nown, the gates of the fort were thrown open, and
the main portion of the soldiers--cavalry and infantry--marched out to
rescue their friends, corraled by the Indians. As soon as he got them
where he wanted, in the hills, he surrounded them with his three
thousand warriors, and cutting off all chance of retreat, massacred
every one of them! So sudden was the surprise, that the battle was over
before a reinforcement could go out, and the commander at once closed
the gates and remained in a state of siege, to protect those who were
not slaughtered. In the Phil. Kearney massacre there fell three
officers, forty-nine infantry, twenty-two cavalry, and two citizen
employes, with Colonel Fetterman, the officer who led them.

After the Phil. Kearney massacre, which thrilled the country with
horror, the government hastened to call a council with all the tribes
at Fort Laramie, and sent Generals Sherman, Harney, Sanborn, Terry,
Augur, and Colonel Tappan to treat with them. Red Cloud kept up his
skirmishes and fights as occasion offered. The 1st of August, 1867, the
Sioux attacked and killed Lieutenant Sternberg, of 27th Regiment
Infantry. And the next day quite a large body of warriors engaged Major
Powell and his soldiers on the Piney Creek, four miles from Kearney,
and a severe battle was fought for hours. On the 27th, some Indians
came down--about one hundred and twenty--to the hay-fields near the
fort, and Lieutenant Belden, of 2d Cavalry (a good fighter), went for
them with forty soldiers, and cleared them out. On the 3d November,
Brevet Captain E. R. P. Shurley (whom the writer knew as post-adjutant
in Camp Douglas, Illinois, and who was wounded in the war) was suddenly
attacked on Goose Creek; he was desperately wounded, and his command
was surrounded and "corraled" for some time, until troops came to his
relief and saved the "outfit." Soon after, the train going to Phil.
Kearney was attacked and corraled within three miles of the post. The
14th December, the wood-choppers for the forts were attacked on the Big
Piney, and two men wounded. The forts now were in a state of siege, and
communication between them became nearly cut off. The council at
Laramie agreed to abandon that portion of the country, it being no
longer needed, as freighting was changed to Montana, via Corinne, on
the Pacific Railroad. But the Indians became impatient, and to hurry up
matters, they kept on skirmishing from time to time. These were Sioux
and