Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/317



THE SUMMER CAMPAIGN OF 1876—THE SIOUX AND CHEYENNES GETTING UGLY—RAIDING THE SETTLEMENTS—ATTEMPT TO AMBUSCADE CROOK—KILLING THE MAIL-RIDER—THE STORY OF THE FETTERMAN MASSACRE—LAKE DE SMET—OUR FIRST THUNDER STORM—A SOLDIER'S BURIAL—THE SIOUX ATTACK OUR CAMP—TROUT-FISHING—BEAR-HUNTING—CALAMITY JANE—THE CROW AND SHOSHONE ALLIES JOIN THE COMMAND—THE WAR DANCE AND MEDICINE SONG.

The lack of coöperation by the troops in the Department of Dakota had been severely felt; such coöperation had been promised and confidently expected. It needed no profoundly technical military mind to see that with two or three strong columns in the field seeking out the hostiles, each column able to hold its own against the enemy, the chances of escape for the Sioux and Cheyennes would be materially lessened, and those of success for the operations of either column, or both, perceptibly increased. But, with the exception of a telegram from General Custer, then at Fort Lincoln, dated February 27th, making inquiry as to the time fixed for the departure of the column under Reynolds—which question was answered by wire the same day—nothing had been heard of any column from the Missouri River camps going out after the Indians whom the authorities wished to have driven into the reservations.

With the opening of spring the phases of the problem presented greater complexity. The recalcitrant Indians were satisfied of their ability not only to elude pursuit but to present a bold front to the troops, and to whip them on the field of their choice. They had whipped us—so at least it seemed to them—on the 17th of March; why could they not do the same on any other day—the 17th of May, or the 17th of August? Crook determined to wait for the new grass, without which it would be impossible to campaign far away from the line of supplies, and to let the ground