sort of neutral
ground among the surrounding tribes of
Indians and was not permanently occupied
by any of them, at least not during the his
torical period. The cause of this would
seem to have been the frequent incursions
of the Blackfeet, who were then very nu
merous and overran all of what is now
Western Montana, keeping the Mountain
tribes, who by reason of fewer numbers
and inferior arms were unable to cope with
them, in constant terror. The Blackfeet
obtained fire arms at a very early period
from the Hudson Bay and other traders on
the Assinneboine and Saskatchewan rivers,
and seem to have been the most aggressive
and warlike of all the tribes of this region.
From about 1804, at which time the Amer
icans first came in contact with with them,
down to 1860 their war parties ravaged the
country south and west of them, frequently
going as far as Ft. Hall and Boise valley on
Snake River. Many were the fierce en
counters between them and the bands of
trappers that, under the leadership of old
Jim. Bridger, Milton, and William Sub
lette, wandered over this region in quest of
the rich harvest of furs and peltries that
were then so abundant and easily taken.
Often have they swooped down upon the
scattered parties of trappers in the olden
days and driving off all their horses left
them to rejoin the main body as best they
could, fortunate if some did not lose their
lives as well as their horses; and among
the earlier settlers in Montana there are few
who did not have to mourn the loss of many
a good horse at their bands. Their last
great exploit was the taking of 180 horses
from within a mile of Deer Lodge city in
April, 1864. The owners, John F. and
Jas. C. Grant, Thos. Lavatta and a few
others, raised a small party and went in hot
pursuit. They overtook and surprised the
Indians while they were halted for rest at a
spring near Birdtail Rock beyond the Dear
born river, but by bad management let
them all escape on some six or seven of the
best horses. Since that time they have al
most every year stolen a few horses from
the vicinity of Lincoln Gulch and Big
Blackfoot valley in the northern part of the
county, but west of the main range. Their
raids are no longer frequent, nor do they
lo..siiione which they often visit.
There is reason to believe that the first
white men who ever visited what is now
Montana were a party from Canada under
the Chevalier De La Verendrye who,in 1742
seem to have come up the Missouri river as
far as the Gates of the Rocky Mountains,
near where Helena now stands, and went
from there by way of the Muscleshell to the
Yellowstone and Wind River valleys. A
sketch of this expedition will be found in the
forthcoming first volume of the Montana
Historical Society. For 60 years after this
we hear no more of any parties having vis
ited this region until the famous expedition
of Lewis and Clarke in 1804-5-6 brought it
again into notice. This was followed by
the trapping and trading expedition sent
out by the Missouri Fur Company in 1808,
and this again by Astor's parties in 1809-.
10-11.
t- It is probable that the first building
sB erected within the limits of what is now
Mrs Montana was Lisa's Fort, built by Eman.
en uel Lisa, on the Yellowstone just below
en the mouth of the Big Horn river, in 1809
- or 1810. The next was a post built by Gen.
ly Ashley on the lower Yellowstone in 1822.
S- In 1832 Alexander Culbertson (still a resi
a dent of Montana at Ft. Belknap on Milk
ot River) built Fort Union on the Missouri
ld about five miles above its junction with the
d. Yellowstone. Subsequently, other trading
e- posts were established on both rivers cul
y minating in the building by Culbertaon of
h Ft. Benton m 1846. During all this time
of large bands of trappers roved all over the
r- Rocky Mountain region; some were out
I. fitted and employed by the forts on the
h' Missouri and Yellowstone, and others who
a sought to contest this rich field with them
k came ly the way of the Platte and Green
| rivers under the Sublettes and Bridger.
The Hudson Bay Company also entered into
1 the contest with the American companies,
e and from their old established posts on the
r Assinnieboihe askatchewan and Columbia
rivers pushed trading posts into the region
t now embraced in. Montana and Idaho, the
'most southern of tobir estabishmentsabeing
SFt,. lil on t akriver. The riyalry
t betweenall t cese companies was very peat
and anuy werethle rough triks they played
upon one another, which, at times almost
Sresulted in bloodshed. About 184647 the
beaver, owing to the incessant trapping of
. so many companies, became so soarce a to
no ulonger pay the tripper for the hardships i
and dangers eneoqatered la the wildeneam,
andaearsly 41 the roving bands aba pdned
the oou , Many of he torts were also
dismantled and thus the country relapsed
Into its prmeral state of barbarism, from
which it was aroused some fifteen years I
later by the discovery of the all potent oiv- c
lIser, coLS , which aon brhnuhtin -a per- a
mapnnt populqtion which the fur trade .
