Chapter 36
“I Ain’t A Friend Of Custer’s.” Johnny Cash
After Yellow Hair left the Turner ranch, he headed north toward Bosler. Along the way, people he met were talking about the Sioux massacre of General George Custer and two hundred and sixty four of his men at the Little Bighorn River in the Black Hills. The white people were afraid the Sioux and Cheyenne would be coming after the ranchers and slaughter their women and children and steal their livestock. They felt there weren’t enough horse soldiers in the entire Wyoming Territory to protect them.
A week before Custer’s death, General George Crook took about one thousand troops and three hundred Crow and Shoshone, who were some of the greatest horsemen, to fight against fifteen hundred members of the Lakota Sioux, the Throat Cutters and Cheyenne, known as the Finger Choppers, and the Kiowa, known as the Mouse People, at Rosebud Creek. The battle lasted for over six hours. It was the first time that all the tribes united together in such large numbers to fight the white man and it wouldn’t be the last.
A week later, General Custer and six hundred and fifty five men were sent out to locate the villages of the Sioux and Cheyenne involved in the battle at Rosebud Creek. He discovered their encampment on June 25, 1876 and estimated that it contained about ten thousand men, women and children. Unfortunately for Custer, he assumed the numbers were much less.
“Men, it looks like there are about two thousand braves, squaws and children in the encampment. We will attack them today. We don’t need to wait for General Terry to arrive with more troops.
Captain Benteen, you take your men and scout the range of hills about five miles from the village. Major Reno, you attack the village from the upper end of the Little Bighorn and I’ll strike further downstream.”
“In unison Captain Benteen and Major Reno replied.”Yes sir.
Get the men ready to head out sergeant”, they barked.
Sergeant Major Jim Mills issued the command to mount and Major Reno’s company of men was quickly in the saddle lined up in a column boot to boot Captain Benteen’s men weren’t far behind.
Major Reno and his men rode out toward the Little Bighorn River at a fast pace. It didn’t take them long before they discovered there were many more Sioux than the General thought. When they rode along the river, a party of close to seventeen hundred warriors appeared at the top of the hill led by Joseph Brown Thunder, known by the Calvary as Chief American Horse.
He raised his right hand, which was holding a feather laden spear, halting the warriors riding behind him.
Peering down at the soldiers below, Chief American Horse said: “Netdahe”, death to all intruders. With a blood curdling yell, He started down the steep slope, pointing his spear at Major Reno, with all seventeen hundred warriors closely behind him as they attacked the column of soldiers from the north.
The fighting was fierce.
“Damn, there are a helluva lot more injuns out there then the General thought”, Sergeant Major Jim Mills yelled.
Major Reno lost fifteen men before he was able to recover and head back to safety.
“Retreat, he cried! We’ll meet up with Captain Benteen and his men to form a battle line.” They turned and headed back to the river at a full gallop.
Soon Captain Benteen and his men rode up and joined them.
It wasn’t long before Chief American Horse and the warriors tired of trading insults and shots with the mila hanskas and decided to return to their village.
While Reno and Benteen were waiting for General Custer’s return, Custer was continuing his advance along the Little Bighorn when he stopped to rest.
“Men, dismount,” he called out.
While the men were resting from hours of hard travel in the saddle some warriors appeared above the river.
General Custer was leaning back on his elbow talking to his bugler, Joe Madison, when he saw the Sioux and Cheyenne along the ridge.
“Joe, sound “Boots and Saddles” Custer yelled as he quickly stood up, buckling his belt that held his saber and Colt .44 pistol.
At the sound of the bugle, the men ran to their horses slapping on their saddles and, standing at their horse’s head, waiting for the command to mount up.
“Prepare to mount. Mount”, General Custer yelled.
As each trooper got in their saddle they lined up boot to boot and then General Custer yelled, “Advance!” and all two hundred and sixty four of his men set out toward what they thought was a small war party of Sioux but what turned out to be more than four thousand Sioux and Cheyenne warriors.
Custer got his troopers into a gallop before he realized the number of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors was much greater than he imagined.
He knew his only chance was to shoot their horses and make their final stand behind their carcasses and hope General Terry and his men would arrive sooner than they were expected.
“Dismount, shoot your horses and dig in men”, Custer yelled as he brought his pistol up to the forehead of his black gelding and fired two quick rounds.
Private John Tuttle took a bullet through the head and fell by Custer’s side, stone dead. A long range rifle bullet smashed Lieutenant Charles Braden’s thigh bone but he kept on fighting. Another long-range Lakota rifle shot unhorsed Lieutenant Hiram Ketchum. It wasn’t long before the Lakota found him and removed his hair.
Unfortunately for Custer and all two hundred and sixty four of his men, General Terry and his men didn’t arrive in time and all were killed. Their scalps were taken as coup by the warriors to hang from their lodge poles.
A young warrior dismounted and ran over to the body of General George A. Custer. He pulled back his lifeless head and brought his knife down and cut into the skin along his forehead slicing backward removing the general’s scalp. He raised his bloody right hand holding the hair and whooped in delight for all of his friends to see and hear. They would be envious of him for getting this prized coup. This would be something he could brag about and all the warriors would soon know that he had killed the hated Yellow Hair.
The pain in his side caused him to lower his right arm and he looked down at the wound in his right chest. It was bleeding more now than it was before and he was feeling faint. When he returned to the village he would put kinnik-kinnik and tobacco juice on it to stop the bleeding.
He picked up the horse hair reins attached to his pony’s mouth and swung up on his back and trotted over to join the rest of the warriors for their victory ride home.