After arranging for Buffalo Bill to bring in Sitting Bull in late November, Miles turned his attention to the other two chiefs he considered dangerous, Hump and Big Foot. In 1877 Hump had served him as a scout against Chief Jospeph and the Nez Perces, and during that time he and Capt. Ezra Ewers had become virtually blood brothers. A few days after contacting Buffalo Bill, Miles sent to Texas for Ewers. When he arrived at Fort Bennett, Miles instructed him to tell Hump that he was now in charge of all the Tetons and that he wanted him and his band to give up the Ghost Dance and move to the Cheyenne River Agency.
Ewers and Lt. Harry Hale rode up the Cheyenne River through blowing snow to Hump’s village near the mouth of Cherry Creek on the southern edge of the Miniconju reservation. Hump was away, but when he learned that his friend Ewers had come to see him, he immediately returned. When told what Gen. Miles wanted him to do, he replied, “All right. If Bearcoat wants me to, I will do as you say.”
Hump had already begun to doubt the coming of the Messiah, and when he and most of his people reached the agency on December 9, he again enlisted as a scout for the anny, this time to help persuade the remaining Miniconju Ghost Dancers to give up and come in. Eighty of the most zealous dancers in his own band had refused to leave their cabins, and they continued dancing.
Now, except for Short Bull’s people at the Stronghold and Hump’s eighty, only Big Foot’s people remained away from the agencies. Big Foot’s village was twenty miles from Hump’s, below the forks of the Cheyenne; it was already under surveillance by a small force of cavalrymen at Camp Cheyenne a few miles to the west. On December 3 Lt. Col. Edwin Sumner arrived from the Black Hills area with more cavalry and infantry, and took command at Camp Cheyenne.
Big Foot, a prominent warrior with a broad forehead, was most respected for his skill in settling quarrels between rival factions. When such disputes came dangerously close to erupting into violence, Big Foot was usually called on to pacify and bring together the contending parties. But to whites he was a diehard nonprogressive who kept his people as far from the agency as possible and whose young men were unruly troublemakers. As one who clung resolutely to the old ways, he had been immediately attracted to the Ghost Dance and the hope it promised for a new world.
All fall his people had danced furiously to prepare for the Messiah’s coming. They had made no threatening gestures or even considered molesting whites in nearby Cheyenne City or elsewhere in the ceded lands. Settler George McPherson had been allowed to watch them dance. It reminded him, he said, of a Methodist revival, and he saw no reason to fear it. Big Foot would have been astonished to know that Agent Palmer had repeatedly declared that friendlies around the agency had assured him both Hump’s and Big Foot’s people wanted to fight and would fight. There was no doubt, they said, that the dancers were preparing for an uprising–Big Foot’s men had recently been trading for arms and ammunition. The friendlies didn’t add that it was to defend themselves against troops that might try to suppress the dancing, not to take the offensive against whites. It was Palmer’s overblown statements that had convinced Miles that both chiefs were menaces and must be eliminated.
Big Foot was badly shaken to learn that Hump had rejected the Ghost Dance and moved his band to the agency. Having doubts himself about the Messiah, Big Foot took no part in the dances thereafter. His people, spurred on by the high-pitched voice of the thin-faced fanatical medicine man Yellow Bird, danced with an intensity born of desperation. Yellow Bird was consumed with hatred for all whites, and he kept his followers dancing until they fell from exhaustion.
Miles knew of no white man who was on as friendly terms with Big Foot as Ewers was with Hump, and who might be able to persuade him to move to the agency. Like Sitting Bull, therefore, he would have to be arrested.
When he learned of Col. Sumner’s arrival at Camp Cheyenne with 200 men, Big Foot suspected the whites had become afraid of him. He and his headmen immediately rode through twenty degree weather for a two-day visit with the new commander, to assure him that he and his people would obey orders. He found the bearded Sumner friendly and congenial, a man who understood and sympathized with Indians despite his years as a cavalry commander on the plains. Sumner was equally impressed with the broad-faced Big Foot and his headmen. “Without exception,” he reported, “they seemed not only willing but anxious to obey my order to remain quietly at home, and particularly wished me to inform my superiors that they were on the side of the government in the current troubles.”
