ss dreading
another Custer massacre.

These maneuvers I witnessed from my hill with considerable amusement,
thinking the command must be badly frightened. After I had enjoyed the
situation to my heart's content I galloped toward the skirmish line,
waving my hat. When I was within a hundred yards of the troops, Colonel
Wier of the Seventh Cavalry rode out to meet me. He recognized me at
once, and convoyed me inside the line, shouting to the soldiers:

"Boys, here's Buffalo Bill!" Thereupon three rousing cheers ran all the
way down the line.

Colonel Wier presented me to General Terry. The latter questioned me
closely and was glad to learn that the alarm had been a false one. I
found that I was not entitled alone to the credit of having frightened
the whole Seventh Cavalry. The Indian scouts had also seen far behind
me the dust raised by Crook's troops, and were fully satisfied that a
very large force of Sioux was in the vicinity and moving to the attack.

At General Terry's request I accompanied him as he rode forward to meet
Crook. That night both commands went into camp on the Rosebud. General
Terry had his wagon-train with him, so the camp had everything to make
life as comfortable as it can be on an Indian trail.

The officers had large wall-tents, with portable beds to stow inside
them, and there were large hospital tents to be used as dining-rooms.
Terry's camp looked very comfortable and homelike. It presented a sharp
contrast to the camp of Crook, who had for his headquarters only one
small fly-tent, and whose cooking utensils consisted of a quart cup in
which he brewed his own coffee, and a sharp stick on which he broiled
his bacon. When I compared these two camps I concluded that Crook was a
real Indian fighter. He had plainly learned that to follow Indians a
soldier must not be hampered by any great weight of luggage or
equipment.

That evening General Terry ordered General Miles, with the Fifth
Infantry, to return by a forced march to the Yellowstone, and to
proceed by steamboat down that stream to the mouth of the Powder River,
where the Indians could be intercepted in case they made an attempt to
cross the stream. The regiment made a forced march that night of
thirty-five miles, which was splendid traveling for an infantry
regiment through a mountainous country.

Generals Crook and Terry spent the evening and the next day in council.
The following morning both commands moved out on the Indian trail.