Custer's Chief of Scouts

Book excerpt: Historic moments in the Battle of the Little Big Horn are recounted by Custer's chief of scouts, Lieutenant Charles A. Varnum, who commanded a detachment of Arikara scouts. He describes his meeting with Custer on a high bluff on the morning of June 25,1876, and the general's fateful decision to attack, in spite of a warning that the valley was filling up with mounted Indians. Varnum, who rode with Major Marcus Reno's troop, relives all that can be seen and heard in the smoke and swirl of the battle. One of the few to emerge from the Little Big Horn debacle untainted by controversy, Varnum served in the Seventh Cavalry for thirty-two years. His testimony at the Reno court of inquiry in 1879 is included in this book. Near the end of his career, he received the Medal of Honor for heroism at Wounded Knee.