EPILOGUE

At noon, on Saturday, June 24, 1876, three hours before the Battle at the Little Big Horn commenced, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer sent a battalion of 125 men under Captain Frederick Benteen to sweep the bluffs well south of the suspected Sioux encampment. Benteen tired of the scouting mission and turned north. He then received orders to bring up the packs carrying ammunition. While en route, he came upon the further divided and beleaguered forces of Major Marcus Reno. While suffering numerous casualties, the Reno-Benteen forces survived the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Sergeant Robert Fortune, serving in one of the three companies under Captain Benteen, sustained two broken ribs and contusions when his horse was shot out from under him. His injuries were not fatal.

Less than six weeks later, on Wednesday, August 2, 1876, at approximately 3:00 P.M., a previously unknown, shifty drifter named Jack McCall entered the Number 10 saloon on Deadwood’s Main Street and shot James Butler Hickok in the back of the head as Wild Bill held a poker hand of black aces and eights.

Eighteen days after Wild Bill’s death, on Sunday, August 20, 1876, Reverend Henry Weston Smith held worship services on the streets of Deadwood. After Sunday dinner he began a six-mile hike through the mountains to Crook City to hold similar services. Hours later his murdered body was found, where it had fallen, along the trail deep in the woods. Neither a motive, nor a murderer, was ever discovered. The entire population of the northern Black Hills mourned the death of Preacher Smith.

Look for Todd Fortune’s story in

Book Two

Fortunes of the Black Hills

Shadow of Legends