Connor. (It was afterward named Fort Reno by me.) Connor
immediately pushed on to the Crazy Woman Mountain fork of Powder River and
then to the east base of the Big Horn Mountains, following that to the
Tongue River and down the Tongue until James Bridger, the chief scout and
guide of the expedition, claimed to have seen the smoke a long distance
away, of an Indian camp. No one else could see it, but, as a precaution,
Connor sent out the Pawnee scouts, and on August 27th they discovered
about 2,000 Indians camped on the Tongue River, near the mouth of Wolf
Creek. It is a singular fact that in this vicinity General Crook fought
his great battle on the Rosebud, the Custer massacre occurred, and it was
not very far away that the Phil Kearney disaster occurred, when Lieutenant
Fetterman and his whole command was slaughtered. General Connor
immediately corralled the trains and took his available forces, about 250
men, and marched all night and struck this band at daylight, giving them a
complete surprise. They were Arapahoes under Black Bear and Old David,
with several other noted chiefs. The band was just breaking up their camp,
but the Indian soldiers rallied and fought desperately. Captain H. E.
Palmer, A. A. G., with General Connor, gives this description of the
attack:

The word was passed back for the men to close up and follow the
General and not to fire a shot until he fired in advance. General
Conner then took the lead, riding his horse up the steep bank of the
ravine and dashing out across the mesa as if there were no Indians
just to his left. Every man followed as close as possible. At the
first sight of the General the Indian ponies grazing on the table-land
in front of us sent up a tremendous whinnying, and galloped down
toward the Indian village. More than 1,000 dogs began to bark, and
more than 700 Indians made the air ring with their fearful yelling. It
appeared that the Indians were in the act of breaking camp. The most
of their tepees were down and packed for the march. The ponies, more
than 3,000, had been gathered in and most of the squaws and children
were mounted, some of them having taken the line of march up the
stream to the new camp. The General watched the movements of his men
until he saw the last man emerge from the ravine, when he wheeled on
the left into line. The whole line then fired a volley into the
village without stopping