SECOXD INDIAN ATTACK. 61 



to liis warriors. In tlic mtUe^ liowcYcrj one of our cavalry 

 men was thrown to the ground by the fierceness of the 



■ 



Indian onslaught, when this leader, who I have since learned 

 was the famous Cheyenne war-chief Eoman-nosej attacked 

 the prostrate man with his spear. Corporal Harris, of ^^ G " 

 company, was near him, and struck Roman-nose with the 

 sabre which he hold in his left hand. Quick as thouglit, 

 the chief turned on him ; but as he did so, the faithful 

 "Spencer'' of the corporal met his breast, and with the 



his mouth 



on 



his horse, never again to lead his " dog-soldiers " on the 

 war-path. By this time it was more than evident that on 



match for the red-skins 



them had never been 



wer 



became so dreadfully 

 frightened at the yells and the smell of the savages as to be 

 quite unmanageable. So Captain Earnitz gave the order 

 to dismount. 



When the dismounted caA^alry commenced to pour a well- 

 directed A^olley from their Spencers, the Indians for the first 

 time wavered, and began to rctii'e. For two hours Cai3tain 

 Barnitz waited with his thinned ranks for another advance of 

 the Indians, but they prudently held back ; and, after a 

 prolonged consultation, retired slowly with their dead and 



wounded beyond the hills, to paint their faces black, and 

 lament the death of one of the bravest leaders of their 

 inhuman race. 



I have seen 



liorrible 



death in all its forms of agony and distortion — ^but never did 

 I feel the sickening sensation, the giddy, fainting feeling 

 that came over nie when I saw our dead, dying and wounded 

 after this Indian fight. A handful of men, to be sure, but 



