In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse: Chapters 3–4

They sat down among some bristly green soap plants.

Now, if you look carefully, you can see some deep ruts just this side of the river.

Then he pointed toward the other side of the large open space. “Most of the Long Knives’ horses were picketed there. Pawnee scout horses, too.”

Light Hair rode aimlessly, his thoughts full of the sounds and images he and Slow had witnessed.

“Our people didn’t like that?” Jimmy ventured.
“No, they sure didn’t...."

A few miles farther on they came to gullies and low spots.

Jimmy noticed that the grass was sparse here and the land looked like a desert, no longer like the grass prairies to the east.

“There was an army post here,” his grandpa said, waving his arm in an arc.

In the distance a small whirlwind swirled behind a rise, raising dust.

As they approached the historic site, Jimmy saw a wall made of upright logs.

Inside the building were dioramas—three-dimensional displays of the fort’s history.

Grandpa Nyles pointed at the monument. “Come on. Let’s look at that plaque.”

ON THIS FIELD ON THE 21st DAY OF DECEMBER, 1866, THREE COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND SEVENTY SIX PRIVATES OF THE 18th U.S. INFANTRY, AND OF THE 2nd U.S. CAVALRY, AND FOUR CIVILIANS, UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN BREVET- LIEUTENANT COLONEL WILLIAM J. FETTERMAN WERE KILLED BY AN OVERWHELMING FORCE OF SIOUX, UNDER THE COMMAND OF RED CLOUD.

ON THIS FIELD ON THE 21st DAY OF DECEMBER, 1866, THREE COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND SEVENTY SIX PRIVATES OF THE 18th U.S. INFANTRY, AND OF THE 2nd U.S. CAVALRY, AND FOUR CIVILIANS, UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN BREVET- LIEUTENANT COLONEL WILLIAM J. FETTERMAN WERE KILLED BY AN OVERWHELMING FORCE OF SIOUX, UNDER THE COMMAND OF RED CLOUD.

Smoke rose into the frigid air from eighteen conical lodges, thin undulating columns rising upward.

Smoke rose into the frigid air from eighteen conical lodges, thin undulating columns rising upward.

Second, lure them into an ambush.

He and his warriors would act like a mother grouse leading a coyote away from her nest.

A battle between the attacking warriors and the wagon men ensued.

The Long Knives had carried out such tactics before.

Each soldier had a rifle and a pistol in a holster.

In the open he coaxed it into a gallop.

“Any temperature below zero is dangerous. You can get frostbite and lose fingers and toes. I saw a man who lost the tip of his nose. Worse yet, you can freeze to death.”

“Well, they distracted the soldiers, tricked them into turning and chasing them, the decoys. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be telling you this story.”

“Well, they distracted the soldiers, tricked them into turning and chasing them, the decoys. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be telling you this story.”

Yanking his knife from its sheath, he scraped snow and ice from the bottom of the hoof.

Several of them were at the edge of the crest, looking down.

Everyone was scrambling up the slopes. The warriors on the south side closest to Lodge Trail Ridge climbed upward.

Jimmy was completely enthralled by the story.

“Darn right! Our warriors scrambled up the slopes from both sides. The footing was treacherous, slippery. Their winter moccasins didn’t have lug soles, you know. And it was cold, really cold! But that didn’t matter to them.”

“Darn right! Our warriors scrambled up the slopes from both sides. The footing was treacherous, slippery. Their winter moccasins didn’t have lug soles, you know. And it was cold, really cold! But that didn’t matter to them.”

The eastern slope was obscured from his view.

They decided to flank the Long Knives behind the rock.

The flanking maneuver was successful, though some of the warriors were wounded.

“One of the best. But he was a good man, too. He was quiet and humble. He didn’t brag. He didn’t even speak loudly. That’s what I like about him. There were a lot of good and brave warriors in those days. But not all of them were really good men. Not all of them were humble, like him.”