The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-11

above General Custer was to go south,
end l went with him
Lead me to the place where l can
cross to the north, Custer said.
I did 50. and from a rock [ again
showed hin the Sioux camp. I said TO
General Custer:
We've got too big a mouthfuk'
| iaeaning We have bitten off more than
We can chew. but General custer said
&c, and Major Reno crossed the river
anu began fighting the Sioux.
SIOUX were my enemies and ] was
sfaa. begged Custer to let me go with
Reno. but he said No Reno did not
go lar' maybe half mile. and then
ne turned back. When | saw them run
mn gtoWard the river asked General
| .uster again to let me go, but he said
No then asked the great general
70 cross the creek right away and
make the attack. but again he said
NO, the day is long. Wen watch Reno
iisht ms tight out and then I'll fight
Viewing the Fight
Ihree times ! said We should fight, but
| each time the white chief shook his head,
ana then said to me. White Man Runs
Slfa' you're not here to fight You're a
scout I'll plan the fight
could do nothing except what my
great chief told me. / sat beside him
on my pony, and watched Major Reno
ana ms men As [ see it now. most Of
the fight was a retreat. could see the
men in blue coats falling from their
horses by Sioux bullets as they came
back toward us. Then / left General
custer and went to the banks of the
| river l picked six men from the water
as they came to our side.
4 also saved the life of an officer.
tie was without arms His sword. his
| revolver. his rife all were gone. put
him pehind me on my pony and took him
/ 10 camp. Then a cavalry horse came
down the stream with his saddle under
his belly and I got him. In all I saved
| seven men and one horse
When Major Reno got back on our
side the Sioux gathered on a little knoll
ana we watched them. 1t was then only
about II o'clock. General Custer said:
Now | am going into this fight You
take me to that camp from another di-
| recton.'
| with General Custer and his men we
made half circle, a long one. and then
we doubled back and I put him on the
edge of the Sioux camp, right near the
| river. The river banks were full and
| the troops and the Indians were facing
each other within easy range. The fir
/ ing was hot 1t was so hot that General
| Custer wanted me to lead him to a ford
We could not have forded, though, and
| the firing grew hotter
In the Thick of the Battle
We retreated a little toward hog
| back sort of hill. There the General or
dered his men to drop from their horses.
Every fourth man took four horses and
| this weakened the force 1t was now
| nearly noon. The horses were taken to
the side of the hill and the soldiers kept
up hot fire from the sides of the hog
back
General Custer was at the top of the
| little ridge. Here was the great trouble
II we had crossed the river before the
enemy had come together directly op-
posite us and before the firing was so
bad we might have split them. We
had not begun to fire at all until this
order came to dlsmount I and the other
| Crows had been shooting, but the troops
had not.
I'm the battle now all of the men lay
down to fire, all except General Custer
He knat throughout the fighting | lay
on my belly beside him, loading and fir
ing as fast as | could. We could see
the Sioux coming on, coming on, coming
on, the war bonnets increasing every
minute. At times the clouds of dust and
smoke were so thick we could not tell
a war bonnet from a bunch of sage
brush The noise was great, the shoot
ing and the yelling.
/ asked 1enerdI custer TO lie down
and shoot as his men were doing He
said No When l spoke to him he re-
called that l was scout, not a soldier,
and he said to me-
@ Get out of this and go back as fast
as you can Go back to Major Reno and
tell him to hurry and bring all the
ammunition he can
Obeying Orders
General Custer was my chief. I had
| to obey him. but l did not want to go.
| was fighting against my enemies IIe
was fighting them. too. l wanted to
stay. 1 have wished that l had stayed
and gone down with the Others
would have been buried on the hog
back with the soldiers and my friends.
But l started back toward Major
Reno. | had not gone far when I met
Captain Benteen. His men We're with
Thin and the mules and the powder and
bullets. Then l looked toward the hog
back and | saw gray horses runnin e
loose. l then knew that the men who
led the horses had been called in, for
none of the Sioux had gray horses
"All | could see on the hill was n
cloud of smoke. with-fashes of fire The
Indians We're gathering closer and closer
up the sides of the hog back. The dust
covered everything. But / could see
the war bonnets all around the hill
and nearer the top of the hill. Then
there was nothing but smoke, dust war
bonnets, more war bonnets and the
fight was finished.
Il do not know what time this was.
but it was some time between I and .
in the afternoon. Then | kept on back
fought part of the way. l found Ma
Jor Reno with the horses and mules and
they were fighting too. | joined them
and | said to an Officer don't know
his name:
Let hs get off into the valley.
where we can have something to fight
behind
This we tried to do. and finally did,
lighting behind the dead bodies of
horses and mules. There we fought un-
til nearly sundown. Then | said to Ma
jor Reno:
am thursty. I must have water
He told me l might go and get it,
but the Sioux would kin me If / went
toward the river. Then | told him l
would go toward the mountains. where
knew | could find springs. was
naked. | had my rifle. | met Sioux
who had fine horse. He tried to stop
me- We fought. | killed him and | got
the Morse. 1t was all that | got in the
fight.
Cold and Heartsick
That night it rained and | stood under
tree was cold and heartsick | had
seen the end of the great Custer
IN the morning l started on I had
not gone far when | met the soldiers.
hundreds of them, going toward the place
OF the fight. They stopped me. | tried
to makes them understand The leader
was General Terry, but did not know It.