The Great Father at Washington sent representatives out to our country.
The Indians met them and held a council. The Sioux were the hereditary
enemies of the Crows. The head man sent by the Great Father said to the
Crows: “We must get together and fight, and get this land from the Sioux.
We must win it by conquest.” We called the officer, who was lame,
No-Hip-Bone—the officer was General Terry. We loved our land so we
consented to go in with the soldiers and put these other tribes off the
land. No-Hip-Bone took me in the winter time, and I went with him
wherever he wanted me to go until the next summer. During this journey I
had a good horse. The Sioux took it away from me, and I was left to go on
foot, so I put my gun on my shoulder and marched with the soldiers. I
thought that I was a man, and had confidence in myself that I was right.
And so I kept up with the soldiers. I endured all the hardships the
soldiers endured in order to hold my land. We had hardships climbing
mountains, fording rivers, frost and cold of winter, the burning heat of
summer—my bones ache to-day from the exposure, but it was all for love of
my home. I stood faithfully by the soldiers. They did not know the
country. I did. They wanted me for their eye, they could not see. The
soldiers were the same as though they were blind, and I used both of my
own eyes for them. The soldiers and I were fighting in friendship, what
they said, I did; what I said, they did. So I helped my tribe. Land is a
very valuable thing, and especially our land. I knew the Cheyennes and
Sioux wanted to take it by conquest, so I stayed with the soldiers to help
hold it. No-Hip-Bone moved to Tongue River at the time the leaves were
getting full. We heard that General Custer was coming and I and thirty
soldiers went down the river in boats. Two scouts, Elk and Two-Whistles,
were with me. At the junction of the Yellowstone with the Missouri River
we met Custer. I was the first one of the Crows to shake hands with
General Custer. He gripped me by the hand tight and said: “You are the
one I want to see, and I am glad that you are first.” We went into the
steamboat with General Custer, and he pointed out different places to me
as objects of interest. I directed Custer up to No-Hip-Bone, who had
moved to the mouth of the Little Rosebud. They had a council, Bonnie
Bravo was their interpreter. General Custer said to the interpreter,
pointing to me: “This is the kind of man we want for this campaign, and I
want some others also.” Goes-Ahead, Hairy Moccasin, White Swan,
Paints-His-Face-Yellow, and Curly were chosen. There were six of us
altogether. The others were sent back. We always moved ahead of
Custer—we were his pilots. We always travelled at night, climbing the
mountains and wading the rivers. During the day we made a concealed camp.
We travelled in this way several days before we reached the Sioux camp.
When we reached the top of the Wolf Mountains we saw the enemy’s camp near
where the Custer Field is at the present time. Hairy Moccasin,
Goes-Ahead, Curly, and myself saw the camp. Custer had halted at the foot
of a mountain, and we all went back and told Custer that we had seen a big
camp, and it was close. Custer was rejoiced and anxious to go ahead and
make the battle. The sun was just peeping when we saw the camp. It was
eight or nine o’clock when we scouts all went ahead again. We got close
to the place of the enemy’s camp, and Custer divided the scouts, sent some
across the river, and the others remained on the hill. In the meantime
Custer had divided his command. Yellow Face and White Swan went with Reno
across the river; Goes-Ahead, Hairy Moccasin, Curly, and myself remained
with Custer. Custer sent me to a high knoll. He said: “Go and look for
me and see where I can make a success.” He left it to me. When I was up
there I looked around and the troops were very close upon me, and I
motioned to them to come on, and we passed up on to the ridge. The Indian
scouts stood in front of Custer and led his men. We went down to the
Little Horn until we came to a little coulee, and were moving towards the
enemy’s camp. We wanted to cross the river at that place. The Sioux
fired at us. We then went up the hill to the ridge. I was all along the
ridge where the fight was raging. We looked over the river, and saw Reno
in his engagement with the Sioux. Finally they wiped out Reno, and he
retreated to the hills. Custer and all of us got off our horses here. At
that time the enemy was surrounding us. They were banging away at us. We
had a heavy skirmish. Custer then came up and said: “You have done your
duty. You have led me to the enemy’s camp. And now the thing for you to
do is to obey my orders and get away.” Farther on up the river was a
packtrain, escorted by three hundred soldiers, and I made my way to the
pack-train, and I found the Indians there fighting. Custer when he told
me to go said: “You go; I am now going with my boys.” Had Custer not
ordered me to go, the people who visit the Custer Field to-day would see
my name on the monument. When I got back to the packtrain, I directed them
back to where the old trenches are to-day, and where you may still see a
pile of bones. The Indians had killed all the mules when I got there.
The fight lasted through the whole of a long, hot summer day. My friends,
the soldiers who were with Custer, were all wiped out. When the sun went
down I was about exhausted and I had no clothes on save a breechclout. All
the scouts were dressed like myself. When night came on, exhausted as we
were, we scouts went down the river to meet No-Hip-Bone. We reached him
early the next morning. There was a terrific rainstorm all night long. I
had no clothes on and I stuck to my wet horse. My horse was so exhausted
that he stumbled on through the night, and to-day I feel the effects of
it. It was my nature to endure; from a boy I had been trained to endure,
but as strong as I was it wounded me for life. We met No-Hip-Bone and
told him that up the river yesterday, when the sun was midway between
morning and noon, until the sun was midway between noon and night, the
Indians had killed Custer and all of his command. And he was mad. We
told him that our horses’ hoofs were worn out and asked permission to go
back home and get fresh horses. He said: “Yes, you can go, but come back.
Meanwhile I will travel up the river and see the dead soldiers.” I went
to Pryor, our Crow camp.
[Sunset on the Custer Field]