a suitable place I camped, and by surrounding the stock with huge long fires and feeding them on cottonwood boughs and a little grass, decreased in a measure the rate of loss. My stock at this time had been about sixty days without grain, with nothing but grass and cottonwood to live on. During the thirty-six hours the storm prevailed 414 of my animals perished at the picket ropes or along the road between the camps. This loss necessitated the destruction of wagons, cavalry equipments, harness, and all tools and implements not absolutely essential to the command, and which could be taken no farther.

On the 10th, the station storm having cleared away, my first move was to cross the river, which was necessary, as the impending bluffs immediately above formed the river bank. This move I was compelled to make under cover of my artillery, owing to the fact that the Indians had, vulture-like, hovered around my exhausted and starving command, and as soon as preparations were made to move, knowing what the route must be, had made a detour around to a position on the bluffs in our rear, preparatory to dashing down and harassing the rear of the column, which they did so soon as the command began its movements, but having no taste for the shells that were generously thrown amongst them, soon retired to their of late distance beyond range. I crossed above the mouth of Little Powder River and moved up the east bank, passing over the ground from which a large Indian village of from 1,500 to 2,000 lodges had recently moved. My guides pronounced them to have been Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes. So short a time had elapsed since their removal I am satisfied that had not my command been in its improvident condition of starvation and exhaustion they could have been overtaken and destroyed. But at this particularly juncture my command had been en route on this campaign seventy-two days, subsisting this length of time on sixty days' rations, of which, at the very lowest estimate, 20 per cent. had been destroyed unavoidably through unloading and reloading wagons at the crossings of the numerous rivers, creeks, and gulches. Sixty days' rations being the amount started with, in accordance with General Connor's orders, deducting the percentage of loss added to the difference in number of days already in excess of the limited sixty, it is easy to sum up the condition of the men of my command, while the animals of the command were in a condition even worse than the men, literally starving in a country where grass grew and water run.

Fatigue and starvation had done its work on both men and animals, in so much they were unfit to pursue with vigor the savage foe that circled around their starving way through this desert whose oases were but inviting delusions, for however pleasing to the wearied eye were the green dresses of the prickly pear and the sage brush, they were bitter mockery to the other senses, for they contained no life-giving essence for man or beast. Certain starving soldiers might well wonder why there was no provisions made for such contingencies; why old Indian fighter had not, with their knowledge, planned a more consistent campaign; created depots here and hunted Indians there; not had a command starving here, unfit to cope with the Indians everywhere around them, and the supplies they needed so much away no one knew where, at least where neither Indians come nor they could compass.

The command by this time was reduced to less than quarter rations, and were lowered to the necessity of eating their horses and mules to sustain life. Indians were occasionally still seen in large numbers on all sides beyond the range of our guns. They but once showed a disposition to fight, when they were repulsed, with a loss of several killed