Custer and the soldiers were my friends and companions, and I cried all
night long as I rode through the rain to tell No-Hip-Bone the news.
When we were at the Rosebud, General Custer and his staff held a council
as to what we should do when we found the enemy’s camp, as to whether we
should attack by day or night. I said we had better fight by night.
Paints-His-Face-Yellow said: “Let us attack by day, so that we can see
what we are doing.” I thought I was laying a good plan for them but they
listened to Yellow-Face. General Custer was a brave and good man, a
straightforward and honest man. When General Custer took me by the hand,
patted me on the shoulder, and I looked him in the face, I said: “There is
a good general.” If General Custer was living to-day, I would get better
treatment than I now receive. General Custer said: “Where does your tribe
stay?” and I told him in the valley through which Pryor Creek runs, along
the Big Horn River at Lodge Grass, and in the valley of the Little
Horn—there is my home. Custer said: “If I die, you will get this land
back and stay there, happy and contented, and if you die, you will be
buried on your own land.”
When I joined General Custer, I had full confidence in myself and my
ability to help him, and for this reason I joined Custer so that I might
help hold my land against our enemies, the Sioux and the Cheyennes. After
the Custer battle, when we had obtained fresh horses, I took the other
scouts with me, and we went over the field and looked at the remains of
the dead soldiers who were my friends and companions. Knowing the country
I always directed General Custer to the best places to ford the river, and
the easiest way to climb the hills, that he might reach the path of
success. After the loss of my horse, I traveled on foot with the
soldiers, and was willing even to go down to death with Custer in order
that I might help him.