Custer was languishing in Washington after going there to testify against Secretary of War Belknap. Custer had believed that Belknap was guilty of corruption and taking bribes from crooked fort traders. He also named the president’s brother in his evidence. President Grant was furious and suspended Custer from active duty, even refusing to see him. Generals Sheridan and Terry appealed for Custer’s return to the Seventh Cavalry for the great push against the hostiles on the plains and eventually they got their way.
   Custer at last returned to the Seventh, albeit under the direct command of General Terry. General Sheridan’s plan was for a three pronged attack to catch the hostiles in a pincer like movement so they could not escape. This had the Seventh cavalry approaching from the east, Colonel Gibbon’s infantry from the north and General Crook pushing from the south. As yet nobody knew that Crook had already been beaten back by the Lakota and Cheyenne at the Rosebud. Terry and Custer travelled together from Fort Abraham Lincoln where they met up with Gibbon’s troops at the mouth of the Rosebud. The paddle steamer “Far West” was moored here and became their headquarters. Gibbon was taken ill there, as were several men. Terry ordered Custer to take his men southwest and scout the area for any Indians. He sent along a message that Custer was to send back word should he find any hostiles. If not, they would meet on the Little Bighorn River on the 26^th or 27^th June.
   As Custer received his final orders and was preparing to leave Terry said
   “Don’t be greedy Custer, wait for us,” to which Custer replied enigmatically “I won’t.”

Colonel Gibbon              General Terry

   Custer was offered extra men from the second cavalry and also Gatling guns but he turned both down, saying the heavy guns would slow his march. He had twelve troops of cavalry as well as his own Arikara scouts, some Crow scouts lent by Gibbon, a few Lakota scouts from the reservation and some white scouts such as Lonesome Charlie Reynolds and Mitch Bouyer. Also tagging along was Mark Kellogg, a reporter and two relatives – his brother Boston and his nephew Autie Reed.
   They soon picked up the trail of a vast number of Indians travelling towards the valley of the Little Bighorn although the trail was quite old. Custer pushed his men and horses as hard as possible trying to catch up with the hostiles. Anyone who knew him knew that he wanted to be first into the fight and that he probably would not wait for Terry and Gibbon, wanting all the glory for himself and for the Seventh Cavalry. His favourite Arikara scout was a man named Bloody Knife. Custer told him that if he could win just one more battle against the hostiles then he would become the Great Father and when he was Bloody Knife would have a huge house in Washington and would want for nothing. The vote for the Democratic candidate would take place on the 28^th June so he must have his victory by then and the news of the victory must reach the convention at St. Louis by the morning of the 28^th at the latest.
   All the scouts, both Indian and white told Custer that the number of Indians ahead was more than had probably been seen together at any time on the plains. Bloody Knife himself told Custer that they did not have enough bullets to fight and kill all the Indians in the valley of the Little Bighorn. Custer was shown the village from a
   vantage point that he named “The Crows Nest” with the scouts stressing the immense size of the pony herd and the number of people that implied. He could not or would not see it.

