66 ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



were hastily preparing for battle and thought there were 

 not enough soldiers to encounter them. Custer told them 

 to go back with the packtrain, which they did. Mitch Buoy 

 also reported that it was the largest Indian village he had 

 ever seen, being over four miles long and containing fully 

 eighteen hundred lodges and about six thousand Indians, 

 and he also declared that Custer had not half enough soldiers 

 to fight them. Here General Custer gave him permission to 

 go to the rear, which he refused to do, saying: "I will go 

 in, but I will never come out," and, after discarding his hat, 

 he tied a handkerchief around his head and said that he was 

 ready for the battle. 



General Custer called his men together and told them 

 they had a hard fight ahead, but if each man would stand 

 at his post they would be victorious. Custer was then twen- 

 ty-four hours ahead of General Terry. He sent General 

 Reno to attack the camp at the head of the creek and with 

 the remainder of his command Custer himself struck the 

 village at the lower end. Reno had crossed the river with 

 part of his command when the Indians forced him back, 

 killing many of his soldiers, and completely overpowered 

 him. Reno recrossed the river, threw up breastworks and 

 made a stand. At this point Gaul with all his warriors 

 flanked Custer on the east, closing in on his rear, while the 

 Cheyennes occupied the north dry-gulch and the Sioux 

 came in along under the banks of the river, entirely sur- 

 rounding the soldiers, killing the entire command on June 

 25, 1876. When General Terry arrived on the field twenty- 

 four hours later, he found the soldiers all cold and stiff upon 

 the battlefield, scalped and mutilated beyond recognition. 

 Captain Renteen, who had been sent to remain with the pack 

 train, fell in with Reno and tried to bury the soldiers, but 

 found it a terrible undertaking and an impossible task. The 



