closer, with so galling a fire that not a man could expose a hand or an arm to return it. Everything was, however, put in readiness, the guns of the dead and wounded were loaded and placed near the best shots on the threatened side. When the Indians were within thirty yards of the rifle-pits, and their skirmish fire had ceased, for fear of hitting their friends, the intrenchment so silent hitherto suddenly became alive. "Now!" shouted Forsyth, and a rapid and effective fire tumbled the leaders from their ponies. Still they pressed on, yelling and whooping, and down they went under the deadly fire of the brave defenders of the island. Roman Nose, their gigantic war chief, and Medicine Chief, another of their leaders, both fell close to the intrenchment. The assailants wavered; a ringing cheer and another well-directed volley from the soldiers and they turned and fled, vanquished and demoralized. Two other charges were made and repelled during the day, and at nightfall a heavy rain set in. Every horse and mule had been killed by the enemy's fire. Lieutenant Beecher and five others had been killed or mortally wounded, and seventeen were wounded severely. LITTLE RAVEN, CHIEF OF THE ARAPAHOES. Fort Wallace, the nearest point from which succor could arrive, was one hundred miles away. Forsyth's men were without provisions, and surrounded by nine hundred well-armed warriors. A well was dug, the dead animals' flesh was cut into strips for food, the line was strengthened with saddles and dead animals, and two men were despatched at nightfall through the enemy's lines to Fort Wallace. Day after day the heroic band sustained the steady fire of the Indians, but by the fifth day the suffering from hunger, as the meat could no longer be eaten, was intense. By this time the Indians began to disappear, and by the seventh day all had left, but the beleaguered force was too weak to move. At last, on the morning of the ninth day, succor arrived. The Indians encountered were Northern Cheyennes, Brulé and Ogalalla Sioux, and "Dog Soldiers," the banditti of the plains. Their loss is said to have been thirty-five killed and one hundred wounded. Notwithstanding the provisions of the treaty made with the Sioux and the Northern Cheyennes by the Peace Commissioners in 1868, securing to them the right of hunting on their old territory, these Indians were ordered by General Sheridan to give up their hunting-grounds and to go upon a reservation. They stood upon their rights and resisted, and another Sioux war was the result. 1876. Three columns of troops, under Generals Crook, Terry, and Custer, were sent against them in May, 1876. Crook, after an indecisive action with the Sioux, fell back to the Tongue River. Sitting Bull, their SITTING BULL. leader, was at this time between the head-waters of the Rosebud and the Big Horn, the main tributary of the latter being known as the Little Big Horn. It was at this place that the gallant Custer fought his last battle. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were chiefs of bands who were implacably hostile, and to their villages drifted all the discontented Indians from various quarters. They occupied a singularly advantageous position near the head of the Yellowstone, surrounded by the "bad lands," which prevented the whites from near approach, and centrally situated with regard to the Indian agencies, from which they were annually supplied with the best of arms and ammunition by the United States Government, in accordance with treaty stipulations. Sitting Bull is described as a heavily built Indian, with a massive head and brown hair-a most unusual color for an Indian. His totem is a buffalo bull sitting on his haunches. He possesses much force of mind, with a genius for war, and a stubborn heroism, admirable in the champion of a He was born in 1837, near old Fort George, on Willow Creek, below the mouth of the Cheyenne River, and was the son of Chief Jumping Bull. The order requiring him to go on a reservation was in violation of his treaty rights, and the attempt to enforce it was a national disgrace. race. "I want peace," said the chief to General Miles, in an interview with that officer soon after the battle with General Crook, "but if the troops come out to me I will fight them. I want to hunt buffalo and to trade. I don't want rations nor annuities. I want to live as an Indian." A village of the Northern Cheyennes was surprised by General Mackenzie, and their entire stock of provisions for winter, their buffalo robes, and all their property burned. It was winter, and those who escaped were utterly destitute. In the following spring their chief, Hump, with some |