   Custer with Bloody Knife

   The supplies were being carried by mule. The mule train was particularly slow and hard to deal with, the packers being inefficient, tying packs badly, losing goods etc. A large force of soldiers was always behind acting as guards and support to the pack train. Although the weather was hot and dry and the soldiers column was pushing up clouds of dust Custer still believed they had not been seen by the Indians. When he was told that Indians had discovered a pack, which had fallen from a mule, he thought that this meant that they were now discovered. He decided to push towards the village at top speed and attack as soon as possible before the Indians could organise their defence. He pushed his exhausted men and horses towards the village. Custer summoned Captain Benteen and ordered him to take three companies of cavalry at an angle of about forty-five degrees and scout a ridge of high bluffs about two miles away. He should be prepared to pitch into any Indians he found. If he found none he was to move on to the next line of bluffs, then the next and so on. Benteen was stunned by this order as he knew full well where the Indians village was but Custer would have no argument. From the start Benteen saw no sign of an Indian trail, in fact no sign of Indians at all, but he had his orders. Major Reno was ordered to take direct command of companies A, G and M.
   Suddenly the Arikara scouts stopped in alarm. In front of them was a burial tipi. The scouts then decided they would not go any further and they would not go to fight the Sioux. There were too many. “Take their guns from them and let them return to their women,” ordered Custer but even this insult would not move them. Eventually Custer ordered them to attack the tipi, which they did, Strikes Two getting first coup with his riding whip. Young Hawk was just behind and slashed the tipi open from top to ground. The body wrapped in a buffalo robe was that of Old She Bear who had been killed at the rosebud fight. Not one of Custer’s command who viewed the body seems to have noticed that this warrior had died of bullet wounds and bore several signs of battle. A newer trail coming in from the left was obviously that of a large war party but the knowledge of this was ignored also. Reno stood up in his stirrups and suddenly saw a group of Indians sitting their horses calmly, with no sign of surprise or alarm, watching him. There were about twenty men in sight meaning probably another forty to a hundred hidden in ambush. Reno and some of his scouts moved towards them but the Indians always kept the distance between them. Reno did not chase them far. When he returned Custer was sure the village was up ahead, probably no more than two miles in front. He ordered Reno to take his men and attack the village. The whole outfit would then support him. Reno and his troops galloped towards the village.

The village on the Little Bighorn River was the largest village that had ever been seen on the plains. There were Hunkpapa, Minneconjou, Sans Arcs, Oglalas, Brule, Blackfoot Sioux, Yanktons and Santees representing the Sioux. They were joined by Cheyennes and some Arapaho.
   At Bear Buttes in the sacred Black Hills where the summer council was held in the past, the tipis were arranged in a huge circle made up of smaller circles. This formation was not possible at the site on the Little Bighorn due to the large numbers present and the actual site of the village. Each group therefore had it’s own circle of tipis and these stretched for three and a half miles down the river. In the middle of the village stood the Great Council Lodge, a huge tipi with poles eighteen feet long, the cover painted in sacred symbols. In the Cheyenne village stood the lodge of The Sacred Buffalo Hat, their most sacred of symbols. There were between three and five thousand warriors in the village counting boys of fighting age and old men. There were twenty thousand ponies in the vast herd.
   There were several reasons for this vast number of Sioux and their allies: 1) It was June, the time of year when the Sioux traditionally met up for their summer council. All the sub tribes of the Lakota would attend this. This would normally be held in the Black Hills but white encroachment had forced a change of venue. 2) The “peaceful” Indians who were living on the reservations were, for the most part starving hungry due to either crooked agents, delays in getting goods to them or the basic uneatability of goods when they arrived. With the coming of the fine weather many families slipped away from the reservations to hunt for food and join up with their “wild” cousins for the summer. 3) The winter had been particularly fierce. Despite an order to the effect that any Indian who did not report to a reservation by January 31^st 1876 would be deemed hostile no Lakota or Cheyenne on the plains had been able to obey. As of February 1^st they were indeed deemed hostile so most thought they may as well stay out on the plains anyway. 4) Some Cheyenne and a few Lakota had tried to get into the agency after the deadline had passed. The Cheyenne were led by Two Moons and the Oglala Lakota by He Dog, a close friend of Crazy Horse. While they camped one day on the way in they were attacked by a troop of cavalry under the command of Colonel Joseph J. Reynolds, General Crook’s second in command. The Indians put up a spirited defence and many managed to flee. Some even gave chase after the fight and retrieved the pony herd that had been driven off by the cavalry. The village and everything in it was burnt. Cold and hungry these people made their way back to the village of Crazy Horse where they were welcomed and fed. This large number of people helped to swell the numbers at the Little Bighorn.
   During the Sun Dance of 1876 Tatanka Iyotanka (Sitting Buffalo Bull) had offered up one hundred pieces of flesh. These small pieces of flesh were cut from his arms as he stood staring into the sun. At length he collapsed and when he came round he told his people of the vision he had been sent. He said he had heard a voice saying, “I give you these because they have no ears.” When he looked he saw soldiers falling into the village like grasshoppers, but they were falling upside down with their hats falling off.
   Because the white man would not listen Wakan Tanka had given these soldiers to the Indians to kill. This was considered a great omen and a sign of victory. This added confidence to the anger that the Indians felt against the white man.
   On the 17^th June the warriors of the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho fought on the Rosebud River the approaching forces of General George Crook. The cavalry was beaten to a standstill and would probably have been thoroughly beaten if it had not been for the large number of Crow and Shoshone scouts they had with them. The following day Crook retreated from the field, removing one part of the proposed pincer movement. Sitting Bull told his people that this was not the victory of his vision; that was still to come. Confidence increased among the Indians because of this battle.