coald neverdor, as nambnrs twer a disad.
vaatage Ilnrt uda pr ma pursuit.
usTerwltory being eseatud, It is proper te 4
among the few mountaineers still in the
country and in the spring of 1856 a party,
among whom were Robert Hereford, late of
H~lena, John Saunders, called "Long
Jan," (wh6 oould'throw a stone with al
meat toe fees mad precision of arille ball),
Bil Maidieo and one or two ethers who
were passing " Benetsee" Creek on their
way to Salt Lake from the Bitter Root val
ley where they had spent the winter trad
ing with the Indians and prospecting a lit
tle, found more gold than had been ob
tained by Finlay. One piece weighed about
ten cents and they gave it to old Captain
Grant who used to show it, up to-the time
of his death in 1862, as the first piece of
gold found in the country. The matter
'rested here until the spring of 1858 when
Thomas Adams, (now of Washington city),
Reece Anderson and James and Granville
Stuart searched for gold in that vicinity
and found as high as ten cents to the pan
of gravel,but as they had neither provisions
(they were living on wild meat straight,
without salt,) nor tools they could not ac
complish anything, more especially as the
Blackfeet stole four of their horses and so
harrassed them that they abandoned the
country for a time, returning, however, in
the fall of 1860 firm in the faith that this
was a rich gold country. In the meantime,
during the summer of 1860, a mining en
thusiast by the name of Henry Thomas
f (but who, as soon as his peculiarities be
came known,was designated "Gold Tom,"
by which he ever afterwards went), came
up by the way of the Pend d'Oreille Lake
and began to prospect on Benetsee Creek
about one mile west of where Pioneer City
now stands. Almost unaided, he sunk a
shaft over 30 feet deep in the glacial detri
tus along the creek, getting a little gold all
the way down. He also washed some on
the surface at this point during this and
the following summer,butonly made about
$1.50 a day, owing to the great disadvan
tage under which he worked. His wind
lass and four little sluice boxes, hewed out
with an axe and now fast falling to decay,
may still be seen where he worked. Alas !
poor Tom ! The writer lost sight of him in
'66 or '67 and often wondersif he fell a vic
tim to the ignusfatui of Ceur d'Alene,
Peace River, Stickeen, Cassiar, White Pine,
Pioche, Yellowstone, and last, but not least,
the Black Hills, and wherever he may be,
may Fortune smile upon him with a broader
grin than fell to the lot of any of the pio
neers at " Pioneer Creek" in 1860-1-2. He
usually preferred to be alone and would
spend days and weeks among the moun
tains without other companions than his
horses and trusty rifle ; yet he was not at
all misanthropic. In the fall 1860 and
spring of 1861 Anderson and the Stuarts
prospected in the dry gulches putting into
Benetsee Creek and found what they con
sidered good paying mines, but did little
toward working them that season for two
reasons: First, they had very few and im
perfect tools and no lumber auntil they could
get it whipsawed ; and second, all the party
except the writer went to Ft. Benton for
the purpose of purchasing supplies from the
steamboats expected up the river that year.
The one boat (the Chippeway) that started
up was burned near the mouth of Milk
River, and the summer was lost in waiting
for her. On this boat were the Hons. Win.
Graham, of Philipsburg, and Frank L.
Worden, of Missoula. Early in the spring
of 1862 the Stuarts, Adams, Burr and Pow
ell began to mine, having had lumber sawed
by hand at ten cents a foot, and picks and
shoyels packed up from Walla Walla, 425
miles distant, by Worden & Higgins' train
that brought their goods to IIellgate, and
on the 8th day of May they set the first
string of sluices ever used in Montana and
began to mine by the old pick and shovel
process.
In '61 the Stuarts had written to their
brother Thomas who was in Colorado Ter
ritory to come out here, as they thought
no reason to change and still adhere to.
Thomas showed the letters to many friends
of his and the result was that quite a num
ber left there in the spring of '62 for Deer
Lodge. The first of these, a party of 12,
arrived at Pioneer about the 20th of June,
and among them was J. M. Bozeman, who
was murdered by the Indians on the Yel
lowstone in 1867 and after whom the flour
ishing town of Bozeman in Gallatin valley
was named. The party found good pros
pects in a branch of Benetsee or Gold
Creek as it now began to be called, which
branch took the name of Pike's Peak gulch
from the fact of the discoverers being from
Pike's Peak as Colorado was then general
ly called. Other parties also began to
straggle in from Pike's Peak and Utah.and
about theim 29th of June Sam'l T. Hauser,
Frank Lonthan and - Alt arrived, being
the advance guard of a number whocame
up on the steamers from St. Louis, and who
were on their way to Florence, in the Sal
mon River mines, not having heard of the
discoveries at Gold Creek, where, however,
many of them stopped and are now among
our oldest and most respected citizens.
