Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
June 23, 1869
The Evening Argus
Rock Island, Rock Island County County, Illinois
What is this article about?
A soldier wounded in the Battle of the Washita with Custer describes being clubbed by an Indian, having his hair pulled by a screeching squaw, and then scalped with intense pain, leading to unconsciousness and later recovery in Laramie with permanent hair loss.
Clipping
OCR Quality
95%
Excellent
Full Text
How it Feels to be Scalped.
A soldier who lost his scalp with Custer at Washita tells how it felt. First an Indian clubbed him as he lay wounded. Then a squaw squatted on his breast, and pulled his hair out by handfuls as she screeched his death song or something else; and finally this was the process.-"The Indian stepped one foot on my chest, and with his hand gathered up the hair near the crown of my head. He wasn't very tender about it. but jerked my head this way and that, and pinched like Satan. My eyes were partially open, and I could see the beadwork trimmings on his leggings. Suddenly, I felt the awfulest biting, cutting flash go round my head, and then it seemed to me just as if my whole head had been jerked clean off. I never felt such pain in all my life: why, it was like pulling your brains out I didn't know any more for two or three days, and then I came to find that I had the sorest head of any human that ever lived. I was shipped down to Laramie after a bit, and all the nursing I got hain't made the hair grow out on this spot yet."
A soldier who lost his scalp with Custer at Washita tells how it felt. First an Indian clubbed him as he lay wounded. Then a squaw squatted on his breast, and pulled his hair out by handfuls as she screeched his death song or something else; and finally this was the process.-"The Indian stepped one foot on my chest, and with his hand gathered up the hair near the crown of my head. He wasn't very tender about it. but jerked my head this way and that, and pinched like Satan. My eyes were partially open, and I could see the beadwork trimmings on his leggings. Suddenly, I felt the awfulest biting, cutting flash go round my head, and then it seemed to me just as if my whole head had been jerked clean off. I never felt such pain in all my life: why, it was like pulling your brains out I didn't know any more for two or three days, and then I came to find that I had the sorest head of any human that ever lived. I was shipped down to Laramie after a bit, and all the nursing I got hain't made the hair grow out on this spot yet."
What sub-type of article is it?
Biography
Historical Event
Military Action
What themes does it cover?
Misfortune
Survival
What keywords are associated?
Scalping
Battle Of Washita
Custer
Indian Attack
Soldier Experience
Survival
Pain
What entities or persons were involved?
Custer
A Soldier
An Indian
A Squaw
Where did it happen?
Washita
Story Details
Key Persons
Custer
A Soldier
An Indian
A Squaw
Location
Washita
Event Date
With Custer At Washita
Story Details
Wounded soldier clubbed by Indian, hair pulled by squaw, then scalped by Indian with severe pain, unconscious for days, recovered in Laramie with no hair regrowth.