The book of woodcraft and Indian lore - Survival-training.info

The Spartans of the West 15everything the Cheyennes have ever done to the race of theassassins. (See "Century of Dishonor," pp. 341-358.)Still worse was the Baker massacre of Blackfeet, onJanuary 23, 1870.A border ruffian, a white man named Clark, had assaulteda young Indian, beating him severely, and the Indian, inretaliation, had killed Clark and gone off into Canada.Without troubhng to find the guilty party, or even the bandhe belonged to, Brevet Col. E. M. Baker, major SecondCavalry, stationed at Fort Shaw, marched out, underorders from Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, to the nearest Indianvillage, on Marias River; as it happened, they were peaceable,friendly Indians, under Bear's Head. Withoutwarning, the soldiers silently surrounded the sleepingvillage. But the story is better told by Schultz, whowas on the spot later, and heard it all from those whosaw:"In a low tone Colonel Baker spoke a few words to his men,telling them to keep cool, aim to kill, to spare none of theenemy; and then he gave the command to fire. A terriblescene ensued. On the day previous, many of the men of thecamp had gone out toward the Sweetgrass Hills on a grandbuffalo hunt; so, save for Chief Bear's Head and a few old men,none were there to return the soldiers' fire. Their first volleywas aimed low down into the lodges, and many of the sleepingpeople were killed or wounded in their beds. The rest rushedout, men, children, women, many of the latter with babes intheir arms, only to be shot down at the doorways of their lodges.Bear's Head, frantically waving a paper which bore testimonyto his good character and friendliness to the white men, rantoward the command on the bluff, shouting to them to ceasefiring, entreating them to save the women and children; downOf the morehe also went with several bullet holes in his body.than four hundred souls in camp at the time, very few escaped.And when it was all over, when the last wounded woman andchild had been put out of misery, the soldiers piled the corpses