The Battle of the Little Bighorn by W.A. Wallace

Author:W.A. Wallace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / United States
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2023-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

The First Shot is Fired

As dawn broke on Sunday 25th June, the slowly rising sun cast its long golden rays over the crest of the Wolf Mountains that lay on the divide between the Rosebud and Little Big Horn valleys. From an old Indian lookout on the edge of these heights, known as the ‘Crow’s Nest’, three scouts diligently surveyed the river basin that sprawled before them. At first the early morning shadows that lay under a blanket of fine mist clouded their view, but as the sunlight spread along the glistening water of the river, the weary scouts realised that they were looking down on the hostile encampment they had been searching for.

It was Hairy Moccasin who had first detected the pall of grey smoke that drifted lazily over the hidden tipis. As the mist began to dissipate the smoke became clearly visible, even though it was some 24 kilometres in the distance. Goes Ahead scanned the woods, as its trees stretched out along the banks of the winding river. Beyond the dark foliage he could see some small black shapes dotting the gentle slopes of the hills. He rubbed his sore eyes and looked again. The small black shapes were Indian ponies, leisurely grazing the succulent grass glimmering in the early morning dew. There was no mistake. They had definitely found their quarry.

White-Man-Runs-Him nodded in agreement and silently slid down the rocks to where Lieutenant Varnum and the other Indian scouts were dozing. Varnum had not had much sleep in the past 36 hours, during which time he had ridden more than 96 kilometres over rough terrain and executed numerous scouting forays ahead of the column. His Crow and Arikara scouts had fared little better. Leaving 3 Crow scouts to watch the valley, he had grabbed the chance of being able to close his eyes, even if it was for only 45 minutes. At the lightest touch of White-Man-Runs-Him, Varnum’s eyes opened in an instant and his long bushy moustache bristled in the hazy sunlight as the old Indian informed him of their discovery. Varnum brushed the dust from his clothes and stealthily crept up to the lookout to see for himself. His eyes were still sore and his vision was blurred, making it difficult for him to discern what his scouts were pointing out to him.

A few minutes later he was joined by Charley Reynolds, one of the civilian scouts that had been assigned to the regiment, who peered down into the valley through his field-glasses. After a short while he replaced the glasses in their case and nodded to Varnum, without uttering a word. Charley Reynolds was a man who rarely spoke, but when he did it was short and to the point. Lately, he had been quieter than usual, preferring his own company as they had marched along the trail. One of the fingers on his gun hand had become infected and at times it had been so painful that he had rested his hand in a sling.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.