Crazy Horse                      Sitting Bull

Major Marcus Reno led his men into a charge towards the village. They fired into the Hunkpapa camp but were met by fierce opposition almost immediately. The village chiefs and councillors had been meeting in the Great Lodge when the attack started and they rushed back to their villages when the alarm went up. Sitting Bull and the war chief Gall hurried to the Hunkpapa village where Sitting Bull rallied his warriors and helped organise the escape of the women and children. Gall found his wife and one of his children killed by the soldier bullets fired into the camp. He cut his hair and gashed his body in mourning but could not yet afford the time to mourn properly. Warriors were pouring through the village, some not even making the necessary preparations for war in their haste to fight off the attackers. In charge of the first defence was Black Moon, a young Warrior Society leader but he was killed early on in the battle. Gall and Crow King now took over directing the warriors aided by warriors and chiefs such as Knife Chief, Red Horse and Kills Eagle. Instantly Reno was under severe pressure and he formed skirmish lines in an attempt at making a fight of it. His left flank crumpled very quickly. The pressure was increased as new warriors arrived from further up the village led by Crazy Horse and Hump. Reno ordered a retreat to a stand of trees but the battle intensified and it was found not to be easily defended. Indians could creep through the trees and undergrowth, getting in close to kill the soldiers. As Reno was talking to Bloody Knife, the Arikara’s head burst open, showering Reno with brains. A Sioux bullet had ended the life of a most hated enemy, a traitor in the Indians’ eyes, especially as his mother had been a Sioux.
   Reno ordered his men to mount up and they made a mad dash for towards a ridge across the river. There he could be seen by Custer when he decided to give them the support he had promised. Ammunition was getting dangerously low and he also hoped to join up with the pack train for more bullets. Amongst the thick dust and smoke they made their dash for the ridge. The smoke was sending the horses crazy and Indians waved blankets at them to scare them even more. They knew that cavalry with no horses are usually a poor fighting force. Reno’s force was completely surrounded by Indians at this point but he led a charge towards the river and the
   Indians parted in front of him, forcing the troopers to ride through a crossfire of bullets and arrows. The Indians particularly concentrated at the good river crossing and this was therefore cut off from Reno’s men. They were forced down a narrow ford cut through a high earth bank with another steep climb out the other side. Indians on foot were running about down there, getting into position, while six to seven hundred warriors on horseback swarmed across the bottoms. The troopers were relying on their pistols as they rode along but the skilled Indians were sliding to the far side of their ponies and shooting from beneath their heads, taking a dreadful toll on the soldiers. The youths and boys of the village rode through the battleground collecting the empty cavalry horses as well as their own dead and wounded. As guns ran out of ammunition the warriors closed in, swinging clubs and knives, wrestling soldiers from the saddle.

   Major Marcus Reno

   At the ford, Reno ordered his men to cross single file but no-one could hear him now and the horses plunged into the water, getting wedged in the tight gap, men fighting for the yard wide outlet on the other side. Warriors were leaping into the river to continue the fight with club and knife. After the first few troopers got out of the river the bank became slippery with the wet and then began to crumble under the desperate pawing of the shod hooves. The toll at the river was very high on Reno’s men but at last those who had survived made it to the top of the ridge. There was still no sign of the pack train so Reno sent a man galloping off to find it. The Indian scouts who had stayed with Reno now abandoned him and made a run over the ridge towards the mouth of the Powder River and nobody could blame them. By now the Indians had reached the high ridges around Reno’s position and were raining arrows and bullets onto his troops. The soldiers dug rifle pits with whatever they had to hand; knives, tin cups, bits of wood. The beleaguered troops wondered about Custer. Where was he? Why had he not come in support as promised? Nobody though could answer the question.

