INTRODUCTION. xxxi 



General Ouster and all the troops that were with him, 

 has created so much excitement in the United States, and 

 will probably lead to the almost immediate solution of 

 the Indian question, that I have ventured to give a 

 condensed account of the two principal events in the 

 campaign ; namely the fight on Eosebud Creek, on 

 June 17, 1876, with the column under the command 

 of General Crook ; and the massacre of General Custer 

 and his brave companions in arms on Sunday, June 25. 

 The United States troops " were divided into three 

 columns, which were set in motion to converge on the 

 country held by the Sioux. One of these columns came 

 from the West under General Gibbon, down the valley 

 of the Yellowstone, along the left bank of the river from 

 Fort Ellis, the march being commenced on April 1. 

 Another column came from the East under the officer in 

 supreme command, General Terry. He passed over the 

 Powder Eiver mountains into the valley of the Yellow- 

 stone ; and, his march being the shorter and easier, he 

 did not leave Fort Lincoln till May 11. The third 

 column, under General Crook, came up from the South, 

 having left Fort Fetterman on May 15. Thus these 

 expeditions were moving on a common centre from 

 hundreds of miles apart. As they approached the 

 country of the hostile Indians, the object was to feel for 

 the enemy, and to sweep by means of scouts large tracts of 

 these wild mountainous and desert lands. Gibbon had to 

 make sure that there were no Indians on the left bank of 

 the Yellowstone, that they had not passed over that river 

 and moved north ; and Terry, after he got on the scene, com- 

 menced feeling up the southern tributaries of the Yellow- 

 stone and seeking trails. When Gibbon reached the point 

 where the Eosebud Creek flows into the Yellowstone, he 

 found the Indians on the opposite side encamped eighteen 

 miles up the creek. Here he was joined by General Terry, 