Over the next ten days the two had frequent visits, and Sumner became increasingly convinced that Big Foot was cooperative and trustworthy. His visits to Big Foot’s village, however, made him aware that many of the scowling young men were restless and unruly, and he was the more impressed by Big Foot’s ability to control them. It was, he knew, far better to leave Big Foot in charge of them than to try to arrest and disarm them, especially without a larger force.
Shortly before mid-December, three Oglalas brought Big Foot an invitation from their chiefs, including Red Cloud, No Water, and Big Road, to come to Pine Ridge to make peace between quarrelling factions. They wanted him to leave at once, and they promised him 100 ponies for his services. Big Foot’s headmen urged him to accept, but he said they would go to the agency for rations and to collect their annuities on December 22. After that he would decide.
On December 15, the same day the Indian police killed Sitting Bull on the Grand River, Big Foot informed Sumner that he was taking his people to the agency for rations and annuities. They spent the next day preparing for the ninety-mile journey. On the 17th, the day they set out, a rider from Fort Meade brought Sumner a disturbing wire from Gen. Ruger in St. Paul. “It is desirable that Big Foot be arrested, and if it had been practicable to send Capt. Wells with his two troops, orders would have been given you to try to get him. In case of arrest, he will be sent to Fort Meade and be securely kept prisoner.”
Sumner reread the message several times. It was not a direct order to arrest Big Foot, but it was clear that Ruger wanted the arrest made and expected Sumner to make it. Giving Big Foot ample time to be well on his way, Sumner replied to Ruger: “I thought it best to allow him to go to Bennett a free man, and so informed the division commander by telegraph.” His wire to Miles had stated that Big Foot was on his way to the agency for annuities. “If he should return I will try to arrest him; if he does not, he can be arrested at Bennett. “
Bad news followed, for Sumner’s scouts reported that parties of Hunkpapas were descending Cherry Creek, probably to visit the Miniconjus along the Cheyenne River. The scouts suspected that other Hunkpapas were traveling south on trails farther west, dangerously close to white settlements in the Black Hills. They didn’t know what had caused the exodus from Standing Rock, but it undoubtedly had to do with the Ghost Dance.
Cursing softly, Sumner pondered his options. If he marched to protect the settlements, he would be held responsible for allowing the Hunkpapas to unite with Big Foot’s restless warriors, which might lead to trouble. If he moved to intercept the Hunkpapas on Cherry Creek while others struck the settlements... He shuddered at the thought, and for a day took no action.
Pawnee Killer had joined in the attack on the Standing Rock police and had seen Sitting Bull fall. When the troops drove Sitting Bull’ s people away, he had ridden a mile to the cabin that he and Scarlet Robe shared with others. Hastily gathering food and blankets, they rode south toward Hump’s village, the nearest of the Miniconju settlements, ninety miles away on Cherry Creek. Scattered groups of Hunkpapas were heading in the same direction, some in wagons, some on horseback, others on foot with only the clothes they’d worn that morning. The country was rough and the water was alkaline, but the weather remained fair and the nights barely below freezing.
As he rode, Pawnee Killer wondered which way to turn. Hump’s and Big Foot’s bands were still dancing, he supposed, and Short Bull and Kicking Bear probably were holding out in the Stronghold. Hump, he knew, had scouted for the army in ’77, which made him suspect, but the burly Big Foot was an old friend from the war of ’70. If Hump was unwilling to take his people to the Stronghold, perhaps Big Foot and his Ghost Dancers would go there before he suffered the same fate as Sitting Bull.
When Pawnee Killer, Scarlet Robe, and about 200 Hunkpapas reached Hump’s village they found it deserted except for the eighty zealous Miniconju dancers, who told a shocking story. Ten days ago, they said, two army officers had appeared, one an old friend of Hump. He had told Hump that Bearcoat Miles wanted him to stop dancing and bring his people to the agency. Hump had immediately agreed, and most of the band had gone with him. For all they knew, Hump might again be helping the army, this time in stopping the Ghost Dance and preventing the new world from coming.
