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posted in a wooded country, very much cut up with high, rugged hills and deep, impassable ravines.
He had an hour's talk with some of the Indian chiefs, who were very defiant and impudent, after which he moved rapidly forward against their strong position.
The action for a time was sharp and severe, but the artillery and long-range small-arms of the troops were very destructive, and the Indians began to give way on all sides.
They were so closely pressed by Sully's forces that they abandoned their extensive camps, leaving all their robes, lodges, colts and utensils of every description, and and all the winter supply of provisions which they had been so long collecting.
The action resulted in a running fight of nine miles, the Indians finally scattering completely, and escaping with nothing but their wounded, which, according to Indian custom they carried off, as also as many of their killed as they could.
One hundred and twenty-five dead warriors were left on the field.
I have transmitted heretofore the reports of General Sully and of the various commanders of his force, as also a statement of the immense quantity of Indian goods and supplies destroyed by General Sully in the captured camp of the Indians.
Finding the country nearly impracticable, having only a small supply of provisions or means to carry them, and ascertaining that the retreat of the mass of the Indians was toward the south-west, Sully returned to his train at the head of Heart river, and resumed his march westward, through an unknown and unexplored region, toward the Yellowstone, which he expected to reach near Fort Alexander, at which point it had been proposed to establish a military post.
On the fifth of August he came in sight of the Bad Lands, which border the Little Missouri on both sides.
The country was exceedingly rugged and difficult, and so cut up with deep, perpendicular ravines, that it was with the utmost labor and loss of time that a narrow, winding way between the ravines, in places barely ten feet wide, was found for his wagons.
I cannot convey a better idea of the country than is contained in the following extract from Sully's report, which will be full of interest to the scientiflc world:
I have not sufficient power of language to describe the country in front of us. It was grand, dismal, and majestic. You can imagine a basin, six hundred feet deep and twenty-five miles in width filled with a number of cones and oven-shaped knolls of all sizes, from twenty-five to several hundred feet high, sometimes by themselves, sometimes piled up into large heaps on top of each other, in all conceivable shapes and confusion. Most of these hills were of a gray clay, but many of a light brick color — of burnt clay — little or no vegetation. Some of the sides of the hills, however, were covered with a few scrub cedars. Viewed in the distance at sunset, it looked exactly like the ruins of an ancient city. I regret very much that some gentleman well acquainted with geology and mineralogy did not accompany the expedition, for we marched through a most wonderful and interesting country. It was covered with pieces of petrified wood, and on the tops of some of the hills we found petrified stumps of trees, the remains of a great forest. In some cases these trees were sixteen to eighteen feet in diameter, Large quantities of iron ore, lava, and impressions of leaves in the rocks, of a size and shape not known to any of us.In this difficult and almost impassable region, a portion of the Indians whom Sully had defeated on the twenty-eighth of July attempted to offer resistance, but were badly defeated, leaving over one hundred dead on the field. After this hopeless effort, in which General Sully reports that they exhibited none of the spirit and audacity which characterized the fight on the 28th of July, the Indians scattered, and broke up their combination entirely. The Tetons, separated into small fragments, fled toward the south-west; the Yancktonnais, with other confederated tribes from the north and east sides of the Missouri, crossed the Missouri river, and retreated rapidly into the British possessions by way of Mouse river. General Sully followed them nearly to the British line. Finding the country west of Fort Rice, in the direction of the Yellowstone, impracticable for wagon roads, Sully decided not to establish a post so high up on that river, but placed a garrison at mouth of Yellowstone and another at the trading post of Fort Berthold, lower down on the Missouri river. These posts, in connection with Fort Rice, will keep open the Missouri river, render travel along the valley secure, and separate the Indian tribes so that another concentration will be impracticable even should the Indians seek it. Sully returned slowly by way of the Missouri river valley to Fort Rice. After leaving that post well garrisoned and in good condition, and sending the Thirtieth Wisconsin volunteers to the Mississippi, to go south to Sherman's army, Sully came slowly down to Sioux City, where his last despatches are dated. To Fort Randall, and also to Fort Pierre, chiefs of the combined Sioux tribes which he had defeated, came in and asked for peace, acknowledging that they could not fight against the whites, that they had lost everything, robes, lodges, provisions, &c., and would be in a starving condition. They were informed by the commanding officers of those posts that the only conditions of peace required from them were that they would behave themselves and not molest the whites. The Indians were both surprised and gratified that peace on such easy terms was to be had, and immediately returned to their tribes to bring in the principal chiefs to meet General Sully at Fort Randall. It is expected that peace with all the tribes west of the
