Free Bill Dugan by Crazy Horse

Thunder told the runner. “But my peoplehave much work to do. We cannot come for many weeks. When the work is finished, we will come to Fort Laramie.”
    The messenger, knowing that this was not what Twiss wanted to hear, insisted. “If you do not come right away, you will be considered hostile,” he told the chief. “Any soldiers who find you will have the right, even the duty, to make war on you.”
    “But we are not enemies,” Little Thunder argued.
    “I only know what I am told,” the messenger said, watching the chiefs face as he waited for his words to be translated.
    But Little Thunder would not budge. The messenger went away only with the chiefs promise to come in within three months. When the messenger reached Fort Laramie, the news upset James Bordeaux, who sent a messenger of his own. He knew Little Thunder, liked him, and wanted to avoid bloodshed, which he believed to be inevitable if Harney should stumble on the Brule camp. But Little Thunder still refused to come in early.
    The camp was not a large one, and with so many warriors out hunting or raiding the Oregon Trail, fewer than one hundred warriors were left to defend the village. But Little Thunder wasn’t concerned, since he knew he had nothing but peaceful intentions.
    On September 2, Harney reached the Bluewater River. His scouts found Little Thunder’s camp, which was still peaceably going about the business of preparing for winter. Seeing an opportunity to make a point, a chance to vent some of the frustration building on the long, arduous and, so far,uneventful march, Harney drew up a plan of attack.
    As far as he knew, the Indians had no idea they had been discovered. Regular scout runs kept him apprised of comings and goings while he deployed his troops. He had significant numbers of cavalry, infantry, and artillery. With his adjutant, Philip St. George Cooke, he went over every angle again and again.
    “Captain,” he said, “I know what happened to Grattan. I won’t have that happen here.”
    “I don’t think we have to worry about anything like that, General,” Cooke said. “We have twenty times the men. We are much better armed and, frankly, a lieutenant is hardly your equal in strategy and tactics, General.”
    “Don’t you bullshit me, Phil. That’s not what I mean, and you damn well know it. I want to make sure the Sioux get the message. If we hit them hard, bloody their noses, they’ll think twice before they hit another wagon train. There’s a lot we can teach these red rascals, but first we have to get their attention. I mean to do just that tomorrow.”
    The general then proceeded to outline his plan, and gave Cooke command of a sizable cavalry unit. Cooke was to move his troops around to the far side of Little Thunder’s village. Harney hoped to provoke a reckless retreat, which would bring the disorganized warriors under Cook’s guns.
    The troops moved out before dawn, but secrecy was critical to the plan’s success. Accordingly, Cooke took his men on an elaborate detour, making a very wide loop to avoid being spotted. Once he had gotten past the village, he had to double back to take up his position on the top of a steep bluff.
    At dawn, Harney’s troops were very near Little Thunder’s camp. But Cooke was not yet in position. At almost the same moment, a small band of warrriors stumbled on Harney and his force, raced back to the village, and alerted the chief.
    Little Thunder immediately mounted his horse and rode out to meet the general, Spotted Tail beside him carrying a white flag. Harney was grateful for the chance to delay his attack, knowing that it would be likely to fail unless Cooke was in position.
    “I do not wish to fight you,” Little Thunder told the general. “Agent Twiss sent for me and my people, and I told him that I would come in to Fort Laramie as soon as we were done preparing our food and hides for the winter. We need the food or we will starve. Without the buffalo robes, my people