68 ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



only Custer and a pitifully small number survived. We then 

 came to the center of death where forty men and their 

 horses succumbed to a relentless foe, whose numbers were 

 six thousand. Although they had been surrounded on ev- 

 ery side with a desperate enemy, possessing advantage of 

 ground, and having a concentrated fire pouring into their 

 decimated ranks, they yet fought like demons from behind 

 their dead horses until exterminated. 



A little further on, I found a small wooden cross. On 

 this was a slip of paper containing the following: "Here 

 is where Custer fell." Other crosses told of Colonel Keogh, 

 Co. I, Seventh Cavalry ; Wild, Co. I, Seventh Cavalry ; J. J. 

 Crittenden, Lieutenant Twentieth Infantry ; and Balzar Cus- 

 ter. Although General Reno was close at hand, and dis- 

 patches were sent to him from Custer by Muggins Taylor, 

 who took his life in his hand to serve his country and de- 

 livered the messages faithfully, and,, although Reno signally 

 failed to assist Custer and was branded a coward, the very 

 nature of the valley and the bad-land hills, would indicate 

 the sheer impossibility of his help reaching the battlefield 

 in time to rescue the brave fellows on that ill-fated day. 

 We returned from the field sick at heart, but, after a restful 

 night we concluded to pass another day there, as many 

 points of interest had not been seen. 



We started early, determined to make 'the rounds of the 

 dead line occupied by the enemy. On the edge of Dry Creek, 

 on the ridge and in the coulee, we found thousands of cart- 

 ridge shells lying in piles, each pile showing clearly where 

 each warrior was situated. From these points almost the 

 whole battlefield could be seen, and the savages under cover 

 could pour in a deadly fire without exposing themselves. 

 We made the round of the entire firing line, finding empty 

 shells by the thousand, fifty calibre needle-guns, Henry rifles 