The Hunkpapa refugees were dismayed, but most were too weary to react. Soon, they were sure, Hump would arrive with troops. Most were resigned to whatever fate awaited them.
Big Foot and his people set out for the agency on the 17th and camped that night twenty miles downriver, across from James Cavanaugh’s trading post. Early the following morning, two Hunkpapas, one wounded, came to his tipi to tell him about the killing of Sitting Bull. Big Foot came out after a few minutes and told his people there had been a big fight at Grand River and the Indian police and troops had treacherously killed Sitting Bull. His followers had scattered and were fleeing to the Miniconju camps on the Cheyenne. Big Foot’s people were confused and terrified. They were on their way to Fort Bennett, but now they hesitated, not trusting the whites or knowing what they might do to them. Instead of moving on, they remained in camp all day, speculating wildly about what might happen next. Yellow Bird kept them agitated by warning them in his high-pitched voice never to trust the Wasicuns.
On the 19th they crossed the river to camp near Cavanaugh’s post, where there was more grass for their ponies. The day was clear and warn, so they resumed dancing. All were armed, and to Cavanaugh and his two grown sons they appeared hostile, ready to fight. When several came to the post and told him they were hungzy, Cavanaugh nervously gave them a generous supply of provisions. As soon as they left he barred the door, and with his sons headed upriver, where they soon met a cavalry patrol east of Camp Cheyenne. Cavanaugh sent word to Sumner that the Miniconjus had robbed him and that Standing Rock refugees were at Hump’s village. Sumner and his entire command marched toward Cherry Creek.
Word of the Sitting Bull fight and the flight of his followers had reached the Cheyenne River Agency. Col. H. C. Merriam, Seventh Infantry, had finally crossed the ice-blocked Missouri, and had been ordered to march up the Cheyenne and unite with Sumner. Merriam considered the order unwise, for Big Foot might consider it a hostile movement. He called on Capt. J. H. Hurst, commander at Fort Bennett, to dispatch an officer to assure Big Foot’s people they were in no danger. Hurst sent Lt. Harry Hale along with Hump and some of his men, a policeman, and a guide. They reached Cheyenne City on the evening of the 18th and found it deserted except for old Henry Angell. The previous day, he explained, reports of hostile Hunkpapas approaching had stampeded all of the settlers. Having seen no sign of hostility, the crusty old man believed his eyes rather than his ears, and refused to leave. Hale sent the policeman to Sumner with the news, then ordered the guide to visit Hump’s village to learn what he could about the Hunkpapa refugees.
The guide hadn’t returned by noon on the 20th, and Hale was preparing to set out after him when Hump saw horsemen approaching—a party of forty-six of Sitting Bull’s warriors, among them Pawnee Killer. None showed any sign of hostility, but unfortunately for Hale, he had no interpreter to instruct them to continue on to the agency.
Henry Angell rode up and offered to help, for he knew enough of the sign language to make himself understood. He informed the Hunkpapas that if they would remain where they were, Hale would hurry to the agency and return with Capt. Hurst and an interpreter. Then Hale had him kill a steer for them, and they agreed to stay. Although he hadn’t found Big Foot, Hale feared that the Hunkpapas might join his people. He covered the fifty miles to the agency in under seven hours.
On learning that other Hunkpapa refugees were nearby, Big Foot sent ten men to invite them to his village, where he would give them food and clothing. On the 20th his men found the women huddling miserably around a fire. The men, they said, were across the river waiting for Lt. Hale to return. Big Foot’s men crossed the river and found Hump urging the Hunkpapas to surrender.
