GENERAL GEORGE CROOK.
Generals Reno and Custer rode forward with the Seventh Cavalry to reconnoitre, and discovered the Indians encamped in a village nearly three miles long on the left bank of the Little Big Horn River. Custer, who was an impetuous, headlong officer, instantly charged upon the Indians without waiting for reinforcements.
This woeful blunder was made June 25, 1876. All that is known of it has been obtained from the Indians themselves. They agree that Custer and his men dashed directly among the thousands of warriors, and that they fought with desperate heroism, but Custer and every one of his men were killed. The number was 261. General Reno held his position at the lower end of the encampment on the bluffs of the Little Big Horn until reinforcements arrived. Soldiers were sent to the neighborhood, and there was more sharp fighting. It was a long time and there was much negotiation necessary before the Sioux could be persuaded to return to their reservation in Dakota.
On the 4th of July, 1876, the United States was one hundred years old. Preparations had been on foot for several years to give it a fitting celebration. A bill was passed by Congress as early as March, 1871, providing that an exhibition of foreign and American arts, products, and manufactures should be held under the auspices of the government of the United States. A centennial commission was appointed, consisting of General Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut; Professor John L. Campbell, of Indiana; Alfred T. Goshorn, of Ohio; and John L. Shoemaker, of Pennsylvania. Naturally Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was written and signed, was selected as the most fitting place to hold the celebration. Fairmount Park, one of the largest and finest in the world, was set apart for the buildings.
The invitations sent to other nations were courteously accepted, the following being those that took part: The Argentine Confederation, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, France (including Algeria), German Empire, Great Britain and her colonies, Greece, Guatemala, Hawaii, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Orange Free State, Persia, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunis, Turkey, United States of Colombia, and Venezuela.
To furnish room for the display of the myriads of articles, five principal buildings were erected, viz.: the Main Building, 1,876 feet long and 464 feet wide; the Art Gallery or Memorial Hall, Machinery Hall, Agricultural Hall, and Horticultural Hall. The exhibition was formally opened by President Grant, May 1st, and closed by him six months later. The daily attendance began with about 5,000, but rose to 275,000 toward the close. The total number of visitors was some 10,000,000, and the total receipts, as officially given out, were $3,761,598. The exhibition was a splendid success in every sense.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1876.
Few people to-day understand the danger through which the country passed in the autumn and winter of 1876. In June, the two great political parties put their presidential tickets in the field. That of the Republicans was Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler, of New York; of the Democrats, Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. The Independent Greenback party also nominated a ticket, at the head of which was the venerable philanthropist, Peter Cooper, of New York, with Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio, the candidate for the vice-presidency.