Speaking of Florence City brings to mind
an interesting relic of early days in that
rich but nearly inacoessible mining camp of
a bill of goods bought there in the spring of
1861 bya miner who afterwards came to _
BannackCity, and from whom the writer
procured it as worthy of preservation. I
BILL OP PROVISIONS.
100 lbs. Beans ©;1.25 .. .........;126 Ol
800 bs. Flour 1.00 ............".300 00
S11 lbs. Coffee @1.25r ..... 1~ ,5
S800 bs. Be@ef 1... ..... 1 750
Sbs. ... ....... 700
*.ib Bea ........... 9950
3 sks. Salt @4.00.......00.... 1200
1Bar oap ...................... 800
O bs. [email protected]................ 600
10 bs. Sugar @1.50. .......... 100
2 26ba Bacon 1.25...........
1 Paper .erats ... ...... .... 800
595 50
Paid -
This might strike the pamperea dwellers
in Eastern cities as beingratherhigh living
for a new country, and it does seem that
Way ; but provisions eame near reaching as
giddy an altitude at Virginia City in the
spring qf 1865, and in fact flour surpassed
it,ieing held at $145 per 100 bs. just prior
to the floor riot which broke up the combi
nation. Other necessaries were not, how.
ever, up to the Floremee bill, although they
were higr enough to glvene's purse the
" sweeney " n about fie minutes.
But i turt to those whoo iae upthe
Missouri. Aboat the middle of July one
of this parrtynasmed uribu t (against whom
a sulight -pirejudioeexlissed hiaseb p
nor was a big negro, wit whom he atmsa m
aleptdiseovere& te Pie.ly Peadaiga
where the town of in tmas a
t;su h Em np4le. byJo W. Peniea
4hwovered the ,"Old 8a r" on Mort Bona.
trIasot seies
at Saunae* Ocf skuc by Joua
byu as Jras t sta tty',a i. s lgs on tose
bee r aarilaue ql bj
e&,~w6 red~m I
which, for the same reason, was called West
Bannack) soon overshadowed the other in
cipient cities, and during the winter of 1862
had a population of some 4t)0 souls and be
came the centre of the population, wealth,
and beauty of the country, although it was
then in Dakota while Deer Lodge was in
Washington Territory.
In the summer of 1863 the famous Alder
Gulch was struck and the people flocked to
it from every quarter, since which time our
mining history is known to all.
To return to Deer Lodge county. The
first house in it was built in 1859 by John
F. Grant at the mouth of Little Blackfoot
Creek, and the first houses built at Deer
Lodge City were erected in October, 1860,
by Thomas Lavatta and Joe. Hill, while in
November the Stuarts and Anderson built
at the mouth of Gold Creek, and in Decem
ber or January Robert Dempsey built on
the present Dunkelberg ranch, six miles
below Gold Creek. Each of these places
became the nucleus of a small village.
Dempsey's was soon known as Dublin, the
Stuart's as American Fork, and Grant's as
Gaontville; while Deer Lodge was some
times called Cottonwood and sometimes
Spanish Fork. In the summer of 1863
Grant moved up to Cottonwood and Grant
ville became deserted; and after the dis
covery of Alder Gulch the Stuarts and most
of the residents of American Fork moved
to Virginia City, and that village, too, lost
prestige and has finally become extinct.
Dempsey and retainers also raised cawmp
and went to the "Pah-Sam-er-ri," oi
" Water of the Cottonwood Groves," as the
Snake Indians called the Stinking Water
river, and Dublin, too, was left unto itself
desolate.
During the summer of 1862 Capt. Joseph
La Barge, of St. Louis, who had started an
opposition fort at Ft. Benton, came over
to Cottonwood and was so much pleased
with the place that he talked of removing
his establishment from Ft. Benton and
bringing it here. Thereupon the citizens
of Cottonwood had a town' a mile square
laid out and named it La Barge City,under
which name it appears on many maps of
Montana even to this day. The village of
American Fork, which hung a horse-thief
in July, 1862, also figured for years on the
maps as Hangtown, although never known
by that name in its vicinity. Cottonwood
did not go into a decline as the surround
ing villages had done, but gradually in
creased in population and wealth until 1864,
when a disposition being shown by many to
ignore the survey of the town and build in
the streets and wherever else they chose,
James Stuart, in connection with some of
the principal citizens, organized a Town
Site Company for the purpose of having
the place built in proper shape and employ
ed Col. W. W. De Lacy to re-survey and
carefully plat it, re-christening it by its
present title of Deer Lodge City.
