Colonel Mills kept his troops on the lowest ground I could pick out,
but we made our way steadily toward the village.
Inside of half an hour we heard firing up the river from where we were.
Colonel Mills at once ordered his troops to charge. Luckily it collided
with the Indians' herd of horses, which were surrounded, thus depriving
most of the braves of their mounts.
Men were left to guard the animals, and, taking the rest of the
company, we charged the village, reaching it a little after the arrival
of General Reynolds. The attack was not as much a surprise as we had
hoped for. Some of the Indian hunters had spied the soldiers and
notified the camp, but General Reynolds, coming from the south, had
driven all the Indians on foot and all the squaws and children toward
the sandhills on the north. Mills came pretty near finding more Indians
than he was looking for. Their force largely outnumbered ours when we
collided, but Major Curtiss came charging down from the north just at
this instant. His arrival was such a complete surprise that the Indians
gave up and began waving the white flag. Then all firing ceased.
On rounding them up we found that we had captured about two hundred and
fifty warriors, women, and children, most of whom were from the Spotted
Tail Agency.
The general had the Indians instantly disarmed. Most of their tepees
were up and they were ordered to go into them and remain there.
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