We were performing chain guard, hemming-in duty, and it was our chief business to prevent the savages from straying from the reservation.

We weren't under instructions to riddle them if they attempted to pass our guard posts, but were authorized to tickle them up to any reasonable extent, short of maiming them, with our bayonets, if any of them attempted to bluff past us.

Well, the men of my troop had all colors of trouble while on guard in holding the savages in.

The Ogalallas would hardly pay any attention to the white sentries of the chain guard, and when they wanted to pass beyond the guard limits they would invariably pick out a spot for passage that was patrolled by a white 'post-humper.' But the guards of the two black troops didn't have a single run-in with the savages.

The Indians made it a point to remain strictly away from the Negro soldiers' guard posts.