As Benteen and his battalion drew further and further from the command he knew he had to make a decision soon. There was no Indian sign anywhere and no sign of water for the thirsty men or horses. Benteen had considered his orders militarily senseless from the start and now he decided to ignore them. He recalled his advance guard and cut diagonally across to the probable direction of Custer’s advance. At last they reached the trail of Custer’s horses but there was still no trail of mules so Benteen knew the pack train was still lagging behind badly. He spent fifteen minutes watering his horses and, as his battalion lined up again, the advance mules of the pack train thundered up, the men unable to stop their mad dash for the water they smelled ahead.

   Captain Fredrick Benteen

   The lead mules plunged straight into the bogs, some instantly up to their packs in mud. Benteen could not spare the time to help in their extrication so he moved his troops along Custer’s trail. Before long Benteen saw a man riding full gallop towards them. It was trumpeter Martin, a native Italian who had a poor command of the English language. He carried a note from Lieutenant Cooke, Custer’s adjutant reading “Benteen come on. Big village. Be quick, bring packs. W.W. Cooke.” With a postscript “brng pacs” (sic). Benteen could see no sign of a fight ahead so asked Martin what was happening. The reply he got in broken English was to the effect that the village was trying to run away.  Unaware of the further split in the command Benteen did not even ask Martin about Reno, and Martin did not volunteer any information. He did say that by now Custer would have made a charge through the village. The limited information seemed to reduce the urgency so instead of hurrying back to the packs he gave another note to Martin and sent him back to the pack train on a fresh horse. Martin’s own horse was played out and had taken a bullet in the hip.
   This should have been a clue to Benteen that the packs were desperately needed but he did not seem to see the significance. He did decide however that the need for packs was probably not as important as the need for his men and the ammunition they carried with them. Therefore he ordered a brisk trot along the trail. Eventually he heard gunfire in the distance and made his way to the sound. The sound of battle grew louder and more continuous and the Captain ordered a gallop with pistols drawn expecting to see the Indians around every bend with Custer driving them towards him. He was forming a line when he came into full view of the Little Bighorn valley and he stopped his troopers.
   The river valley was full of dust and smoke but through field glasses Benteen could see a scattered engagement about two miles down. Several Indians appeared behind the bluffs whipping up a small herd of ponies. They were Crow scouts. One of them shouted “Many Sioux” to Benteen and made the sign of “Big fight”. Another pointed back along the top of the ridge where Benteen could see soldiers coming together, converging towards a point where a man gestured towards a banner, gesturing direction and haste. Benteen was shocked. The man was not Custer as he had expected but Major Marcus Reno.

