xxxiv INTR OD UCTION. 



was deceived into this belief; for, detaching several 

 troops, he ordered Colonel Eeno to pass up, enter the 

 valley, ford the river, and ride down on the village, 

 while he, making the detour below, crossed the river and 

 rode up, thus to hem the Sioux between the meeting 

 squadrons. On the bluff he left four troops in reserve, 

 with his pack mules and all the material. At the head 

 of five troops, as the General rode down the ridge he 

 raised his hat to the comrades he left behind, who 

 returned the salute with a loud cheer the last they ever 

 saw of Ouster. 



Eeno moved up the ridge in compliance with the 

 instructions he had received, descended the valley, 

 forded the river above the village, and formed in 

 open column. Then he advanced at a trot, the pace 

 gradually increasing until it broke into a gallop. The 

 resistance was not serious for a considerable distance, and 

 the first intimation of real danger was in the masses on 

 the bluffs of the valley, opposite those down which the 

 cavalry had descended. The fire became heavier and 

 heavier on the flank of the column as it moved, while 

 gradually the Indians gathered in force in front. The 

 pressure became greater and greater, till it pushed the 

 column towards the river, for all round the front 

 and the left flank the Indians had become massed in 

 overwhelming strength. Then, in order to secure the 

 shelter of the woods, Eeno dismounted his party. The 

 Indians, in their efforts to dislodge the whites, charged 

 across the plain, up and into the very trees. On they 

 came, riding ponies, or running on foot, at each charge 

 leaving many of their number before the wood from 

 which they had recoiled ; till, what happened in the 

 advance recurred in this attempt to defend an untenable 

 post. Soon the forest was penetrated at every point, and 

 the attack then was in flank and in rear as well as in front. 



