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Scalped .I.S il-iiorV Tdrilli.. :y
l>©r!rr -e.
“I read in n Now .'1 pa Ibe
o'hsr dnv ukß*;-- fi'Jj • t
roil lU'onacn’i? ?■. , •' .. -■ m-
Mice scalped 1 y : :j ■
te •ino: .vsident < u>. < • .iro, and
i r< minded no tLat l jiayo net
tive ? 1 - .?n in ray ime, L0..1 ui orl
s 0 . . X ;ot
*v *i. Tlu ‘'ory of n<? a z >l
- r .:amcc! UelosU. Sanbei'son of
’1! ruroe cr.jmy, Mich., waslho firai
•ioia-.i description, I believe, tliai
any one has ever heard of how it
foels i@ be scalped. While he was
;n the hospital af Laramie I herrd
him tell the siory many time.?, and
every time it made me oh udder, as
it does slill whenever 1 think of it
“Sanbertson belonged io the
United States Infauhy, which was
part of Gen, Caster’s command in
his campaign against the Indians,
in 1860. Ida participated in many
o ' the engage-men is of that cam
•feign, the most important of which
Vi as the fight with Iho celebrated
Black Kellie’s band on the Oua
chita. It was iu this tight that San
bensen was wounded and scalped
’■>y the Indians, and I remember
that nearly all off ho old iron tiers*
men said that he was the only per
son they ever knew up io that time
who had been thoroughly and un
mistakably scalped, and lived lo tell
it.
"For some days bofore the meet.
i;:g with Black Kettle, Custers
scouts lia l been brine,.’ngin reports
that, the wily chief was camped
with a large following somewhere
on ti;e Ouachita, and there he wrs
sending oat predatory bands of his
warriors to plunder settlers and im
migrant hams. Custer decided to
hunt him ap and punish him. The
infantry was two miles in advance
of ihe cavalry, when one day, just
at dr ylight, it time in sight of the
enemy’s camp.
We were on a high- hill over
looking the valley,’ Samberlson
raid, in giving the account ot the
affair, ; and the Indians were below.
It was in the middle of winter and
the snow was very deep. The In
dian camp was in a rocky spot and
as ike women and children were
there, it, was evidently the head
quarters of th j band. It was de
mriniaed to surprise the village,
aad a portion of our command was
sent through. tin. woods to the right
io got iu the rear of the camp,
while : lie it .minder advanced qui
thy and v> :i the mountain, from the
tup n ’■•■•h.ich a good trail led to the
radey luough toe thick woods.
|'h:s muaeauvriag was so successful
that be* ,-e our presence was dis
covered by the Indians wo were
wiiki . ar hundred yards of the
cam], u." ~ie lot.. .out that was
KHut, ,0 tire in .o rear had ar
t. ved it! pyy.iion. V o knew by
iho yell> o.' iac o.ns and the
<’;rea't cutnui-.- .' u sov them that
we were discovered, . . • we began
the attack. Filing beewa on both
sides of lhaia a once, a:id this
caused what -A -i.c to be
:: panic arnenj i. : c chat
would tnaiio our * e(oty au r.sy
one, l“.;i sfruden!/ •ia •*< of
eiiorm-; as st<au( • ••-=
fa.to streaked in cross
bars vvi‘ ' b.;u . ; *:,!iow yu.l vo;
loiih-Jii •'•ini, camo dujhing into
the th- 'uipr'ciug and
•>u! "1 i.;',. n ,-r.! inrn some
moi g the rock 1 ding a
• . .11 >. 'an: yell could ho heard
- j .. cry thing else ;a he das .ed
■s> aftd'iio among his warrior-i/ m !
the effect of his presence immedi
aieiy changed the whale situation,
in less than two ruin tiles every In
dian was in position behind seme
rook 01 liee, and knew lliat the
fight W uld boa desperate one.
“‘We were in a secure position,
bujt tho Indians were just a, secure
as we were. The only way wo
could hope lo defeat them was io
! charge upon their stronghold, dis
lodge I.hern, and settle liie aTtar by
a desperate hand to hand light.
Wo were ordered lo charge down
ihe hill 11 pci: the enemy, raid we
rushed headlong right into the In
(Ban camp, every man of us yell
ing as hideously as tho red devils
themselves. As soon as we had
emerged from the woods we were
met with rifle ball from every side
and a good many poor fellows nev
er reached the camp. The detach
ment in the rear of ike camp came
into the conflict from that side, and
we forced fhe Indians out from
hiding places to file open
ground, and the battle waged right
among their tsnts, Black Kettle
seeuicd to be everywhere. Ills hid
eous presence alone prolonged the
fight. He held his warriors to their
ground, and tho light became free
and general. The Indian women,
and even the children, look partiu
it, and among fhe dead tint soon
the snow squaws and pa
pooses were mingled. In a low
minifies fhe snow for rods around
was dyed as red with the blood
from the dead and wounded as tho
paint on Black Kettle’s face.
