INTRODUCTION. xxxvii 



well was this gallant act performed that a full supply was 

 obtained at the cost of five lives. As Dr. De Wolf had 

 been killed, Dr. Porter alone remained to attend to the 

 wounded, the number of whom increased rapidly. About 

 noon on the 26th a change became evident. The Indians, 

 who had covered the country for miles and had blocked 

 every avenue, vanished from the bluffs and all the ground 

 around presently the valley became the scene of re- 

 newed commotion ; the lodges were pulled down, and in 

 groups the Eed Men hurried away and disappeared in the 

 wild hills. Until dark the stampede continued, and before 

 the night fell, Eeno's front was clear, and his command 

 passed a quiet night. Nor was an Indian to be seen when 

 the next day dawned. 



It was eleven A.M. on June 26, that Gibbon's column, 

 which had recommenced its forced march, observed a 

 heavy smoke up the Little Horn about fifteen miles 

 distant taken to be an encouraging sign, but the scouts 

 reported a great battle ending disastrously to Ouster. 

 The command reached the river about one P.M., and, 

 having crossed at a good ford, was again in motion by 

 five o'clock. Two scouts with messages for Ouster were 

 sent out, but both soon returned pursued by the Sioux 

 who covered the hills. They began to appear on the 

 bluffs to the right, and the column moved along prepared 

 for battle. The force was then in a level bottom-land 

 of considerable width, with the Little Horn on the left, 

 and steep bluff-like lands on the right. It was in these 

 hills the Indians were most numerous, and at nightfall 

 heavy bodies of them were visible. General Gibbon 

 halted, and encamped in a square, well out of rifle 

 range from both river and bluff, the men lying on their 

 arms. With great care the column moved with the 

 light of the next morning up the river, the bluffs nar- 

 rowing as it passed till the defile opened into a valley 