When Big Foot’s emissaries explained their reason for coming, Hump was furious. “You don’t have to take them to Big Foot’s camp,” he roared. “I’ll take these people to the agency. If you men want to fight, I’ll bring you some infantry to help you,” he added sarcastically. At his signal, his men surrounded them with cocked rifles. No shot was fired, for Pawnee Killer and the Hunkpapas informed Hump that if he attacked Big Foot’s men he’d have to fight them as well. Hump called off his warriors; Pawnee Killer, Scarlet Robe, and thirty-six Hunkpapas as well as thirty of Hump’s Ghost Dancers left to join Big Foot. The remaining 166 Hunkpapas and fifty of the Miniconjus stayed to see what Capt. Hurst proposed. He and Hale, with a sergeant and interpreters, reached Cheyenne City late on the 21st.
After having two steers butchered for the hungry refugees, Hurst urged them to give up their guns and accompany him to Fort Bennett, where their needs would be supplied, although he could make no promise as to their future. But if they joined Big Foot’s band, he warned them, they risked serious trouble for themselves and their families. No warrior felt safe among whites without his weapons, but after talking it over, that night they surrendered their guns, and in the morning set out for Bennett with Hurst and Hump.
Col. Sumner and his troops had camped on the ranch of mixed blood Narcisse Narcelle on the southwest comer of the reservation on December 20. That same day Big Foot had sent a message to Sumner saying he was his friend and wanted to see him. In the morning Big Foot and two Hunkpapas rode ahead of the rest to find Sumner, who was riding ahead of his troops, looking for Big Foot.
The two sat down to smoke and talk. Sumner criticized Big Foot for allowing the Standing Rock refugees to join him. “You should have sent them to me at Camp Cheyenne,” he said.
“They are relatives and brothers who came to us naked and hungry,” Big Foot explained, “and no one with any heart could have done less. How could we refuse to help them?” Sumner had to agree.
“The Standing Rock Indians with Big Foot answered the description perfectly,” he said later, “and were, in fact, so pitiable a sight that I at once dropped all thought of their being hostile or even worthy of capture. Still, my orders were to take them and I intended doing so.”
The troops and Big Foot’s band camped that night at Narcelle’s ranch, with units stationed around the Indians. Sumner had a head count made—there were 333 men, women, and children, among them the Standing Rock people, including fourteen warriors. Sumner informed Big Foot they were to continue on to Camp Cheyenne the next day, and his people were not to stop when they passed through their own village. Big Foot agreed.
Having learned of Merriam’s approach, Big Foot’s people were already nervous, and being surrounded by troops that night didn’t calm their fears. In the morning Sumner had them divided into three groups, each accompanied by cavalrymen, for the march to Camp Cheyenne. The Indians were still agitated, and some of the young warriors were ominously painted and carrying their rifles as if they expected trouble.
The first section and its cavalry escort passed through the gate of Narcelle’s ranch, but a wagon in the second group caught a wheel on a gate post. The excited women tried to get it loose but got the ponies tangled up in their harness. When an officer rode up and gruffly ordered them to stop blocking the gate, he frightened them even more. At that, Black Fox, Big Foot’s surly son-in-law, swung his rifle toward the officer, who backed off.
All of this greatly aroused the warriors, who dashed about in confusion, howling and waving their Winchesters. When the gate was finally cleared they raced through it and along the first section as if they were leaving. The terrified women threw their belongings out of the wagons to lighten them, and prepared to flee. Lt. Duffy, whose troops led the way, spread them out in a skirmish line and forced the warriors back into the column. Big Foot, at Sumner’s request, sent his headmen to calm his people; order was restored, but all were on edge, still expecting trouble. That day Big Foot was coming down with influenza, which had spread among the Miniconjus, and he was sick and feverish.
After crossing the river the cavalcade approached Big Foot’s village, when the warriors again raced forward. Sumner, fearing a fight was imminent, ordered Duffy to let them pass. Every family now rushed to its own cabin and barred the door. Big Foot hurried to Sumner. “I will go to your camp,” he said, “but there will be trouble if you try to force these women and children to leave their cabins. This is their home, where the government ordered them to remain. None of my people has committed a single act that would cause you to remove them by force.” Sumner knew he was right; and since Big foot had always kept his word, he felt that he should show that he trusted him.
