k through the villages, shooting into the teepees, killing
women and children.

At the head of these soldiers was a white chief, whom they called
Yellow Hair. He was a smashing, dashing, fearless soldier who
understood the Indian ways and haunts, and then used this knowledge
for the undoing of the Red Men.

Yellow Hair wanted to keep them in one little place all the time, and
desired that they should raise corn like cowardly Crows, when what
they wanted was to be free and hunt!

They feared Yellow Hair--and hated him.

Custer was a man of intelligence--nervous, energetic, proud. His
honesty and sincerity were beyond dispute. He was a natural Indian
fighter. He could pull his belt one hole tighter and go three whole
days without food. He could ride like the wind, or crawl in the grass,
and knew how to strike, quickly and unexpectedly, as the first streak
of dawn came into the East. Like Napoleon, he knew the value of time,
and, in fact, he had somewhat of the dash and daring, not to mention
the vanity, of the Corsican. His men believed in him and loved him,
for he marched them to victory, and with odds of five to one had won
again and again.

-------------------------------------

But Custer had the defect of his qualities; and to use the Lincoln
phrase, sometimes took counsel of his ambition.

He had fought in the Civil War in places where no prisoners were
taken, and where there was no commissary. And this wild, free life had
bred in him a habit of unrest--a chafing at discipline and all rules of
modern warfare.

Results were the only things he cared for, and power was his Deity.

When the Indians grew restless in the Spring of Seventy-six, Custer
was called to Washington for consultation. President Grant was not
satisfied with our Indian policy--he thought that in some ways the
Whites were the real savages. The Indians he considered as children,
not as criminals.

Custer tried to tell him differently. Custer knew the bloodthirsty
character of the Sioux, their treachery and cunning--he showed scars by
way of proof!

The authorities at Washington needed Custer. However, his view of the
case did not mean theirs. Custer believed in the mailed hand, and if
given the power he declared he would settle the Indian Question in
America once and forever. His confidence and assumption and what
Senator Dawes called swagger were not to their liking. Anyway, Custer
was attracting altogether too much atten