When the men with Reno saw Benteen’s battalion loud cheers went up from them, cheers intended for Custer’s troops. Indeed they thought they were at last getting the support Custer had promised them. The Indians stopped momentarily when they saw the new troops, enabling Benteen to get to Reno’s position. Reno was overjoyed to see the Captain and his men although he was by now furious over what he saw as Custer’s betrayal.
   Benteen’s first question was “Where is Custer?” still not realising that the command had been split. Reno exploded back with “I don’t know” and Benteen showed him the note from Custer requesting packs. Reno however had no idea where Custer might be. Benteen sent a man back to hurry on the pack train then the two officers returned to the defence of the position. Although the gunfire was deafening around them it was the bowmen who were doing the real damage, raining arrows into the position amongst the horses and wounded. Arrows gave no clue as to the position of the warrior firing them as a rifle’s powder flash and gunsmoke would. The bluffs around Reno’s position were now covered with warriors shooting into the soldiers and more brave young men were crawling up like snakes to loose arrows into them.
   There were still many Indians down near the river yet the expected attack did not come giving the soldiers time to throw up breastworks as some defence. Thirst was proving to be the great enemy. There was no water up on the ridge, the nearest was in the stream at the bottom. Reno gathered a small party of volunteers and they made their way down to the river. The guns of the Indians broke into a new string of explosions and arrows pierced the air around them as they made their way towards the water. Two men were wounded and another died on the run across an open stretch of ground but the others flung themselves flat and started to fill up the canteens and kettles with bullets thudding into the mud around them. Too many men were hit and one particular Indian sharpshooter took pleasure in either puncturing the canteens or knocking them from the soldiers’ hands.
   The order to retreat was given and the men returned up the hill with their pitifully small supply of water. When Reno got back to his command Lieutenant Hare was coming in with a couple of mules loaded with ammunition. Lieutenant Hare was surprised by how easily he had got through. He had seen many Indians riding northwards. In fact the firing was slackening off all around Reno’s position as Indians left this particular fight and went north. Many warriors remained to keep the soldiers where they were but many more were leaving. The soldiers listened for distant gunshots but could hear none. With the apparent lack of Indians in the vicinity fourteen men ran from the cover of the trees where they had been hiding since Reno left the woodland. They were fired on by five Indians watching the river but managed to reach Reno’s position, explaining that they had lost their horses and hidden, mainly because they had wounded with them. Suddenly there was a volley of fire far off down river. Reno formed a column and rode off towards the sound of the firing hoping to join up with Custer and relieve his battered men on Reno Hill. They stopped on the highest bluff and looked down river. They could hear nothing but the air ahead was full of dust and smoke with a spreading cloud above it. About two miles off groups of horsemen stood together identifiable as Indians but nobody understood what they were doing.
   Suddenly the soldiers were seen by a group of Indians and what seemed like several thousand warriors raced towards them in long strips coming up the hill. Major Reno knew he could not fight them and gave the order for a hasty withdrawal towards the scant protection of Reno Hill.

   Looking up at Reno's Bluffs

   Reno and Benteen’s troop remained pinned down on Reno Hill until the evening of the 26^th when the Indians suddenly melted away and the huge village was disappearing away downstream. They had survived two days of attack with little sleep and little water. The night of the 25^th had been a noisy one with a dance going on in the village beneath them. Nobody could understand why such a large dance should be held in the middle of a battle although it was suggested that maybe it was to celebrate their forcing Custer to turn tail and run away. If anyone thought that it was to celebrate a bigger victory, and probably nobody even thought this, it was never voiced.
   Custer’s luck would always come through.

Instead of riding in support of Reno’s charge into the village Custer ordered his battalion to the right, behind a low ridge that hid him from Reno’s men, and up a shallow ravine to the rougher, barer heights back from the river. Once away from the other battalions Custer led his men at a gallop up along the slopes towards the Little Bighorn that lay about two miles away. Custer sent the scouts White Swan and Half Yellow Face ahead to see what the Indians were doing. They went but joined Reno’s scouts and never returned to Custer. Later the four remaining Crow scouts were sent ahead on the same mission. The column slowed as they waited for their return.
   The Crows returned with news of a huge camp stretching down the river valley with many mounted Indians charging back and forth at the upper end, engaged in the fight against Reno. With this news Custer again spurred his men on at speed, they cloud of dust they kicked up almost obliterating them from view. The already exhausted and thirsty horses soon began to drag, being whipped and spurred forwards, although some still began to lag behind. Coming to a low place along the ravine Custer'’ men could see Reno'’ battalion in action along the valley. A cheer broke out from the men and some charged ahead but Custer stood in his stirrups and shouted after them, “Hold your horses boys, there are plenty of Indians down there for all of us.” He then moved forward again, more and more horses playing out and dropping behind.