As he reported later, “I concluded that one oftwo things must happen. I must either consent to their going to their village or bring on a fight; and if the latter, must be the aggressor, and, if the aggressor, what possible reason could I produce for making an attack on peaceable, quiet Indians on their reservation and in their own homes, perhaps killing many of them and offering, without any justification, the lives of many officers and enlisted men?”
Because Big Foot was needed in his village to control his unruly young men, Sumner allowed him to remain with his people. He asked only that Big Foot come to Camp Cheyenne next day to talk and to bring the Hunkpapas with him. Big Foot agreed, and Sumner withdrew with his troops to his base camp.
After learning that Big Foot intended to take them to Camp Cheyenne the following day, the Hunkpapas held council. “Big Foot promised we would come peacefully,” one said. “We must do it.”
“No!” said another. “They’ll kill us like they did Sitting Bull.” They argued while Pawnee Killer listened. Since he wasn’t a Hunkpapa, he knew he could stay with Big Foot. The Hunkpapas finally asked his opinion.
“Big Foot took us in and fed us when we were starving,” he told them. “It isn’t right for us to abandon him now and make trouble for him. He says he trusts Col. Sumner.” The Hunkpapas frowned. “My brothers,” Pawnee Killer continued, “I don’t know what I would do if he told me I had to surrender to the soldiers. It is something each man must decide for himself. Big Foot is sick, and I intend to stay with him.” The Hunkpapas slipped away during the night.
That same night a weary courier from Fort Meade brought Sumner a message from Miles, who was now directing the campaign from Rapid City, South Dakota. “I think you had better push on rapidly with your prisoners to Ft. Meade, and be careful they do not escape, and look out for other Indians.” Sumner glumly replied: “Did not succeed in getting Indians to come to my camp on account of want of shelter for women and children. Did not feel authorized to compel them by force to leave their reservation.” He added that if Big Foot failed to come to his camp the following day as promised, he would seize him.
He waited anxiously the next morning for Big Foot to appear, and finally sent two scouts to his village to report. By noon neither Big Foot nor the scouts had come, and Sumner was in a quandary. There was still a possibility that hostiles were approaching from the north. And if he arrested Big Foot, as he supposedly had already done, in the ensuing fight most of the Miniconjus might scatter, join the hostiles, and launch an indiscriminate war on whites. His only hope was to persuade Big Foot to take his people to the agency. “All thought of these Indians going south had been abandoned by me,” he admitted later, “and I supposed they would either go peaceably to the agency or fight.”
While Sumner pondered what to do, a red-bearded rancher named John Dunne, who lived a few miles away in the ceded lands, came to camp with butter and eggs to sell. Redbeard, as the Indians called him, was fluent in Lakota and well acquainted with Big Foot. He reluctantly agreed to visit the Miniconju village along with interpreter Felix Benoit, and to convey Sumner’s order to Big Foot to take his band to the agency. He was also to tell him that Sumner would be following to make sure his order was obeyed. Sumner and his cavalry followed at a distance and halted five miles from Big Foot’s cabins to bivouac.
At the village, Benoit stopped to question Sumner’s scouts about why Big Foot had failed to come, while Dunne went on alone to Big Foot’s cabin. The Hunkpapas had left during the night, the scouts told him. Big Foot was sick and also embarrassed to face Sumner.
Dunne delivered Sumner’s orders to Big Foot. According to what the Miniconjus said later, he also told him he’d overheard the officers at Camp Cheyenne say they were going to send 1000 soldiers into Big Foot’s village at night. They would seize all of them and then send the men far away to the east where they’d be held on an island. The only way to prevent a fight was to flee immediately to Pine Ridge. Big Foot protested, but Dunne insisted. He was telling them this because he was their friend, he said but they must not tell Sumner he had warned them, for he would be angry.
