At General Terry's request I accompanied him as he rode forward to meet
Crook. That night both commands went into camp on the Rosebud. General
Terry had his wagon-train with him, so the camp had everything to make
life as comfortable as it can be on an Indian trail.
The officers had large wall-tents, with portable beds to stow inside
them, and there were large hospital tents to be used as dining-rooms.
Terry's camp looked very comfortable and homelike. It presented a sharp
contrast to the camp of Crook, who had for his headquarters only one
small fly-tent, and whose cooking utensils consisted of a quart cup in
which he brewed his own coffee, and a sharp stick on which he broiled
his bacon. When I compared these two camps I concluded that Crook was a
real Indian fighter. He had plainly learned that to follow Indians a
soldier must not be hampered by any great weight of luggage or
equipment.
That evening General Terry ordered General Miles, with the Fifth
Infantry, to return by a forced march to the Yellowstone, and to
proceed by steamboat down that stream to the mouth of the Powder River,
where the Indians could be intercepted in case they made an attempt to
cross the stream. The regiment made a forced march that night of
thirty-five miles, which was splendid traveling for an infantry
regiment through a mountainous country.
Generals Crook and Terry spent the evening and the next day in council.
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