As before stated the county was created
by the first Montana Legislature February
2d, 1865, and Governor Sidney Edgerton
shortly after appointed George Searle, J. W.
Burnside and Joseph A. Clark as the first
board of county commissioners. The couri
ty seat was then located at Silver Bow city,
which was then a thriving little town out
numbering Deer Lodge in population, but
it soon began to decline, and Ophir, Snow
Shoe, Jefferson, Washington, Bear and Elk
gulches being struck the majority of the
population shifted to the other end of the
county, and in 1866 the county seat was re
moved to Deer Lodge city-the Town-Site
Company donating the blocks where ,the
Court House and Jail now stand, although
they were not erected until 1868. Occupy
ing a noble site and being well laid out,
Deer Lodge is the most beautiful town in
the Territory, if not in the entire Rocky
Mountains, and that its citizens are patriot
ic, the magnificent display of to-day bears
witness.
rht Prior to the last session of the Legisla
et. ture which ceded that Dart of the county
*n eastof the Rocky Mountains to Choteau
to. counmty, Deer Lodge was truly a princely
ids domain. It was about 250 miles long,from.
m- north to south, and about 75 miles wide. It.
eer extended from north latitude 450 40' to lat
12, itude 490 and lies between the 112th and
ae, 114th meridians west. It contained 14,625
'ho square miles, or 9,860,000 acres, and was
el. larger than either Vermont, New Hamp
er- shire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode
ley Island, Delaware, Maryland or New Jersey.
as- It was also larger than the kingdom of
)ld Belgium which has a population of 4,350,
ch 000; and larger than Hanover which has a
ch population of 1,759,440, and .about five
m sixths as large as Switzerland which con
al- tains 2,372,920 souls, while Deer Lodge
to county has about 4,600 inhabitants or about
ad three to the square mile. About one-fourth
%r, of the county is plains or -undulating land,
ag so called in contradistinction to the moun
ae tains, and three-fourths are mountains, but
0o there is very little worthless land, the only
d- part that could properly be called such
he being that part of the mountains above the
r, -timber line, all the rest being covered with
kg either timber or a rich growth of nutritiolus
grasses. About one-fourth of the county
id is timbered land and three-fourths are
at adapted to graing. About one-eight of the
>f latter is also good sagricultural .land, the
>f soil being of unsurpassed fertility. Streams
o are numerous although owing to the great
)r altitude none navigable. The drainage is
... perfect-.a stream running through the
centre of every valley, into which flow nu
merous ice-oold creeks from the mountains
on either side. The valleys are long and
0 narrow, sloping from each side to the cen
5 tre, and are equal in beauty to the Happy
0 Valley described in Johnson's Rasselas.
0 The Rocky Mountains bend around and
0 enclose the ceanty on the south, east and
0 northeast, and except west of the Deer
I Lodge Pass,where they rise in broken, jag
Iged, and almost inaccessible peaks, they
are usually of rounded outlines and well
timbered, rarely rising above timber line.
Deer Lodge ofty is 4,545 feet above the sea
and the genal average of the valley is
about 4,00 feet; yet such is thq mildness
of the climate that snow enough for sleigh.
Iag only feIs abou one winter in three.
Big Biaoqgt rvalley lise at an sltitude or
bouQtteet ; Flint reek valley, about
4,800 feet ; Deer L;dge Pras, 4~80 feet;
Pipestone Pass, estimated at 5,600 feet;
Park or Butte Pass estlmated at 5,650 feet;
Dry ttoaonwood Pal, eatimated at 6,200
feet; Malln's PFes, between Deer Lodge
and Helena, 5,980. feet; McClellan Pass,.
000 ýet; Oadotte's Pass, 6,187 feet, ant
Levisnd Chla Pa 8881 feet, showing
a gruasdi hnte belgt of the range
frome .e . Lodge Pass nortkw. e ard.
As this keteh has grown too long I will
hSeioeaah a .st wealt in mines or
anti sl cesubin
r Subeautyi , and a cli
' eat. ele a u eitfa s, the
[ t * ~e, a the