Free In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall Page A

eighty-five percent of his men by the time he got to Last Stand Hill. No military commander wants those kinds of losses.”
    Grandpa Nyles paused and shook his head. He removed his straw hat to wipe a bit a sweat off his forehead. “Of course, the sad fact is that Custer lost
all
his men, including himself. Every man in the five companies he led was killed in this second part of the battle. That’s why there are so many white markers.
    â€œThat’s the sad part about war and battles,” he concluded. “Doesn’t matter who you are, what side you’re on. It’s still sad, no matter what kind of uniform you wear or the color of your skin. It’s still sad.”
    Jimmy looked across the meadow. He could imagine all those soldiers falling in the grass, falling to the ground. Somewhere inside, he wished he would never, ever see the real thing. After a moment he looked up at his grandfather.
    â€œWhat did Crazy Horse do, in this part of the battle?” he asked softly.
    â€œWell,” replied the old man, putting his hat back on, “I’ll tell you, but first let me tell you what Gall did.”

    Dust rose from the hooves of the galloping Long Knives’ horses. They were struggling up the long slope. Gall and the warriors were closing the distance
.
    They had raced across the uneven western slopes above the river. Arriving at Medicine Tail Coulee, they saw the soldiers running away. Most of the Lakota and Cheyenne warriors in the encampment had been in battles before. Furthermore, they had been trained to be war fighters since they were children. Eight days before, many had been in the Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother. They knew what to do
.
    Some mounted warriors veered to the right, others to the left. A third group stayed behind the soldiers. If the soldiers stopped, they would be immediately surrounded. If they kept going up the hill and beyond, they would be cut down as they rode
.
    At the top of the ridge, a group of Long Knives stopped and dismounted. They formed a line to face the oncoming warriors. The soldiers fired, but it did not slow the warriors. They returned fire even as they galloped
.
    Most of the dismounted Long Knives fired again; then all of them remounted. They hurried to the north
.
    The onrushing warriors kept riding and firing from horseback
.
    Farther north along the ridge, some Long Knives dismounted again. This time only a few fired at the warriors before remounting. They hurried to catch up with the other soldiers, who were galloping north
.
    The galloping horses were raising a dust cloud that hung just above the ground
.
    Warriors were on either side of the Long Knives, and behind as well. Soldiers were being hit and falling from their horses
.
    Gall whipped his horse to run faster. He was on the slope below the soldiers. He shouted to the warriors near him. “Get ahead of them!” he yelled. “Get ahead of them, dismount, and shoot at them from the ground.”
    Eight warriors urged their horses faster. They raced recklessly over the uneven ground and outran the Long Knives’ horses on the ridge. The warriors dismounted, formed a line, and knelt to get a steady aim. One by one they opened fire with their rifles at the fleeing soldiers
.
    All the while soldiers were falling, and falling. Many of their horses were galloping without riders
.

    â€œSo that’s what Gall did,” Grandpa Nyles said, pausing for a moment. “He was one of the main war leaders, after Crazy Horse. The warriors with him below the ridge were all very good marksmen. They hit a lot of the soldiers. No one knows exactly how many, but a lot of them.”
    He pointed to the truck. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go back to Last Stand Hill.”
    Jimmy hurried and climbed into the truck. “So where was Crazy Horse?” he asked.
    Grandpa Nyles started the truck and drove north, following the paved road. “When Gall was