Benoit found a noisy crowd of warriors in front of Big Foot’s cabin. The chief quieted them. “I’m ordered to go down to Fort Bennett tomorrow morning,” he told them. “We must all go to Bennett; if we don’t Redbeard says the soldiers will come tomorrow and make us go or shoot us if they have to.” He turned to Benoit. “Does Redbeard tell the truth?” he asked.
“Yes.”
As soon as the scouts, Dunne, and Benoit departed, leaving a scout to watch the village, Big Foot and his headmen held a hasty council. “We must go to the agency,” some said.
“No! Go to Pine Ridge!” others shouted. Big Foot hesitated. The fact that Sumner was coming from one direction and Merriam from another made Dunne’s warning credible. Finally they agreed to move up Deep Creek into the hills and wait to see if soldiers came. If none appeared in three days they could return home. If troops did come after them, they could scatter and flee to the south.
The scout Benoit had left watching the village reported that the Miniconjus were excited and preparing to start for the agency at once. Sumner sent another scout to order Big Foot to remain until morning. He soon returned with the news that the Miniconjus were already on their way south. Sumner sent two scouts to follow them, while he hoped desperately they were headed for the agency. In the meantime, Big Foot’s scouts had discovered that Sumner was camped only five miles from the village. They held another hasty council, for they were now convinced that Redbeard spoke with only one tongue. Over Big Foot’s objections, the headmen insisted they go to Pine Ridge. He had no choice but to accompany them, although he was almost too sick to travel.
Scout His-Horse-Looking caught up with Big Foot’s people traveling south along the Deep Creek Road about midnight. Warriors immediately surrounded him. “Kill him! He works for the soldiers!” they shouted. Big Foot silenced them, then spoke to the scout. “Tell my friend Sumner I’m sorry about what I’ve done,” he apologized. “I wanted to go to Bennett, but my headmen made me go to Pine Ridge.” They traveled on, moving as rapidly as possible in the blowing snow of the dark, frigid night. By early morning they had covered thirty miles, and stopped in the shelter of cliffs near the forks of the Bad River, where they rested until dawn.
In the morning of the 24th, His-Horse-Looking rode into Camp Cheyenne with the unwelcome news. Sumner glumly inspected the deserted village. He hadn’t heard further reports of hostile Indians in the north, but he couldn’t help worrying about them, since everything else was going wrong for him. Still unsure what he should do, and seeing his military career hanging in the balance, he took his troops back to Camp Cheyenne. A rider soon arrived with a message Miles had sent the previous day.
“Report about hostile Indians on Little Missouri not believed,” it said. “The attitude of Big Foot has been defiant and hostile, and you are authorized to arrest him or any of his people and take them to Meade or Bennett. There are some 30 young warriors that ran away from Hump’s camp without authority, and if an opportunity is given they will undoubtedly join those in the Bad Lands. The Standing Rock Indians also have no right to be there and they should be arrested. The division commander directs, therefore, that you secure Big Foot and the Cheyenne River Indians, and the Standing Rock Indians, and if necessary round up the whole camp and disarm them, and take them to Fort Meade or Bennett.”
When he learned that Big Foot had escaped and fled south Miles was outraged at him and at Col. Sumner, and bombarded his field commanders with orders. Unaware of the circumstances surrounding Big Foot’s hasty flight, Miles wanted to subject Sumner to a court of inquiry. Sumner was spared that ordeal because he hadn’t actually received a direct order to arrest Big Foot until December 24, by which time he was already on his way to Pine Ridge.
Fear of what might happen if Big Foot and his renegades joined the diehard Ghost Dancers in the Stronghold just as efforts were being made to persuade them to surrender generated an all-out campaign to track them down. Col. Eugene Carr of the Sixth Cavalry, a bearded veteran Indian fighter whose base camp was at the mouth of Rapid Creek, appeared to be in the best position to intercept the fugitives. On the morning of the 24th a message from Sumner informed him that Big Foot’s band was moving south, and that by a forced march to the east he could cut off their escape. With four troops of cavalry and two Hotchkiss guns, Carr headed east at a trot, dividing his force to cover more territory. By late afternoon they were on the northern rim of the Badlands, where they spent a miserable Christmas Eve in weather so cold the pools of alkaline water froze solid. A wide reconnaissance on Christmas Day convinced Carr that his prey had already passed to the east of his troops; he called in his patrols and returned to his base camp.
