Curley, the Crow, Still Living.
“Curley, the Crow,” the only survivor of the Custer massacre, a half-blood Sioux scout, is in his seventy-second year. He declares that the famous painting, “Custer’s Last Stand,” does not truly represent the scene, since it shows scalped and mutilated American soldiers on the field of battle at Little Horn, where, on June 24, 1876, Custer and practically all of his command perished. “There was no scalping and no mutilation,” says Curley. “Four hundred and seventy-three soldiers were killed, and not a mark was found on them that was not made by bullets. I was General Custer’s scout, and he had sent me for re-enforcements the night before the battle. I was returning with Captain Bentline and his command. While I was still a long way off my horse was shot from under me, and I got down and ran until I came into the thick of the fighting. As I got there, I saw the soldiers were lying dead right and left. Those four hundred and seventy-three had been surrounded by six thousand Sioux. I saw Custer fighting with his saber, and I thought he was the last man alive there, but I soon saw that his brother, Lieutenant Tom Custer, was fighting beside him. He fell, and General Custer then stood alone. The Indians could easily have killed him before that, but the purpose was to take him alive. Fourteen Indians whom he had slashed and gashed with his saber lay near him, most of them dead or dying. I called to General Custer, meaning to tell him of General Reno’s refusal to come, and he said, ‘You here, Curley? We’ll fight to the end.’ Those were his last words. A big Sioux seized his arm, and Custer turned on him and dealt a terrible saber stroke that half cut his head off. As he did this, the son of the Sioux fired his rifle at Custer, and the bullet went through his heart. I pushed through toward Custer as he fell. I held his head as he sank back dead.”