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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Maps

  Cast of Characters

  Epigraphs

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Overwhelming Acclaim for the Work of Terry C. Johnston

  The Plainsmen Series by Terry C. Johnston

  About the Author

  Copyright

  With my heartfelt respect and admiration

  for the warrior that is within him,

  with my deepest appreciation

  for all that he has taught me,

  and with my deepest affection

  for him and all that he has helped me see …

  I dedicate this novel on the end of

  the Great Sioux War

  to my spiritual mentor, my Minnicoujou Lakota guide,

  to my beloved kola,

  Steve Emery—

  Mato Tanka

  Ashes of Heaven

  Cast of Characters

  Seamus Donegan

  Samantha Donegan

  Colin Teig Donegan

  Civilians

  Nettie Capron

  John Collins—

  contract trader at Fort Laramie

  Luther S. “Yellowstone” Kelly

  Johnny Bruguier—

  called “Big Leggings” by the Lakota and “White” by the Cheyenne

  William Rowland/“Long Knife”

  Willis Rowland/“High Forehead”

  Joseph Culbertson

  Robert Jackson

  Dr. Van Eman—

  civilian contract surgeon, Lame Deer Expedition

  Military

  General William Tecumseh Sherman—

  General of the Army

  Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan—

  Commander, Division of the Missouri

  General Alfred H. Terry—

  Commander, Department of Dakota

  Colonel Nelson A. Miles—

  Commanding Officer, Fifth U.S. Infantry

  Major Andrew W. Evans—

  Third U.S. Cavalry, Post Commander, Fort Laramie

  Major Frank Brisbin—

  Second U.S. Cavalry

  Major Benjamin Card—

  Quartermaster, Department of Dakota

  Captain Ezra P. Ewers—

  E Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry (given command of the newly mustered Crow scouts)

  Captain Charles W. Miner—

  G Company, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry

  Captain DeWitt C. Poole—

  H Company, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry

  Captain Charles J. Dickey—

  Company E, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry (given battalion command of the pack-train)

  Captain George L. Tyler—

  F Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Captain James N. Wheelan—

  G Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Captain Edward Ball—

  H Company, Second U.S. Cavalry (in command of the mounted battalion)

  Captain Randolph Norwood—

  L Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Captain Andrew S. Bennett—

  Company. B, Fifth U.S. Infantry

  Lieutenant Charles A. Woodruff—

  Company B, Fifth U.S. Infantry

  Lieutenant Charles E. Hargous—

  Company H, Fifth U.S. Infantry

  Lieutenant Oskaloosa M. Smith—

  H Company, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry

  Lieutenant Cornelius Cusick—

  F Company, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry

  Lieutenant Benjamin C. Lockwood—

  G Company, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry

  Lieutenant Oscar F. Long—

  Fifth U.S. Infantry, Acting Engineering Officer to Lame Deer Expedition

  First Lieutenant Samuel T. Hamilton—

  L Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  First Lieutenant George W. Baird—

  Adjutant to Colonel Nelson A. Miles, Fifth U.S. Infantry

  First Lieutenant Paul R. Brown—

  Assistant Surgeon, Lame Deer Expedition

  Second Lieutenant Edward W. Casey—

  Twenty-second U.S. Infantry (commanding a detachment of mounted infantry and Cheyenne scouts)

  Second Lieutenant Charles B. Schofield—

  L Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Second Lieutenant Alfred M. Fuller—

  F Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Second Lieutenant Lovell H. Jerome—

  H Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Second Lieutenant Samuel R. Douglass—

  Seventh U.S. Infantry (battalion quartermaster the Second U.S. Cavalry)

  Sergeant John F. McBlain—

  L Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private Charles Shrenger—

  Fifth U.S. Infantry, orderly to Colonel Nelson A. Miles

  Private William Leonard—

  L Troop, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Cheyenne

  TSE-TSEHESE-STAESTE “THOSE WHO ARE HEARTED ALIKE.”

