herding the horses on the hill rushed to
the camp with the horses, and the dust raised just like smoke. When I got
to my tent the men who were herding the horses had got the horses there,
and they were screaming. I grabbed my gun and cartridge belt, and the
noise and confusion was so great that we did not know what we were doing.
The women were running to the hills, and my heart was mad. The guns were
still firing in the upper part of the camp. I did not have time to put on
my war-bonnet; I jumped on the horse I had and made a pull for where the
firing was. The first thing I saw when I got to'the battle line was a
horse with a bridle on with the lines hanging down, and a dead Sioux.
When I got to this line of battle--I thought I was quick, but I found a lot
of Sioux already there--they were rushing on up the hill. We were all
naked, and the soldiers with their pack saddles and their uniforms on and
their black horses looked like great big buffalo. The Sioux were all
riding up the hill. We saw one lone Indian on the hill going down toward
the soldiers, and the river. We could not see him as he came down the
hill, but we could see the smoke coming from under his horse's head, and
we all thought that he was going to make a charge on the soldiers, and we
all charged. It seemed as though that one Indian had the attention of all
the soldiers, and they were all firing at him. When we saw that the smoke
was all going toward the soldiers that gave us a chance to charge from
this side, and we all made a rush. When we made the charge we got them
all stampeded. For smoke and dust we could not see the soldiers as they
retreated toward the river. The Sioux were fresh, and we soon caught up
with them. We passed a black man in a soldier's uniform and we had him.
He turned on his horse and shot an Indian right through the heart. Then
the Indians fired at this one man, and riddled his horse with bullets.
His horse fell over on his back, and the black man could not get up. I
saw him as I rode by. I afterward saw him lying there dead. We fought
them until they rolled and tumbled and finally had to go into the river,
which was very deep. We made them cross the river. The country around
the river in those days was very heavily wooded. We chased some of the
soldiers into the woods, and others across the river and up the hill. I
did not know the name of the commander of the soldiers at that time, but I
afterward heard that