The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

 

GEN. MILES TO RIDE AS A HERO FOR THE MOVIES

Retired Lieutenant-General of the Army Will Take Part in Indian Battles.

IS URGED BY GARRISON

He Is Anxious to Perpetuate Some of the Scenes in the Custer Massacre.

Rushville, Neb., Oct. 4. — Lieutenant-General Nelson A. Miles, retired; Brigadier-General Charles King, soldier and author, and several other distinguished soldiers of the Indian wars will arrive in Chicago this morning on their way to the Pine Ridge Indian Agency, near here.

There, in full uniform, with a big following of regulars, the old soldiers are to engage in a new battle, but they will face nothing more deadly than a few hundred Indians armed with blank cartridges — and a motion picture camera.

General Miles and his companions were persuaded to take part in the drama by the approval of Secretary Garrison, of the War Department, and Secretary of the Interior Lane. The object is to perpetuate in the "movies" some of the scenes of the Custer campaign with the principal roles taken by men who actually figured in the fights of that period.

General Miles's principal activities in the Indian wars were as leader of the expeditions against Geronimo and Natchez. General iKng figured in the wars as captain of artillery and cavalry. Equally interesting was the work of Brigadier-General Frank D. Baldwin, brevetted major for gallantry in his attack on the camp of Sitting Bull on Red Water River, Mont., and also recipient of two medals of honor.

Others in the list of new entrants of the movies' "profession" are Major-General Charles F. Humphrey and Brigadier-General Marion P. Maus. The latter graduated from West Point at the outbreak of the serious Indian troubles and saw many years of service in the numerous campaigns down to the Sioux campaign of 1890 on the exact spot where he is now to act for the movies.

Earlier he had fought the Nez Perces and Sioux and Apaches all the way from Montana to Mexico. Then he served through the Spanish War and returned to fighting the Indians of a little different color in the Philippines. General Humphrey, who won his medal for Indian service in Idaho, was retired only six years ago after forty years of service.

Another actor in the play is to be Buffalo Bill, whose service as scout and guide during the campaigns has been put to service professionally before.

The assortment of Indians will be picked from the reservation, and a liberal detachment of regulars will be assigned by the War Department. The department attaches considerable importance to the probable historical value of the pictures to be made, on which it is asserted $100,000 will be expended.

Banner image: Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming, U.S.A.; Original Buffalo Bill Museum Collection, P.69.118