  Old Wool Woman (Sweet Taste Woman)

  Antelope Woman

  Twin Woman Crane Woman Red Hood (Red Hat)

  Crooked Nose Woman

  Fingers Woman

  Black Horse

  OLD MAN CHIEFS:

  Morning Star

  Little Wolf Black Moccasin (Limber Lance)

  Old Bear

  COUNCIL CHIEFS:

  Crazy Mule

  Old Wolf

  White Bull (Ice)

  Last Bull

  Wrapped Hair

  Two Moon

  Wild Hog

  Left Handed Shooter

  Bear Who Walks on a Ridge (Ridge Bear)

  Medicine Bear

  Wooden Leg

  Tall White Man

  White Hawk

  Old Man Coyote

  Little Creek

  Buffalo Calf

  Snow Bird (White Bird)

  Strong Left Hand (Strong Left Arm)

  Crazy Mule

  Young Little Wolf

  Iron Shirt

  Standing Elk

  Crazy Head—Council Chief

  Old Wolf—Council Chief

  White Elk

  Bobtail Horse

  White Thunder


  Black Bear

  Sleeping Rabbit

  Brave Wolf

  Roan Bear

  Little Wolf—Sweet Medicine Chief

  Morning Star

  Old Bear

  Coal Bear—Sacred Hat Priest

  Sacred Hat Woman

  Black Wolf

  American Horse

  Black Eagle

  Turkey Leg

  White Clay

  Broken Jaw

  Wolf Medicine

  Plenty Bears

  Beaver Claws

  Red Owl

  Tangle Hair

  Magpie Eagle

  Sits Beside His Medicine

  Weasel Bear

  White Wolf

  Howling Wolf

  Fast Whirlwind

  Sits in the Night

  Walks on Crutches

  Spotted Wolf

  Elk River

  Crow Split Nose

  Goes After Other Buffalo

  Spotted Elk

  Big Horse

  Lame Dog

  Lakota

  Crazy Horse (Tsunke Witko)

  Sitting Bull

  He Dog

  Four Horns

  Lame Deer—Mnikowoju chief

  No Neck

  Little Big Man

  Hump (High Backbone)

  Horse Road—Hump’s brother

  Iron Star (Big Ankle?)—Lame

  Deer’s nephew

  Touch the Clouds

  Red Bear

  Roman Nose

  High Bear

  Casualties

  KILLED IN ACTION:

  Private Charles Shrenger—

  H Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private Frank Glackowsky—

  F Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private Charles A. Martindale—

  R Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private Peter Louys—

  H Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Lame Deer

  Iron Star

  Heart Ghost

  Shorty

  WOUNDED IN ACTION:

  Trumpeter William C. Osmer—

  F Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private Samuel Freyer—

  F Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private Andrew Jeffers—

  G Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private Patrick Ryan—

  G Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private Thomas B. Gilmore—

  H Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private David L. Brainard—

  L Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private William Leonard—

  L Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private Frederick Wilks—

  L Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  ARMY-NAVY JOURNAL quoted H.Q., Second U.S. Cavalry, in listing two more wounded:

  Private John O’Flynn—

  F Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Private John W. Jones—

  F Company, Second U.S. Cavalry

  Lieutenant Alfred M. Fuller—

  Second Cavalry

  Sergeant——Sharp—

  Second Cavalry

  In fact, the Great Sioux War was the only conventional war the army ever fought against the trans-Mississippi Indians. It was the type of conflict these Civil War veterans were supposedly used to, where large massed bodies of troops maneuvered for control of battlefields. Reynolds, Crook, and Custer were simply outmaneuvered and defeated in quite conventional battles. It was only when the military could return to the harassing tactics employed so successfully in the Red River War that the Indians were defeated by starvation and exhaustion.

  —Paul Andrew Hutton

  Phil Sheridan and His Army

  Hon. George W. McCrary, Secretary of War,

  … I now regard the Sioux Indian problem, as a war question, as solved by the operations of General Miles last winter, and by the establishment of the two new posts on the Yellowstone, now assured this summer. Boats come and go now, where a year ago none would venture except with strong guards. Wood-yards are being established to facilitate navigation, and the great mass of the hostiles have been forced to go to the agencies for food and protection, or have fled across the border into British Territory.