“‘ln a hand-10-hand fight like
this, of course, it was every man
for himself, and I soon found my
self on one edge of the camp firing
and bayonetting and clubbing my
gun. just as the situation for fhe
moment required. A messmate of
mine, who was fighting by my side,
was killed by an Indian who fired
from behind a tent, and he fell, so
I was obliged to step over him. As
I did that a ball shattered my arm
at tho elbow, and it fell helpless af
my side. Immediately following
ihat shot a big Indian, doubtless the
one who had killed my messmate,
sprang from behind the tent and rush
ed at me with his tomahawk raised.
My gnu was empty, and my left hand
being useless I could not load. I
would have run my bayonet through
the advancing Indian, though, before
he eould have nsed his tomahawk on
me, but an Indian woman bad stolon
up behind me, and she thiew one arm
about my netk and jerked me back
ward in the snow.
“ ‘None of onr men were near me,
as the tbiekest of the fight was in an
other part of the camp. The big In*
dian wh bad some at me with his
tomahawk seemed to be aTo the only
wairior of this btia-i who was not only
ia the gone**; engagtment. T he squaw
who had jerked toe down in the snow
b, i. m© there bv the h-Jr, and a Jot of
cfi-eiqua we ar- and eh’ .dreu came swtrna
iav fi -m teats V. dbecncns t' tho
spot. They ennoanded ms, spit in
.0v idee jumped c-n my body, kicked
rue, pitched me, thrust the points of
knife blades in toy Hush, and tortured
me in every wey they could 11 ink of
Besides, my ami was paining y;e tre
mendously and dyeing the snow all
eronad in* with the blood that flowed
fro at Big wound. The big Indian stood
0
bv with his totmhawk in his hand,
and, Ibrtnnatelv lor me, he gave the
women and their voting devils too
much time to have their spotf with
me, for suddenly there came the sound
oi a gnu nearby, and t.woof thesquawa
fe 11 dead io She snow by my side. One
of our hoys 4-ad discovered my eitna
tion. The other squaws and tbeir
young ouca scampered away, but the
big Indian determined to ran tke risk
of getting my ecalp anyway, and he
pounced down on 21a with his knees
on my ehost, drew his knife, and the
next second, although it seemed hours
to me, the top of tay head was ia his
hand, and he was gone.
44 ‘Imagine someone who hates you
with the ntmost intensity,’ Sanbert
eon said, in describing the sensation cf
the tealping, ‘and he suddenly grab
bing a handfal ofyonr hair, while yon
are lyiaS prostrate and helpless, and
giving it a quick, upward jerk with
force enough almost to loosen the
scalp; then, while this painful tension
is not relaxed, imagine the not partia
nlarly*sharp blade of a knife being
run qaiekly ia a circle arourd your
scalp with a sawing like motion. Then
let your imagination grasp, if it can,
the effect that a stroDg, quick jerk on
the tnit of hair to release the scalp
from any clinging partioles of flesh
that may still hold it in place, would
have on your nerves and pysieal sys
tem, and you will have an inkling of
how it foels to be scalped. When that
Indian sawed his knife around the top
of my head, first a sense of cold numb
ness pervaded my whole body. This
was .quickly followed by a flash of
pain that started at my feet and
ran like au electric shock to my
brain. That sensation Was but mo
mentary, but it was terrible. When
the Indian tore my scalp from my
head it seemed as if it must have been
oonuected with cords to every part of
my body. Tho paiu that followed the
cutting around the scalp bad bora
frightful, but it was eestasy compared
to tho tortnro that followed the tear
ißg of it from my head. Flashes of
pain shot to every nerve. My knees
were almost to my chin, and the fing
ers of my one baud closed convulsive
ly in the snow, those of my left hand
being pjwerless, owing to the shatter
ed arm. That was all I remembered.
When I came to I was in a ten*. The
cavalry had come up in the meantime,
ami the Indians were rooted. Only a
few escaped, bat Black Kettle was
among the few.’
Saabertson lay for weeks in the
eminent hospital at Fort Laramarie
perteetly helpless and Buffering untold
agony. He finally reaereiei, and in
the meantime his term of enlistment
expired He had bo desire to re enter
the servioc, and Gen. Custer jocularly
remarked to him that he made a mis
take in quitting the’ service, ‘For
think, 1 said the General, ‘howsnrpris
>d and disgusted some Indian might
be, if you should stay with ns and
happen to fall in his bands when le
went to raise yonr hair to find that
s me one had been them fcefoie him.|
I saw tSanbertson several years after
ward, ana the pa’end, flrt.rouid,
s>ai spot was on top of his head, show
ing where his scalp had been torn
a; way, r>B I had seen it when he left the
hospital. He said that it was extreru •
iy leader, and in damp or < old weath- \
ei was yery painiul.—[N, Y. Time*. |
at 173 sf. y* m si vz si; s
A t *<vrjw*tss h/j and i \ • -•-. et ; ?-•-
IVI ( 4 .jyi ft | , . > v ■-! i> v
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& 1 '■*
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lias Employed A P’irst Claf?
wVvWiAj * Os VWW’VV
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