dug for Private Wenzel, and the starved troopers were ready to dine on captured bison meat, rifle shots were heard from the bluffs above and around the camp. Crook immediately ordered the village to be burned. "Then followed the most spectacular and tragically gripping and gratifying drama of the whole Sioux War, enacted with a setting and view for those of us in the ambushing corps that could not be improved upon. The huge amphitheater, leading from our position in the front orchestra row, up over a gradually rising terrain to the rim of the hills which surrounded on three sides, was not unlike the situation which Crazy Horse had chosen for his Battle of the Rosebud." Finerty tells how the Indians attacked. "Like the Napoleonic cuirassiers at Waterloo, they rode along the line looking for a gap to penetrate. They kept up perpetual motion encouraged by a warrior, doubtless Crazy Horse himself, who, mounted on a fleet, white horse, galloped around the array and seemed to possess the power of ubiquity." Strahorn reported, "Suddenly the summits seemed alive with an eager, expectant and gloating host of savages who dashed over and down the slope, whooping and recklessly firing at every jump." Crazy Horse was surprised to find American Horse's village massed with Crook's main column of over 2,000 infantry, artillery, cavalry and scouts. "Crazy Horse so little dreamed of the heavy reinforcements of Captain Mills' small band that, in the utmost confidence of 'eating us alive' he launched his followers right down upon the front and flanks of our splendid defensive position. They were permitted to approach with blood curdling whoops and in a savage array within easy and sure-fire rifle range before the order to fire was given. They reacted to the deadly shock in a manner that was the real beginning of the end of the Sioux War, so far as any major performance of Crazy Horse was concerned. Bewildered and demoralized by the well-aimed volleys of our two-thousand guns, they dashed for cover in every direction, closely followed by details of our boys who were allotted that much-sought privilege." "Failing to break into that formidable circle, the Indians, after firing several volleys, their original order of battle being completely broken, and recognizing the folly of fighting such an outnumbering force any longer, glided away from our front with all possible speed. As the shadows came down