ncidents of
the raid.

General Hancock, with the artillery and six companies of infantry,
arrived at Fort Riley, Kansas, the last week in March, where he was
joined by four companies of the Seventh Cavalry, commanded by the
intrepid Custer.

From Fort Riley the expedition marched to Fort Harker, seventy-two miles
farther west, on the Smoky Hill, where the force was increased by the
addition of two more troops of cavalry. Remaining there only long enough
to replenish their commissary supplies, the march was directed to
Fort Larned on the Old Santa Fe Trail. On the 7th of April the command
reached the latter post, accompanied by the agent of the Comanches and
Kiowas; at the fort the agent of the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Apaches
was waiting for the arrival of the general. The agent of the three
last-mentioned tribes had already sent runners to the head chiefs,
inviting them to a grand council which was to assemble near the fort on
the 10th of the month, and he requested General Hancock to remain at the
fort with his command until that date.

On the 9th of April a terrible snow-storm came on while the troops
were encamped waiting for the head men of the various tribes to arrive.
Custer says:

It was our good fortune to be in camp rather than on the
march; had it been otherwise, we could not well have escaped
without loss of life. The cavalry horses suffered severely,
and were only preserved by doubling their rations of oats,
while to prevent their being frozen during the intensely
cold night which followed, the guards were instructed to
pass along the picket lines with a whip, and keep the
horses moving constantly. The snow was eight inches deep.
The council, which was to take place the next day, had to be
postponed until the return of good weather. Now began the
display of a kind of diplomacy for which the Indian is
peculiar. The Cheyennes and a band of Sioux were encamped
on Pawnee Fork, about thirty miles above Fort Larned.
They neither desired to move nearer to us or have us
approach nearer to them. On the morning of the 11th,
they sent us word that they had started to visit us, but,
discovering a large herd of buffalo near their camp,
they had stopped to procure a supply of meat. This message
was not received with much