th of Battle Gulch capable of bearing a
bullet mark is cut and scarred in a frightful manner, and some of the
trees are literally girdled. Many of the teepee poles that still lie
scattered over the river bottom have bullet holes through them, and
thousands of empty cartridge-shells still lie scattered over the field,
though it is said that thousands more have been carried away by relic
hunters or trampled into the earth.

No true American can read the record of this light without feeling
proud that he is an American; that he is a brother to the brave men who
stood so nobly together under such an ordeal--an ordeal, in short, that
will stand in history on a parallel with the charge of Balaklava or the
battle of Bunker's Hill.

As an evidence of the severity of this fight, and of the courage
displayed by the officers, attention is called to the fact that of the
seventeen engaged, seven of them were hit fourteen times, as follows:

General Gibbon, thigh 1
Captain Williams, head and body 2
Captain Logan, head (killed) 1
Lieutenant Bradley, head (killed) 1
Lieutenant Coolidge, both hands and legs 3
Lieutenant English, head, wrist, and back
(died of wounds) 3
Lieutenant Woodruff, both thighs and heel 3
---
Total 14

CHAPTER VI.

Veterans of the civil war, and men who have been years on the frontier,
who have participated in many of the most sanguine Indian campaigns
ever fought, say this was the most hotly-contested field they were ever
on. They tell us that never have they seen such cool and determined
fighting, at such short range, kept up for so long a time, by Indians;
that never have they known so many bullets placed with such deadly
accuracy, and so few to fly wild as in this fight. Nearly every man
engaged in the action, white or red, officer, private soldier, or
citizen, seemed a cool, deliberate sharpshooter; and the fact that
after the first assault both parties kept closely covered all day,
alone accounts for the fact that so many survived the fiery ordeal. The
Indians did splendid work and elicited from the beleaguered soldiers
expressions of admiration for their marksmanship, as well as for their
bravery and prowe