St. Clair and Wayne 377 



the troops again and again worsted their Indian foes 

 even when the odds in numbers were two or three 

 to one against the whites. The difference between 

 these different classes of wars was partly accounted 

 for by change in weapons and methods of righting; 

 partly by the change in the character of the battle 

 grounds. The horse Indians of the plains were as 

 elusive and difficult to bring to battle as the Indians 

 of the mountains and forests ; but in the actual right 

 ing they had no chance to take advantage of cover in 

 the way which rendered so formidable their brethren 

 of the hills and the deep woods. In consequence their 

 occasional slaughtering victories, including the most 

 famous of all, the battle of the Rosebud, in which 

 Custer fell, took the form of the overwhelming of a 

 comparatively small number of whites by immense 

 masses of mounted horsemen. When their weapons 

 were inferior, as on the first occasions when they 

 were brought into contact with troops carrying 

 breech-loading arms of precision, or when they tried 

 the tactics of downright fighting, and of charging 

 fairly in the open, they were often themselves beaten 

 or repulsed with fearful slaughter by mere handfuls 

 of whites. In the years 1867-68, all the horse In 

 dians of the plains were at war with us, and many 

 battles were fought with varying fortune. Two 

 were especially noteworthy. In each a small body 

 of troops and frontier scouts, under the command 

 of a regular army officer who was also a veteran In 

 dian fighter, beat back an overwhelming Indian 

 force, which attempted to storm by open onslaught 



