Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors by Stephen Ambrose

Author:Stephen Ambrose [Ambrose, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nightmare
Amazon: B00KQZY19A
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2014-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

The following morning Hancock ordered Custer to pursue the fleeing Indians. Delaware scouts found the trail and led the way. The trail led north, but because the Indians had no travois with them (having left everything at Pawnee Fork), it was indistinct. Custer pushed on as hard as he could, heading north in the direction of the Smoky Hill River.

While on this march Custer pulled one of his stunts that left men speechless with rage or admiration, depending on how they felt about him. Custer had a pack of greyhounds along and he was anxious to let them try their speed against an antelope. On the third day, seeing some antelope grazing two miles away and mounted on a fine thoroughbred horse that he had ridden in the Appomattox campaign, Custer gave in to his impulses, left his column, and gave chase. He rode for several miles before giving it up and calling in his dogs, who were unable to gain on the antelope. Looking around, Custer tried to figure out where he was, how far he had ridden, and where his column was, but it was all a mystery. He was lost on the Great Plains—and he had deserted his command in the field.

Custer hoped the dogs could lead him back to the column, but they wandered around aimlessly. Suddenly, about a mile distant, he saw a buffalo bull. It was the first buffalo he had ever seen but he didn’t hesitate. With a whoop that would have matched the cry of an Indian about to count coup, he took off after the beast. His magnificent horse soon caught up with the lumbering bull. Together, the buffalo, the thoroughbred, and Custer galloped across the prairie, Custer yelling, shouting, whooping with pure joy. Several times he placed his pistol beside the bull’s head, but always withdrew it to allow the chase to continue a little longer. The bull’s tongue was halfway to the ground but still the beast pounded on, Custer beside him. Finally Custer’s horse began to play out (he estimated they had ridden at top speed for several miles by then) and he decided to finish the business. Placing his revolver alongside the bull’s head, he prepared to fire.

At that instant the bull whirled on horse and rider. Custer’s horse reared, Custer accidentally pulled the trigger, and he shot his thoroughbred through the head. “Quick as thought,” he later wrote, “I disengaged myself from the stirrups and found myself whirling through the air over and beyond the head of my horse.” Jumping to his feet, Custer saw the bull trot off, shaking its head at the wonder of it all. “How far I had travelled, or in what direction from the column, I was at a loss to know. In the excitement of the chase I had lost all reckoning. Indians were liable to pounce upon me at any moment. My command would not note my absence probably for hours.” It was a desperate situation, but Custer’s luck held.

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