ills. Custer and all of us got off our horses here. At
that time the enemy was surrounding us. They were banging away at us. We
had a heavy skirmish. Custer then came up and said: "You have done your
duty. You have led me to the enemy's camp. And now the thing for you to
do is to obey my orders and get away." Farther on up the river was a
packtrain, escorted by three hundred soldiers, and I made my way to the
pack-train, and I found the Indians there fighting. Custer when he told
me to go said: "You go; I am now going with my boys." Had Custer not
ordered me to go, the people who visit the Custer Field to-day would see
my name on the monument. When I got back to the packtrain, I directed them
back to where the old trenches are to-day, and where you may still see a
pile of bones. The Indians had killed all the mules when I got there.
The fight lasted through the whole of a long, hot summer day. My friends,
the soldiers who were with Custer, were all wiped out. When the sun went
down I was about exhausted and I had no clothes on save a breechclout. All
the scouts were dressed like myself. When night came on, exhausted as we
were, we scouts went down the river to meet No-Hip-Bone. We reached him
early the next morning. There was a terrific rainstorm all night long. I
had no clothes on and I stuck to my wet horse. My horse was so exhausted
that he stumbled on through the night, and to-day I feel the effects of
it. It was my nature to endure; from a boy I had been trained to endure,
but as strong as I was it wounded me for life. We met No-Hip-Bone and
told him that up the river yesterday, when the sun was midway between
morning and noon, until the sun was midway between noon and night, the
Indians had killed Custer and all of his command. And he was mad. We
told him that our horses' hoofs were worn out and asked permission to go
back home and get fresh horses. He said: "Yes, you can go, but come back.
Meanwhile I will travel up the river and see the dead soldiers." I went
to Pryor, our Crow camp.

[Sunset on the Custer Field]

Sunset on the Custer Field

Custer and the soldiers were my friends and companions, and I cried all
night long as I rode through the rain to tell No-Hip-Bone the news.

When we were at the Rosebud, General Custer and his staff held a council
as to what we should do when we found the enemy's camp, as to whether we
should attack by d