rushed to defend their village from Reno's attack. Under pressure from growing numbers of warriors, Reno ordered a retreat back across the river, where DeRudio lost his horse and was left behind in the timber on the western bank. For thirty-six hours, DeRudio and Private Thomas O'Neill remained hidden, alternating hope and despair while witnessing the mutilation of dead soldiers by enraged Lakota women. Although the two soldiers had a couple of dangerous confrontations with the Indians, they were able to conceal themselves again and in the early hours of June 27 were finally able to cross the river, joining the Reno and Benteen command on Reno Hill. DeRudio's story was first published in the New York Herald on July 30, 1876, and reprinted in the Chicago Times on August 2, 1876, with the headline, "A Thrilling Tale - Romance of the Battle of the Little Big Horn; DeRudio's Perilous Adventures - Graphic Details from the Pen of the Lieutenant - Alone in the Burning Woods." DeRudio later claimed he had not written the story, but had given information to Major James ('Grasshopper Jim') Brisbin of the 2nd Cavalry, who had elaborated his story and published it without DeRudio's consent. Years later, in an interview with Walter Mason Camp, DeRudio claimed that he had had the only saber at the Little Bighorn. (Perhaps unknown to him, 1st Lieutenant Edward Gustave Mathey with the pack train had kept his also, using it to kill snakes. And at least two Indians had sabers, having obtained them at the Battle of the Rosebud.) He showed Camp a golden saber that had been a gift given to him by Company G in 1870. He had been scolded by Custer for accepting the present, and, perhaps as a matter of spite, had not surrendered his issued saber when the others had been packed up at the Powder River Depot. Later service DeRudio commanded a re-constituted Company E during the Nez Perce War of 1877, assigned to reinforce Lt. Gustavus Doane's detachment of the 2nd Cavalry patrolling the mountains after the Battle of Big Hole. On January 29–31, 1879, he testified before the Reno Court of Inquiry. DeRudio continued service with the 7th Cavalry, was promoted to captain on December 17, 1882, while stationed at Fort Meade, Dakota Territory. He later served at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and at Fort Bayard, New Mexico. He retired on