Watauga Democrat

TRIBUTE TO CUSTER'S DEAD FROM SIOUX DESCENDANTS

Denver, Colo., June 2—A half century has seen the signal fires of the once mighty Sioux burn low and die in the valley of the Little Horn. Time has erased the lodge pole trails from the plains of the Rosebud and the passing years have quenched the flame kindled at word of Custer's crushing defeat. But the story of that heroic struggle remains one of the romantic chapters in frontier history.

This month in the valley of the Little Big Horn river in southern Montana, where on June 25, 1876, General George A. Custer led five companies of the seventh cavalry to slaughter, the new seventh, under the command of General Fitzhugh Lee, will face 8,000 descendants of those Sioux and Cheyenne warriors who riddled Custer's battalions. But these Indians and cavalrymen will unite in solemn tribute to the memory of red and white dead. The ceremony under the auspices of the Custer Memorial Association, will be in commemoration of the sem-centennial of the famous battle.

A thousand Crow, allies of Custer by reason of their hatred of the Sioux, who poached upon their buffalo hunting ground, will be encamped nearby. They will participate in the revival of dances, tribal ceremonies, sports and customs of half a century ago.

From this Indian village, a reproduction of the one Custer encountered, the cavalry, with regimental band blaring forth "Garry Owen," the seventh's famous fighting tune, will swing on to the historic battlefield. As the troopers approach the knoll where Custer, with his five detachments made their last stand, the band will play a funeral dirge. From the valley below will come the Indians, chanting their death songs. At the crest of the hill, near a great monument on which has been carved the names of the fallen whites, these two forces will meet in friendship.

General Lee and Chauncey Yellow Robe, a nephew of Sitting Bull, will smoke the pipe of peace and bury the tomahawk. Memorial addresses will follow, with General E. S. Godfrey, one of the four surviving officers of Custer's band as one of the speakers.

A message is expected from Mrs. Custer, the general's widow, who has always declined to visit the battleground because of the emotions she has feared it would arouse.

At the field where Reno's two battalions stood off the wily Chief Gall and his Hunkpapa braves, a memorial will be dedicated to the men who fell there. Then taps will sound once more down the valley.

At the close of the Civil war, Custer, Devin and Merritt, Sheridan's divisional commanders were commissioned lieutenant colonels and brevetted brigadier generals in the U. S. army. On July 28, 1866 the seventh cavalry was organized with Custer as lieutenant colonel; A. J. Smith, colonel; Alfred Gibbs, major, and such names as Benteen, Keogh, West, Barnitz, Moylan, Commagere and Thomas W. Custer, among the commissioned personnel.

Following an expedition into the Black Hills to protect the hundreds pouring into the Eldorado in 1874, an outbreak of Sioux claimed Custer's presence in the field. In 1875, his services on the northern plains began opposite the mouth of the Tongue river in Montana. On June 22, 1876, he set out from old Fort Lincoln on his ill-fated expedition in search of the village of hostile Sioux, moved twelve miles up the Rosebud and camped. The next day the march continued for thirty-three miles, passing many dim lodge pole trails.

Indian signs were growing fresher. At eleven o'clock that night the column was called out and ordered ahead, turning to the right near the divide between the Rosebud and Little Big Horn. About 2 a. m., June 25, the column halted for three hours, made coffee, then resumed its forced march. It crossed the divide and by 8 a. m., was in the valley of the branches of the Little Big Horn. By this time the Indians had been sighted and as it now was certain that they could not be surprised, it was determined to attack.

On June 24, the column again coffee then resumed its forced march moved forward, making camp at march.