Bull’ claimed in his statement to me that he directed and led in the Custer fight; but all the other Indians with whom I have talked contradict it, and said that ‘Sitting Bull’ fled with his family as soon as the village was attacked by Major Reno’s command, and that he was making his way to a place of safety, several miles out in the hills, when overtaken by some of his friends with news of victory over the soldiers, whereupon he returned, and in his usual style, took all the credit of victory to himself as having planned for the outcome, and as having been on a bluff overlooking the battlefield, appeasing the evil spirits and invoking the Great Spirit for the result of the fight.

“And, when considering the ignorance and inherent superstition of the average Sioux Indian at that time, it is not to be wondered at that the majority, if not all, were willing to accept it, especially when united in common cause and what they considered as their only safety from annihilation.  As a matter of fact, there was no one man who led or directed that fight; it was a pell mell rush under a number of recognized warriors as leaders, with ‘Gall’ of the Hunkpapas and ’Crazy Horse’ of the Cheyennes the more prominent.

“The Indians with whom I have talked deny having mutilated any of the killed, but admit that many dead bodies were mutilated by women of the camp.  They also claim that the fight with Custer was of short duration.  They have no knowledge as to hours and minutes, but have explained by the distance that could be walked while the fight lasted.  They vary from twenty minutes to three-quarters of an hour, none placing it longer than forty-five minutes.  This does not include the fight with Reno before his retreat, but from the time that Custer’s command advanced and the fight with his command commenced.  The opinion of the Indians regarding Reno’s first attack and short stand is, that it was his retreat that gave them the victory over Custer’s command.  The helter skelter retreat of Reno’s men enthused the Indians to such an extent that, flushed with excitement and this early success, they were reckless in their charge upon Custer’s command, and with the slight number of Indians thus fully enthused, that small command was but a slight check to their sweeping impetuosity.  The Indians also state that the separated detachments made their victory over the troops more certain.”

Thus Custer fell.  The mystery surrounding his death will probably never be solved in a satisfactory manner, owing to the impossibility of placing any reliance on statements made by the Indians.  The way in which the command was annihilated and the soldiers’ bodies mutilated, should go a long way towards disproving many of the theories now in existence concerning the alleged ill treatment of Indians, and their natural peacefulness and good disposition.  Custer had so frequently befriended the very men who surrounded his command and annihilated it, that the baseness of their ingratitude should be apparent even to those who are inclined to sympathize with the red men, and to denounce the alleged severity with which they have been treated.  Travelers through the Dakota region find few spots of more melancholy, though marked, interest than the one illustrated in connection with this chapter.