After we had killed Custer and all his men I did not think very much about
it. The soldiers fired into us first and we returned the fire.
Sitting-Bull had talked to us and all the tribes to make a brave fight and
we made it. When we had killed all the soldiers we felt that we had done
our duty, and felt that it was a great battle and not a massacre. With
reference to the real reason for this fight I may say that the talk among
the Indians was that they were going to compel us to stay on the
reservation and take away from us our country. Our purpose was to move
north and go as far north as possible away from the tribes. Our object
was not to fight the Crows or any other tribe, but we learned that the
soldiers were getting after us to try to compel us to go back on the
reservation, and we were trying to get away from them. During the Custer
fight our tents were not attacked, but after the battle the women gathered
up their dead husbands and brothers, and laid them out nicely in the
tepee, and left them. I understand that after we had left the tepees
standing, holding our dead, the soldiers came and burned the tepees.
According to my estimate there were about two thousand able-bodied
warriors engaged in this fight; they were all in good fighting order. The
guns and ammunition that we gathered from the dead soldiers of Custer's
command put us in better fighting condition than ever before, but the
sentiment ran around among the Indians that we had killed enough, and we
did not want to fight any more. There has been a good deal of dispute
about the number of Indians killed. About the closest estimate that we
can make is that fifty Sioux were killed in the fight, and others died a
short time afterward from their wounds.

[Two Moons as he fought Custer]

Two Moons as he fought Custer

THE STORY OF CHIEF TWO MOONS--CHEYENNE LEADER, AS TOLD WHERE CUSTER FELL

It was a September day. The hoarfrost had written the alphabet of the
coming winter--there was promise of snow. With Chief Two Moons and his
interpreter we climbed the dreary slopes leading to the monument and
graves of the Custer dead. Chief Two Moons took his position by the stone
which reads: "Brevet Major General George A. Custer, 7th U. S. Cavalry,
fell here June 26th, 1876." A tiny flag waved by this stone, marking the
spot where the hero made his last stand. The hills all about us wore a
sombre hu