The following morning both commands moved out on the Indian trail.
Although Terry was the senior officer, he did not assume command of
both expeditions. Crook was left in command of his own troops, though
the two forces operated together. We crossed the Tongue River and moved
on to the Powder, proceeding down that stream to a point twenty miles
from its junction with the Yellowstone. There the Indian trail turned
to the southeast, in the direction of the Black Hills.
The two commands were now nearly out of supplies. The trail was
abandoned, and the troops kept on down the Powder River to its
confluence with the Yellowstone. There we remained for several days.
General Nelson A. Miles, who was at the head of the Fifth Infantry, and
who had been scouting in the vicinity, reported that no Indians had as
yet crossed the Yellowstone. Several steamboats soon arrived with large
quantities of supplies, and the soldiers, who had been a little too
close to famine to please them, were once more provided with full
stomachs on which they could fight comfortably, should the need for
fighting arise.
One evening while we were in camp on the Yellowstone at the mouth of
the Powder River I was informed that Louis Richard, a half-breed scout,
and myself, had been selected to accompany General Miles on a
reconnaisance. We were to take the steamer _Far West_ down the
Yellowstone as far as Glendive Creek.
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