  —William Tecumseh Sherman

  General of the Army

  July 17, 1877

  [Lame Deer’s] band commenced to surrender, in small squads from two to twenty, immediately thereafter, until at length, on the 10th of September, the last of the band, numbering 224, constantly followed and pressed by troops from the command of Colonel Miles, surrendered at Camp Sheridan. The Sioux war was now over.

  —Philip H. Sheridan

  Lieutenant General

  October 25, 1877

  The Lame Deer fight was the last battle. For better or worse, the only remaining free-roaming band was now as destitute as the rest and would have no other choice but to go into the agencies and surrender.

  The Great Sioux War was over.

  —Charles M. Robinson, III

  A Good Year to Die

  Prologue

  Tioheyunka Wi

  1877

  “Crazy Horse!”

  The first time he heard his name drift up from below, he thought it was nothing more than the cold, harsh whisper of the winter wind taunting him where he sat on an outcrop of rimrock overlooking the valley of the Buffalo Tongue River. The wind always howled and snarled in this country near the foot of the White Mountains.*

  Here at last, near the mouth of Prairie Dog Creek, the camp’s hunters had stumbled across a few poor buffalo.

  “Tsunke Witko!” repeated the faint, distant voice, reverberating a little within the rocks this time.

  He knew it was not the wind.

  This strange man of the Oglalla looked down, tugging some of his long, brown, wavy hair from his eyes. He had never worn it in braids, never adorned it with anything more than a feather, two feathers at the most. Below him among the rocks and the dirty snow and scrub cedar he spotted movement. The figure of a man took form. He stopped, heaving for breath from the climb, then called out again.

  “Crazy Horse! Are you here?”

  Slowly, reluctantly, the strange one held up his outstretched arm and waved it side to side. In that hand he gripped the small personal pipe he had come here to smoke among these sacred rocks of the earth, alone. During the Moon of Frost in the Lodge, he often walked away from camp to visit these high places where the wind blew cold, where he could smoke and think. Here he could pray.

  But few answers came.

  Below him now he made out He Dog’s face.

  “I am here,” Crazy Horse said, hollow with despair that he had been found, and with a sour resignation that his old friend had come looking for him.

  Why didn’t these people just let him be? Why did this band of Hunkpatila Oglalla still depend upon him? No longer was he a Shirt-Wearer. After he had run off with Black Buffalo Woman, No Water came searching for them and Crazy Horse had been stripped of his shirt. Yet the chiefs chose no one to wear the shirt after Crazy Horse lost his honor for taking another man’s woman. Only He Dog continued in the old way of the Shirt-Wearers.

  A life that was dying.

  “I followed your tracks,” He Dog gasped breathlessly when he was close enough to speak without shouting.

  For a moment Crazy Horse watched his old friend scrambling among the rocks in his wet, buffalo-hide winter moccasins.

  “I did not hide my coming here.”

  He Dog dusted the icy snow from his hands, tightened the blanket he had belted around his shoulders, then settled back against the rock an arm’s length from Crazy Horse. He looked around and sighed, “You come to be among the stones and high places more than you are among your people these days.”

  “Those people do not need me,” he answered with a bitter sadness, staring at the snowy heights of the White Mountains. “They no longer need warriors.”

  “Your people sti
ll look to you.”

  His eyes locked on He Dog’s. “If I choose to lead them in to the White River Agency,* will they follow me?”

  He Dog nodded. “They will follow.”

  The Horse gazed at his old friend a moment, then looked away again. “And if I choose to stay away from the white man’s agency … who then will they follow?”

  “These people will follow you, no matter the path you take.”

  Sadly, Crazy Horse remembered, “Last winter you started south with your family, He Dog—”

  “It was a mistake.”

  Crazy Horse studied the man’s eyes a moment, realizing how his friend must have felt: reluctantly leading his relations south for the agency with some of Old Bear’s Shahiyela* when the soldiers attacked them on the Shifting Sands River,† starting a long and terrible year of fighting.

  The Horse went back to gazing at the distant bulk of the mountains. “You must realize I leave the camps to get away from the dark, hollow-eyed hunger that has sunken into the faces of the women who suffer in silence,” he whispered against the rising whine of the cold wind. “I walk into these hills so that I do not have to listen to the little ones whimpering at the pain in their empty bellies.”