an' when th' Injuns
broke out, he was in command of all th' soldiers in that part of th'
country. General Phil Sheridan was his chief, but we never seen him.

"Well, when the Injuns broke loose, Terry he thought as it was th'
spring o' th' year, it was a good time t' get 'em. So 'bout th' first o'
June, '76, all th' get-ready stuff was gone over, an' all th' good-byes
was said with them as had famblies, an' we was loaded onto th' steamer
Far West, an' headed down th' old Missouri.

"When we got to th' mouth o' th' Yellowstone it was June twenty-first.
We unloaded. An' General Terry says t' our Old Man--don't forget we just
called him that; General Custer was only thirty-eight years old--Terry
says, 'You take your Seventh men an' scout ahead an' let Charlie
Reynolds go ahead o' you.' 'Cause everybody knowed that Charlie Reynolds
savvied Injuns an' Injun ways better'n any white man that ever
lived--him that was known as 'Lonesome Charlie.'

"An' Terry he says t' Custer, our Old Man, 'When you get t' th' Little
Big Horn country you wait for me, as I'm travelin' heavy. I'll be four
days makin' it.'

"An' again says Terry t' our Old Man: 'If you see any Injuns in force,
halt an' stay there till I come up, but don't start any fight unless
they force it on you, an' if they do force it on you, fight on th'
defensive'--which, as you all know, is backin' up. 'Fight on th'
defensive till I come up with you, an' then we'll give 'em hell.'

"Our Old Man he said, 'You bet,' an' we left.

"General Custer he was in command, and Colonel Benteen an' Major Reno
was his officers. After doin' twenty or thirty miles in th' saddle, we
was sure a s'prised bunch o' rookies when we didn't stop. We didn't
stop. No, siree! We kep' right on a-goin'. We didn't stop when we hit
forty miles, nor sixty miles, nor eighty miles. It was ninety miles from
where we left Terry when th' Old Man said, 'Coffee an' biscuits,' an'
believe me, we wanted 'em bad.

"We'd bin in th' saddle for twenty-two hours, an' if you don't think
that's ridin', try it sometime. The hosses was all in. My hoss--'Long
Tom' I called him--he layed down as soon as I off-saddled him, an' stuck
his face into his nose-bag an' eat layin' down. First time I ever seen a
hoss do that.

"Charlie Reynolds, he was ahead, an' he come back an' had a pow-wow
with th' Old Man an' Reno an' Benteen, an' we seen 'em workin' th' field
glasses overtime. 'Course, we didn't know what was bein' sai