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M. LOCKWOOD, ONE OF HEROES OF SLOODY BIG' HOLE BOTTLE, IS DEAD' AT 78 YEARSMyron Lockwood, Who Was Wounded Badly at the Battle of the Wilderness, and Later Was Left for Dead With Shattered Hip on the Battlefield of Big Hole, When General Gibbon, Although Defeated, Broke the Back of Fighting Nez Perces Under Joseph and Looking Glass ^Forty-one Years Ago. Myron Lockwbod, one of the he-i roes of the Batt.le of the pig Hole, who s^ryived desperate wounds re-lceive«V'*h tbit fight more than 4Q [years ago, died last week in California at the'age of ?6 years.Lockwood was one of the tew survivors of the company of 34 citizen I volunteers raised by Captain J. B. Catlin, who fought under General .John Gibbon through one of the fler-^ cest patties with Indians in the his-tory of Montana—a fight in which the whites lost 36 killed and -38 wounded; and the Nez Perces under Chief Joseph lost 208 killed or mortally wounded, leaving 89 dead warriors unburied on the field. * .Lockwood was a veteran fighter before be.caipe to Montana in 1867, having served through the Civil war. He entered MdClellan’s army of the Potomac in 1861, served through the Peninsular campaign and later in that of.Antietam. 'LaterJje served under Burnside antf MdDowell in. 1862 and General Hooker in 1863. That year,, too, he fought at the battle of^Gettys-burg. Completing his threeryear term, he re-entered the army, and * at the Battle of the Wilderness lie was terribly wounded and lay fpr months between life and death in a hospital.Lands at Fort BentonIn 1867 Lockwood came up the Missouri river to Montana, reaching Fort Benton in June, 1867. For some time he engaged in placer mining and later ran a dairy ranch in the Prickly Pear valley. He did well until his partner one day went to Helena and gambled off nearly every cent they had paved. Lockwood then took to freighting between Fort Benton and Helena, and was doing a prosperous business when his freight outfit was attacked by Indians at Gallatin bar. He escaped with his life but his stock was killed and his wagons burned. [This happened in 1869, about the same time that the Blackfeet mur-idered Malcolm Clark in the Prickly I Pear valley.j December 15 of that year he returned to Frenchtown and again took up dairying, Supplying the miners in that locality with milk and butter for the following three years. In 1873 he went to the Bitter Root valley and engaged in stock raising and farming.| It was during the summer of 1877 that Chief Joseph took the war path and the Battle of the Big Hole was fought. At the time the hostile Nez Perces entered the Missoula valley, Lockwood happened to go to Missoula on business. When he returned to his ranch he found his stock all killed and his house and barn burned to the ground by the Indians. He at first thought that his wife and baby had been murdered, so he started back for Missoula. On the way he found that they were safe at a neighbor’s ranch, where they had taken shelter. However, he 'continued on his way to Missoula to give the alarm but on the way met a detachment of cavalry in pursuit of Joseph and his warriors.Lockwood Guides TroopsLockwood was engaged as a guide and General Gibbon joinirfg the party with his infantry, Lockwood was one of those who led the detachment to the Big Hole river, where the Indians were reported to be in camp.At 5 o’clock on the morning of August 8, the command started up the main divide of the Rocky Mountains, hot on the trail of the Indians. The wagon train was parked that evening and left in charge of a small guard. Overcoats and canteens were discarded. Previously the soldiers had been reinforced by 34 citizen volunteers from the valley, who had Joined General Gibbon at Rye creek,•dfthese being captained by J. B. Cat- i !in. ' .jAt- 11 o’clock at night the little! band, 182 all told, filed down a trail | through dark groves of pine and fir and struggled on through Trail creek into the Big Hole Basin. A mile ahead the soldiers finally saw the; lights from the Indian camps, and j their trail led along the bluffs that i bound the left bank of the river J They emerged on a steep side hill on which an immense herd of ponies was grazing. Slowly, for fear of disturbing them, the column moved through the herd, and strangely enough there was either no guard with the ponies or, if there was a guard, he was asleep.Disposed for Battle ^^.t 2 o’clock in the morning the command arrived opposite the village which was in the valley about 150 yards from, and 50 feet below, the trail. There were 89 lodges, pitched in the form of a “V, with the angle upstream.General Gibbon placed the companies of Captains Sanno and Comba in skirmish line at the foot of the bluff, covering the upper half of the village. Lieutenant Bradley, the famous historian of pioneer days, was placed in command of 15 soldiers and the 34 volunteer citizens on the extreme left, and somewhat detached, so as to be able to strike at the lower end of the village. In support of the companies of Captains Comba and Sanno, and at their rear, were placed the three companies of Captains Rawn, Browning and Williams. On the extreme right flank was Captain Logan's compapy.The plan of attack was to force the Indians out of their village on