CHAPTER XX.
THE STORY OF THE CUSTER FIGHT "You know my bein' with Major Reno is why I'm able t' tell this story, 'cause all th' Old Man's outfit--'Old Man' bein' what we called General Custer--was wiped out.
"Us soldiers didn't know all th' ins an' outs o' what was goin' on, but we did know that th' Old Man was a whole lot dissatisfied.

There'd bin a lot o' talk 'bout him havin' gone t' Washington, an' havin' a talk with President Grant, at which interview, so 'twas said, th' President'd told him th' first duty of a soldier was obedience, but we didn't know nothin' 'bout that--whether 'twas true or 'twasn't true.

All we knowed was that he was away a long time, an' when he come back he sure had fire in his eye.
"General Terry was in command at old Fort Buford, an' when th' Injuns broke out, he was in command of all th' soldiers in that part of th' country.

General Phil Sheridan was his chief, but we never seen him.
"Well, when the Injuns broke loose, Terry he thought as it was th' spring o' th' year, it was a good time t' get 'em.

So 'bout th' first o' June, '76, all th' get-ready stuff was gone over, an' all th' good-byes was said with them as had famblies, an' we was loaded onto th' steamer Far West, an' headed down th' old Missouri.
"When we got to th' mouth o' th' Yellowstone it was June twenty-first.
We unloaded.