THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
3
g reat trouble. If we had crossed the river before the em ney had come
together directly opposite us and before th e firing was so bad we m ight
split them . W e had not begun to fire at all until this order come to
dism ount. I and th e other Crows had been shooting, b u t th e troops
had not.
In the battle now all of the men lay down to fire, except G eneral
C uster. H e knelt th ro u g h o u t the fighting. I lay on my belly beside
him , loading and firing as fast as I could. W e could see the Sioux
com ing on, com ing on, com ing on, th e w ar bonnets increasing every
m inute. A t tim es the clouds of d u st and sm oke were so thick we could
not tell a w ar bonnet from a bunch of sage b ru sh . T h e noise was great,
the shooting and th e yelling.
I asked G eneral C uster to lay down and fire as his men were doing.
H e said No . W hen I spoke to him he recalled th at I was a scout, not
a soldier and he said to me:
G et out of th is and go back as fast as you can. Go back to M ajor
Reno and tell him to h u rry and b rin g all th e am m unition he c a n .”
G eneral C uster was my chief. I had to obey him , but I did not w ant
to go. I was fighting against my enem ies. H e was fighting them too.
I w anted to stay. I have wished th a t I had stayed and gone down with
th e others. I would have been buried on the hogback w ith soldiers and
my friends.
But I started back tow ard M ajor Reno.
I had not gone far when I
m et C aptain B enteen. H is men were w ith him and the mules with the
pow der and bullets. T hen I looked tow ard th e hogback and I saw grey
horses ru n n in g loose.
I then knew th a t th e men who led the horses
had been called in, for none of the Sioux had gray horses.
All I could see on the hill was a cloud of sm oke, w ith flashes of fire.
T he In d ian s were g ath erin g closer and closer up the sides of the hogback.
T h e dust coxered ev ery th in g , b u t I could see the w ar bonnets all around
the hillside. T hey grew th ick er and nearer the top of the hill. T hen
there was n o th in g but sm oke, d u st, w ar bonnets, more w ar bonnets and
the fight was finished.
“ I do not know w hat tim e th is was, b u t it was some tim e between 1
and 2 in the afternoon. T hen I kept on back. I fought p art of th e way.
I found M ajor Reno w ith the horses and m ules and they were fighting,
too. I joined them and I said to an officer—I d o n ’t know his nam e:
L et us get off into th e valley, w here we can have som ething to
fight b e h in d .’
T his we tried to do, and finally did , Reno w ith the horses and mules
had been killed and we used th eir dead to fight behind. T h ere we fought
u ntil nearly sundow n. T h en I said to M ajor Reno:
“ I am th irsty ; I m ust have w ater.,