Early on the 24th Big Foot’s weary people resumed their flight. The sky was clear, but an icy gale blew clouds of choking alkali dust in their faces making travel almost impossible. Even though Big Foot was too weak to ride and had to be carried in a wagon, he kept his people moving. Late in the afternoon they made the difficult descent of the rocky slope from the Badlands to the White River and camped on the south bank. They were only a few miles from one of Carr’s patrols before it was ordered back to camp. By now Big Foot was suffering from pneumonia, and they traveled only four miles on the 25th, while Carr scoured the country to the north. Big Foot sent three young men to Pine Ridge to inform the chiefs that he was seriously ill and came in peace.
Major Guy Henry and a force of Ninth Cavalry from Pine Ridge now guarded the eastern trail to the Stronghold, where 500 friendly Oglalas had spent a week pressuring Short Dull’s followers to accompany them to the agency. In the evening of the 27th, Henry’s scouts reported that the Ghost Dancers had loaded their wagons and started across the plateau, apparently on their way to Pine Ridge.
On learning that Big Foot was south of the White River and heading for the agency, Brooke dispatched four troops of the Seventh Cavalry under Apache fighter Major Samuel Whitside to intercept him. “I do not think there will be any mistake made with Big Foot if we get him,” he grimly wired Miles of the 25th. “My orders to Whitside are to dismount him and destroy his arms and hold him.”
“Big Foot is cunning and his Indians are very bad,” Miles warned him the same day. “I hope you will round up the whole body of them, disarm them and keep them under close guard.” Shortly afterward he wired again. “I have no doubt your orders are all right, but I shall be exceedingly anxious until I know they are executed; whoever secures that body of Indians will be entitled to much credit. They deceived Sumner completely, and if they get a chance they will scatter through the entire Sioux camp or slip out individually.”
On the night of December 26 Whitside’s force camped near Louis Mousseau’s trading post, where the Rosebud-Pine Ridge trail crossed Wounded Knee Creek, and he sent out Oglala scouts the next morning. He then had heliographs set up between his camp and Pine Ridge in order to flash messsages quickly to Gen. Brooke. He soon heard from Brooke. “I am directed by the commanding general to say that he thinks Big Foot’s party must be in front of you somewhere, and that you must make every effort to find him at once. A solution must be reached at the earliest possible moment. Find his trail, or find his hiding place and capture him. If he fights desttoy him.”
Big Foot was worse that morning, and travel for him was agonizing. One of his messengers returned from Pine Ridge to inform him that cavalry troops were on Wounded Knee Creek and were looking for him. Another messenger, Bear-Comes-and-Lies, accompanied by an Oglala named Shaggy Feather, rode into camp a short time later. “Short Bull’s people are coming in from the Badlands,” they told Big Foot. “They will reach the agency in two days. Short Bull and Kicking Bear want you to arrive there the same day.” The Pine Ridge chiefs, they said, urged him to make a big swing to the south to evade the troops on Wounded Knee Creek.
Big Foot and his headmen held council and talked most of the morning. The headmen argued in favor of making the detour to the south to get around the troops, but this time Big Foot finally prevailed. “I am too sick for unnecessary travel. We must go straight to Pine Ridge before I die.” They set out at noon, and that night continued by moonlight until they reached the abandoned cabins of Little Wound’s village. They were now one day’s travel from Pine Ridge.
At sunrise, knowing that troops were between them and the agency, they nervously pushed on, expecting at any moment to be attacked. Pawnee Killer and other warriors rode ahead to watch for troops. They had gone only a few miles when a young Brulé wearing a Ghost Shirt overtook them and joined the party. The warriors eyed him suspiciously. In a Ghost Shirt he obviously wasn’t an army scout, so they ignored him.