to theopen plain iway from their horses, where, with their long-range rifles and superior discipline, the soldiers hopbd to have them at their mercy. Unfortunately, there were not enough men to cover the whole village, but | the line of battle was formed without alarnaing the Indians.The Battle of the Big Hole At last the eastern skies began to I lighten and the nervous, chilled men under Gibbon realized that the hour | ha^^eome. The whispered order is given for the two skirmish lines under Comba and Sanno to advance, and while they are silently moving forward, a solitary Indian going out to look at the herd rides toward them. In the half light he stops and peers forward on his horse to try to make out what is before him. Twq rifle shots ring out; the Indian falls dead and the battle is on.General Gibbon orders the charge to be sounded. His adjutant. Lieutenant Woodruff, bounds on his horse and gallops to Lieutenant Bradley on the left, shouting the order, “Go in and strike them hard,” and returns to General Gibbon on the hill behind. The general and his adjutant then join the troops, which all along the line plunge through the river and strike the village.The peaceful valley is instantly changed to an inferno. The Indians, aroused by the first shots, rush from their village half-clad, but fully armed. In a few seconds the battle is on full blast.The following account of the fight, written by Amos Buck, is one of the best that haB been written: t (“The Indians tumbled out'of their lodges' like sheep, running in every direction, as it seemed to me; thesquaws with their Winchesters doing as much execution as the men. But j it was notdoog before White Bird, j i their great war chief, bad rallied bis forces from their confusion and our men began to feel the result. We | were now in the Indian village and i firing had almost’ceased when wej heard one of the citizen volunfekrs,' V. Burch, who was on the hillside.' yell, ‘Look out boys, they’re getjing' in the brush behind you.* He was' correct; the Indians were in the brush ■ and were giving us merry hell. .We | charged through the brush and j swamp and were met at every hand | by the -Nez Perces. It is true that \ our men dealt death everywhere they! went, 'but the Indians were too nu-; merous for us.v For two and a half i hours we held the'Tield. By this time' Captain , Rawn was out oh. open! grdund, driving a large force of Indians ,tdward the hills on the right bank of the creek. His fight was' bard, but he was gaining ground, j Retreat Is Ordered '“At this stage of the fight our j forces, taken all told, were badly* whipped. General Gibbon then rode up on the right bank of the creek and , ordered a retreat. Our forces then j fell back one-half mile up the creek , to a point where the mountain extends down to the creek . bottom. Here General Gibbon ordered a halt and told his men that we would make1 this our final stand. Here we began to throw up intrenchments. The Indians quickly surrounded us and were [ firing from every side. We lay there: all day in the hot sun. with not a j drop of water or a mouthful of food, i with the Indians pelting us from all sides, until 11*o’clock that night.. During the night we threw up strong , breastworks and were able to stand j a long siege.’’The fight described above by Amos j Buck took place on August 9., By) the morning of the 10th the Indians j had largely withdrawn. In the mean- j while one of the civiliane, Billy Ed-! wards, had left alone with dispatches: for Deer Lodge to get teams and doctors to come to take in the wounded. \ On the evening of the 10th the wa-! gons with provisions came an.d the | siege was “broken, all of the Indians : having disappeared. *General Charles A. Woodruff, who was a lieutenant and General Gib-: bon’s adjutant in the fight, tells of; the early stage of the fighting as! follows: f“In a few minutes the upper end • of the village is ours and we sweep! doWn the stream, expecting to seel Bradley’s column at the lower end of! the village—but this was not to be. After receiving his order to attack, Bradley had scarcely gone 20 yards before he was shot dead, and bis men. without a recognized leader. natur-| ally drifted upstream and joined the: main command.”Many Dead and Wounded The casualty list was found to bej very heavy when the men under Gib-j bon found themselves behind their [ barricade. One-third of the com-! mand were dead or wounded, including General Gibbon. The dead or mortally wounded numbered 36. and i the wounded 38. Among the latter j the mos^t seriously hurt was Myron: Lockwood, who lay all night uncon-l scious with his hip joint shattered, and was not expected to live, but who; finally recovered after being taken to | the hospital at Deer Lodge, where hej lay for seven months. ' He was so j crippled by his wounds that he was: never able to engage in business of any kind again.When General Sherman visited the I west later, be visited Lockwood and j offered him a life position at Washington, but this was declined, as he i preferred to spend the remainder of | his life in the west.
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Thompson Falls Sanders County Independent Ledger
Thompson Falls, Montana, US
Thu, Jan 02, 1919
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