told his people that in a few days a large force of white soldiers would attack them, but would be defeated by the Sioux.

Early in that year General Sheridan ordered a combined movement against this chief, around whom had gathered some six thousand warriors. These expeditions were directed to start in May and concentrate, General Crook from the south with 3,500 men, General Gibbon from the west down the Yellowstone with some 500, General Terry from the east with 2,200 men and some light artillery. In June Crook was above the Big Horn, at the head-waters of Tongue River. The Indians were further down, and Terry and Gibbon were near its mouth. Crook attacked the Sioux on Rosebud River, on June 17th; but after a day's hard fighting, drew off and sent for reinforcements. The Indians, whose numerous ponies had consumed all the grass in the Rosebud valley, crossed over to the valley of the Little Big Horn. Major Reno, coming with a battalion of the Seventh Cavalry, found their immense trail, and reported it to General Terry. General Custer, then lieutenant-colonel of the Seventh Cavalry, was assigned command of the expedition to follow the trail. He received cautious orders, directing him to feel the valleys for Indians, and was expected to meet Gibbon on June 26th. Custer, with his usual dash, pushed on with only his own regiment, riding night and day. Men and horses were well nigh used up when they came near the Indian city on Little Big Horn, on Sunday morning, June 25th.

Soon after daybreak Custer's advance reported signs of the city. He then divided his regiment, keeping five favorite companies with himself, sent Captain Benteen with three companies two miles off, Major Reno with three other companies ahead, and left another company to guard the mule pack-train. When Custer got his first view of the Indian city, with its swarming herds of ponies, the sight was enough to stir the soldier's blood. He saw numerous horsemen apparently running away, lodges being taken down, and other signs which he considered to indicate retreat. Really the young men were rounding up their herds; behind the bluffs were thousands of warriors eager for the fight; it was only women and children that were being moved from the lodges taken down. Custer,

fully convinced that he must strike quickly to reach them at all, ordered Reno to ford the stream so as to reach the southern end of the village, while he himself should move northwestward along the winding ravine. A courier was sent off to Benteen to inform him of the movemeut, and another to hurry up the pack-trains. Then Reno saw the gallant Custer and men eagerly plunge down the slope unwitting that they were to meet death. Custer and his captains wore coats of buckskin trimmed with beaver, broad-brimmed scoutinghats, and long riding-boots.

Reno, with his two hundred men, went forward to the gulley which led down through the bluff to the ford, crossed the river, and began to clamber up the opposite bank. He dismounted his men, and moved forward cautiously across a mile of prairie. On reaching the village, he was attacked in the flank by some Indians who had hastened to the scene. Reno ordered his troops to halt and mount, and while he paused the Indians gathered in largely increased numbers. Then began a retreat to the river, and his men, hard pressed, made a wild dash for the stream and the opposite bluff. Many fell; the rest gathered on the bluff and, to their surprise, were no further molested. The Indians had quickly disappeared from their front.

There could still be seen great confusion through the villages, and further off could be heard volleys of musketry. But soon even this died away. While yet wondering what these things meant, up came Benteen's command, inquiring, "Have you seen anything of Custer?" Some had ridden to a point of bluff a mile northward, but had seen only swarms of Indians. Seven troops of cavalry were now gathered together with the pack-train. They resolved to entrench

until Generals Terry and Gibbon should arrive.

But, from the field where Custer rode to death, there was no one of his command left to tell the tale except the Crow scout, Curley, who had put on a Sioux blanket, and thus got away. But in the next year and later various Sioux scouts told their several stories, which all practically agreed in the accounts of the battle. Custer had ridden five miles through the ravine, and then struck the city. When he came out from the bluff, he

suddenly found himself confronted by thousands of dusky warriors. From the thickets on the river bank a dense fire poured into his ranks. He dismounted his men, and pushed them forward; but, when he found that thus they were more easily surrounded by the Indians, he ordered them to mount again. They rushed for the high ground, but here also on all sides were thousands of Sioux. Finding retreat impossible, they dismounted again and turned their horses loose. Half their number had already fallen, and every minute more fell. Custer, with his brother Tom, and a few others, made their last rally on a mound at the northern end of a ridge. In less than twenty-five minutes the fight was over.

Reno, with the remaining companies, was besieged in his camp by the returning Indians until the 27th, when Terry and Gibbon came to his relief. Scouts were sent out, and soon reported that bodies of nearly two hundred white men had been seen on a ridge. Thirty more were found along a gulley, where they had been shot from the banks above. Two men, one an officer, had broken through the circle of Sioux and galloped off, but were pursued and finally shot. A fine sorrel horse, named Comanche, though sorely wounded, came into the army lines some days later. He had belonged to Captain Keogh, and was thereafter specially cherished by the Seventh Regiment.

Sitting Bull, with many followers, made for the Yellowstone, as soon as they learned that the forces of the whites had been increased. During the fall and winter many noted chiefs were compelled to surrender; Sitting Bull, however, kept out of the way, and finally took refuge in Canada.-J. C. MOORE.

FEW figures in American history have more pathetic interest than that of General McClellan, called to command the largest army yet known on the continent. Raised for a while to the topmost pinnacle of popular favor, idolized by his soldiers, and gladly served by President and Cabinet, he was destined ere long to see all these elements of power slip from him or become ineffectual, while he sank into the mere shadow

of a great name. Yet the organization of the Army of the Potomac should be a sufficient monument to his military ability, and his Peninsular campaign, though not immediately successful in its object, might have been so had he been allowed the further time which was granted to others in similar circumstances, both there and elsewhere.

George Brinton McClellan, the son of an eminent surgeon, was born at Philadelphia, on December 3, 1826. He graduated from West Point, in 1846, the youngest of his class, yet the second in rank. Entering at once in the Mexican War, he served as an engineer from Vera Cruz to Churubusco, winning brevets by skill and valor. He served on Government surveys in Texas and on a northern route for a Pacific railroad until 1855, when he was sent to examine the European military systems in the several countries and in the

Crimea, then the seat of war.

The result was a valuable treatise on The Armies of Europe (1857). McClellan then became chief engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, and in 1860 president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, whose office was at Cincinnati.

On the outbreak of the Civil War he was first made major-general of the Ohio militia, but was soon appointed by the General Government commander of the Department of the Ohio. He crossed into West Virginia, and early in July, 1861, completely routed the Confederate forces. This victory, contrasted with the defeat of Bull Run, caused him quickly to be summoned to the defence of Washington. On July 27 he took command of the 50,000 troops there gathered, and promised that the war should be "short, sharp and decisive." His first demand on the President was for a very large increase of the army. Then and later he greatly overrated the force opposed to him. The rest of the year was spent in drilling the men, teaching the volunteer officers their duty, organizing the army, and erecting the earthwork defences of Washington. The autumn was a gay time of reviews, regimental, brigade, and divisional, and McClellan was hailed by admiring crowds of visitors as "the Young Napoleon." The President and others looked anxiously for a forward movement, but the only reconnoissances ended in discouraging disasters. During McClellan's illness in the winter, the President called upon the other generals for suggestions, and the commander, on recovering, resented the interference.

Edwin M. Stanton, who had favored McClellan, was made Secretary of War in January, 1862, and both he and President Lincoln began persistently to urge a forward movement. The Union army had in February over 185,000 men, thrice the Confederate force in Virginia. When McClellan proposed the advance on Richmond from Fortress Monroe, the President relieved him of the command of the other departments. Setting out in April with 121,000 men, he was delayed a month by the siege of Yorktown, which had been fortified while he was waiting for more troops. When his siegeworks were completed the town was evacuated, but a fight