f carnage--this old warrior, this veteran of
twenty bloody fields at the South, whereon he had behaved so gallantly
as to receive merited promotion and congratulatory recognition from his
superiors, was as cool, as self-collected, and could lie down and sleep
as peacefully as though no enemy were within a thousand miles of him.

"Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just."

This old hero was to compete with a foe greatly his superior in point
of numbers; a foe schooled in craftiness; a foe known and dreaded by
every tribe of Indians in the Northwest; a foe who had stricken terror
to the hearts of settlers and frontiersmen far and near; who had often
camped on the ground he now occupied and knew every foot of it, while
to the troops it was a veritable _terra incognita_.

Yet General Gibbon knew the men on whom he relied for victory. He knew
they would stand by him, no matter what odds they might have to contend
with. Thirteen of his seventeen officers were veterans of the war of
the Rebellion, as were nearly all the citizen volunteers. The other
four officers, and nearly all the enlisted men had seen years of hard
service on the frontier, and had acquitted themselves nobly in many an
Indian campaign. What marvel then that a man of such experience, and
with such a record, in command of such men, and on such a mission,
should feel an assurance of success that would bring sweet sleep to
tired eyelids on the eve of battle?

Lieutenants Bradley and Jacobs did a piece of reconnoitering on this
day for which they deserve great credit. Having failed to reach the
Indian camp during the previous night, when it would have been safe to
undertake to capture or stampede the pony herd; and knowing it would be
rash to attempt it in daylight, it then became important to learn the
exact situation of the village, in order that the commanding General
might be given the most minute information concerning it when he came
up.

Having secreted his command in the woods, therefore, Bradley sent out
scouts in different directions with instructions to proceed cautiously
and stealthily about the valley and ascertain, if practicable, the
actual whereabouts of the Indians.

In about two hours these men returned and reported numerous fresh signs
of Indians in the immediate vicinity, while one of them, Corporal
Drummond, he said had, standing in the timber some distance to the
east, heard voices and other sounds that evidently came from a bus