The Chemawa American, December 15, 1926, Page 4, Image 4

THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
PAGE 4
INDIAN FIGHTERS
(Continued from page 1)
his amunition. Unless a very good reason existed for
doing otherwise he took every precaution to make
every shot count, be it either arrows or bullets he was
using, for bullets were hard to get and arrows were
hard to make.
The stories that old Indian fighters have told me,
and my own observation, indicate that the Indian
greatly preferred to depend upon a sly approach, under
cover, and accurate shooting at individual targets,
rather than upon the more spectacular mounted charge
where the greater part of his precious ammunition
must be wasted in shooting in the general direction of
the enemy, and where he had to trust to luck for any
hits that he might make. Experience taught him to
put skill ahead of luck when he made his plans.
In fact, the Indian fought pretty much the same as
any other trained fighter. He used some forms of
mounted attack when the circumstances and object
sought indicated its advisability, but generally he
approached the enemy under cover, or laid in hiding
for him, as seemed best to suit the circumstances.
He even demonstrated that he possessed in a large
measure the cold, hard nerve required to go against
an entrenched position where protection of any sort
was entirely lacking.
In the summer of 1886 the Crows and the Assini-
boin Sioux were on bad terms with each other and
small bands of each tribe had taken to their favorite
pastime of raiding their enemies’ pony herds.
One afternoon a small band of Sioux attempted to
drive off one of the Crow herds. They were seen and
pursued.
The pursuit resulted in their being driven to shelter
under a cutbank on the Little Big Horn River which,
on account of its peculiar formation, afforded them
perfect protection from their pursuers, who could not
get nearer to them than about two hundred yards ex­
cept by crossing a level stretch of grass land that af­
forded no cover at all.
The Crows tried many schemes to get at their en­
emies, all of which failed. While the fighting was in
progress word of it reached the military post, Fort
Thompson, and troops were sent to the scene. (My
grandfather was a sergeant with the soldiers who came. )
The troops arrived just in time to see about fifty Crows
leave the shelter from which they had been fighting
and start on the run for the Sioux’s position. Seven
were killed and many more were wounded, but they
kept on, not even stopping to fire, and enough of them
reached their objective to annihilate the plucky little
band of Sioux before the troops interfered. A Crow,
White Bear by name, was one of the fortunate ones
who got a Sioux scalp. In taking the scalp he had
evidently gone on the principal that if a scalp was a
good thing to have the bigger it was the better, for he
had taken all the hair the victim had.
The second instance occurred in 1887 and was a
mounted attack. All during the summer and fall of
that year the Crow Indians had been very much ex­
cited over the doing» of a medicine man who really
appeared to be pulling off stunts that were even
stranger than those ascribed to our present day so-
called mind readers and divine healers.
This medicine man was clever enough to avoid
doing anything that would bring about his arrest un­
til avarice got the best of his good judgment, when
he allowed his desire for riches to lead him into head­
ing a band of young Indian men in a raid upon the
pony herd of the Peigans.
This gave a good reason for arresting him, but by
this time he had gained such a large following that it
was not deemed advisable to attempt an arrest until
a large body of troops could be assembled to over-awe
his followers.
A large force was assembled, but its presence did
not entirely prevent trouble, for when the arrest was
attempted several hundred young Indians joined him
in resisting the troop of cavalry which was sent to
make the arrest
The cavalry troop, being greatly
out-numbered, dismounted in order to use their most
effective weapons, their carbines, and took up a posi­
tion in a swale which furnished some cover. After a
short dismounted action the Indians mounted and
charged, for a distance of about 600 yards over the
open prairie. They made no effort to conceal them­
selves, but rode as straight as men ever rode in a charge.
Some of the leaders got within thirty yards of the
soldiers before they retreated. They would probably
have kept on had it not been for the fact that their
medicine man, who had claimed to be invulnerable,
was wounded. They lost faith in him then and rode
away even faster then they had come. No one was
ever able to ascertain their losses. Many were seen to
fall during the charge and retreat, and it became known
that their casualties were heavy. The medicine man
was killed a few minutes later as he was attempting to
escape.
In one particular, however, the Indian differed very
materially from the white man. He did not feel that
he was in any way disgraced when he followed the
teaching laid down in the old saying, “He who fights
and runs away will live to fight another day.”
I have stated above that in this the Indian differed
from the white man, but on further thought I doubt
that this is an entirely correct statement, for when I
recall the histories of our celebrated Indian fighters and
the stories I have heard old Indian men tell, it comes
to me that they, too, were glad enough to get out of
the way when the fight became too hot forthem, only,
they always spoke of the Indians retreating in such
circumstances and of themselves as escaping.
To get back to the original question and answer it.
Yes, sometimes the Indian did attack while concealed
on the far side of his fast-moving horse, but generally,
like any other good soldier, he used the method of
fighting best suited to the particular case confronting
him.