TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. Jl 



44, some Long Toms, Spencers, 56 calibre,. Winchester 44- 

 40. Bullets were also found that had not been shot, also 

 round musket balls, buckshot, and some od4 shells which 

 I had never seen duplicated. In my collection I have sev- 

 eral of these with the cross sticks which the Indians used to 

 rest their guns upon when shooting. 



After the firing line had been thoroughly examined, 

 we returned to the scene of battle. Here we found the tri- 

 angle of dead men showing three distinct movements under 

 a terrific fire from three sides, each soldier lying just where 

 he had fallen, each with a small amount of earth thrown 

 over him, with his head protruding from one end of the 

 grave and his feet from the other. One very noticeable fea- 

 ture presented itself to me, the boot tops had been cut from 

 the dead. Their skulls in many instances had been crushed 

 and shot with pistol bullets after being killed. Scalps had 

 been taken and some of the clothing was removed. No bul- 

 lets or shells of the enemy were found near that last stand, 

 showing conclusively that the battle and the last stand were 

 fought to a finish at some distance, as Rain-in-the-Face told 

 me afterward. 



We could hear in fancy the terrible war whoop from 

 six thousand throats reverberating through the hills, and 

 could see the mad rush of these fiends, the bloody scalps, and 

 the ghoulish throng plundering the bodies of their fallen foe 

 of every article of value, and their later triumphant return to 

 the camp that extended for six miles along the banks of 

 the Little Horn River. We could seem to hear the hoarse 

 voice of Sitting Bull give orders to gather the dead Indian 

 warriors and lay them to rest in their blankets. Then a fu- 

 neral dirge is sung by the friends and relatives, and, as they 

 are buried,, according to Indian rites in trees and on the 

 limbs of trees, a long last wail of lamentation, resembling 