   Tom Custer

   Sergeant Kanipe was ordered to return to the pack train with a message to move up quickly with the ammunition as a large Indian village was up ahead, with an added order that if he was to see Captain Benteen he should tell him to hurry up.
   Rounding a big bend in the hill Custer went to the edge of a high point and looked down upon an Indian village where only women and children seemed to be around and exclaimed to his adjutant Cooke, “Looks like we’ve caught them napping.” He then waved his hat in the air and gave a cheer shouting to his men, “Hooray boys! We’ll get them and as soon as we have them we’ll go back to our station.” He turned right and along the back of a second rise, then across the point of a draw that led down a slope to the river, with more villages coming into sight.
   It was true that the Indians had been caught napping. They knew the soldiers were in the vicinity but they also thought that their village was so big that nobody would dare to attack it. Because of this overconfidence there was no defence strategy in place. Hence Reno being able to get so close to the village in the first place. The Indians did not realise who was attacking them either. They thought it was probably Crook’s soldiers who they had recently fought on the Rosebud, coming back for another fight.

   Lieutenant James Calhoun

   It was a Cheyenne warrior who eventually realised as he stripped the tunic from one of Reno’s troopers. He recognised the symbol on the tunic as being the same as that worn by the soldiers at the Washita where his wife and mother had been killed. He gave a great shout and ran around showing off the tunic. Suddenly the warriors in the Reno fight realised that more soldiers were riding towards the village further up the ridge. Crazy Horse, Gall and Knife Chief had a rapid conference before calling the warriors on their eagle wing whistles to join them in the defence of the helpless ones in the village. Some warriors were left behind to keep Reno pinned down but many more left to make war on this new threat. Crazy Horse knew that they would be pushed for time to cut off the advance of these new soldiers but they had to get there. Suddenly they saw four riders leave the village further up the valley. These were four Cheyenne warriors who had also seen the troops and had raced out to meet the threat, firing at the soldiers as they went. This extremely brave act gave the warriors from the Reno fight time to gather themselves and even some like Crazy Horse returned to the village for fresh ponies.

   As the scouts had warned Custer, there was no ford across the river but from his vantage point Custer could see the Indians gathering to fight him. It was then that he got Cooke to write the message to Benteen to bring the packs. The column galloped on, swinging left to cross the river and make for the villages beyond. Unbeknown to them Indians swarmed up the ravines and coulees leading from the river, preparing an ambush. This was suddenly sprung as hundreds of Indians on foot suddenly seemed to appear from the ground firing into the troops.
   Gall and Crow King also appeared with their mounted followers pushing the troops from the rear and side. The Crow scouts made a rapid departure at this time, not wishing to stay and be killed with their white masters. The warriors from the Reno fight rode against the new soldiers with the power of victory in them. Some carried scalps at their belts, others wore captured blue clothing, and some carried new rifles and ammunition captured from Reno’s soldiers. While the Indians from the east and north east of Reno Hill went along the back slope of the heights towards Custer’s men, those from the river side were led by Gall in a swing low down around the left to cut the troopers off from the village beyond. The warriors further down, towards the villages were crossing the river anywhere they could, many at the pony ford near the mouth of Medicine Tail Creek. Some spread upwards into the ravines, cut banks and washouts, leaving the horses hidden to creep up on the enemy.
   A few did charge boldly into the open but in an organised fashion as Crazy Horse and Gall had suggested. This was not a day for personal glory above all else; this was a fight to protect the lives of their women and children in the villages. They must strike hard and strike to defeat the enemy who had dared to attack their great summer conference, something that had never happened before. No army had ever come shooting against a Sioux camp of any size since Little Thunder’s Brule were attacked at Blue Water twenty years before. For that massacre too there would be punishment today.

 There was now a hesitant stopping and starting in Custer’s movement along the high backbone. He led his men down to the dry gullies and across towards the ridge that ran parallel to the river. More Indians swarmed over the stream and from above. They swept some of the horses of the rear troops against those ahead while more warriors came up the rugged ravine that led to the nose of the ridge ahead of Custer. The first solid return of fire from the soldiers was from horseback and brought down two warriors and a few ponies, driving the foremost warriors back for better cover. The dismounted warriors would then snake forward using all available cover to drop arrows among the soldiers’ horses, which became too excited and jumpy to allow good aim from their backs. The horses were further agitated by young braves running around them waving blankets, unsaddling soldiers as they reared up. Eventually many of the soldiers dismounted, every fourth man holding the horses while the other three fired into the attacking Indians. Indians were hit in repeated volleys but more came, some riding captured horses, some in uniforms from Reno’s men, hard to detect as enemies in the smoke and dust, enabling them to get close to the soldiers. Finally the troopers began to make their way backwards, retreating up the slope, helping the injured, trying to make little stands, not only to hold the Indians back but to steady the nerves of the raw recruits who were ready to panic and flee. A heavy crossfire broke out around the soldiers and more fell every minute. Lieutenant Sturgis had taken a platoon into a deep gully leading to the river but almost at once Crazy Horse and his followers pinned them down, aided by the Cheyenne under their main leader Lame White Man. The soldiers’ horses were now wild with terror and were basically unridable, so some of the troopers rein hobbled their mounts by tying one rein short to a forefoot. Seeing this Lame White Man and his Cheyenne attacked leaving no time for the soldiers to untie their horses and they died still reaching for the reins. Calhoun and his troop were trying to make a stand at the back of the ridge where the smoke and dust was so thick it was impossible to tell friend from foe. One man, his horse played out, attempted to run towards his fellows but went down under arrow and war club. Gall and his warriors joined in the attack of Calhoun, his braves jumping up from behind cover to loose an arrow before ducking down behind cover again. This drew soldiers’ fire and wasted bullets. Finally Calhoun’s horse was shot from beneath him but he sprang to another horse to rally his men. At last he fell. Gall withdrew slightly and with Crow King massed their mounted warriors and charged with a great whooping. Those on foot acted as sharpshooters in Calhoun’s men as Gall and Crow King’s mounted men whipped their horses into a charge into and over them. The troopers went down like ninepins under war club, knife and lance but a couple of important Indians were lost too. This infuriated the Indians who charged northward to Keogh’s men, getting some who hadn’t scattered out to run along the ridge to Custer.

Crow King                       Gall

   Many soldiers were now running towards Custer, but some ran down the slope to meet an onslaught of Indians coming up, their loose horses captured by youths and young women coming across the river. The young riders continued to ride along the ridge through Calhoun’s and Keogh’s dead looking for wounded warriors and their own dead.

   Lame White Man was leading a strong charge of Cheyenne and Oglala against the troops of Yates and Tom Custer while more Sioux were creeping up to help against the grey horse troop held in the gully. Lame White Man had fought well that day and was wearing a blue coat he had captured. In the thick cloud of dust and smoke a Lakota mistook him for an army Indian scout and shot him dead. Two Moons then took over as war chief of the Cheyenne. The Indians were so infuriated by the death of Lame White Man that they doubled their efforts against the troops and charged them repeatedly until all were dead or running towards Custer’s hill. In the meantime Crazy Horse was leading his Oglala up the slopes in one attack after another until his horse played out. He returned to the village for a fresh mount. From there he rode down the river leading many Sioux and Cheyenne across the river around the end of Custer’s ridge and towards a ravine behind it. This was to cut off the escape of the cavalry that he feared. As Crazy Horse rode on more and more warriors came up behind him until his horse was the point of a big arrow.
   They reached the upper ravine just as the Indians from the river side pushed the soldiers up to the end of the ridge. With a great whooping the fresh warriors charged the back of the group of soldiers using mostly arrows, spears and clubs. The first charge by Crazy Horse’s warriors broke over the top of the ridge and circled the troopers on Custer Hill, the cluster of men fighting from behind their dead horses now, the warriors cutting off any who tried to escape. Hundreds of warriors circled, charged and circled again, the noise deafening, the smoke and dust choking. The circle of troopers got smaller as the number of dead increased, the soldiers not helped by their carbines which were prone to jamming cartridges in the breech. No Flesh killed the standard bearer and tore the banner from his hand while another warrior rode straight through the small circle of soldiers. He was followed by a whole charge and the soldiers went down under hoof, spear and club, but a few were still alive and they jumped up together, running towards the river. The warriors ran them down like newborn buffalo calves, striking them down, looking for more, until suddenly there were no more.
   Two hundred and two men had perished with Custer that day, including his brothers Tom and Boston, his nephew Autie Reed and his brother in law, Calhoun. Two hundred and sixty five white men died including Reno and Benteen’s men.