A Cold Day in Hell: The Dull Knife Battle, 1876

Last Bull “Ledger”: Facing soldiers at Powder River Fight (Courtesy American Museum of Natural History)

Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie in the mid-1870s (Courtesy University of Oklahoma Western History Collections)

High Bull “Victory Roster”: Little Sun striking two Shoshone: roster captured from Sgt. Brown, 7th U.S. Cavalry, at the Little Bighorn (Courtesy National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution)

BOOKS BY TERRY C. JOHNSTON

Cry of the Hawk

Winter Rain

Dream Catcher

Carry the Wind

BorderLords

One-Eyed Dream

Dance on the Wind

Buffalo Palace

Crack in the Sky

Ride the Moon Down

Death Rattle

Wind Walker

SONS OF THE PLAINS NOVELS

Long Winter Gone

Seize the Sky

Whisper of the Wolf

THE PLAINSMEN NOVELS

Sioux Dawn

Red Cloud’s Revenge

The Stalkers

Black Sun

Devil’s Backbone

Shadow Riders

Dying Thunder

Blood Song

Reap the Whirlwind

Trumpet on the Land

A Cold Day in Hell

Wolf Mountain Moon

Ashes of Heaven

Cries from the Earth

Lay the Mountains Low

with admiration and appreciation

I dedicate this novel to

Ken and Cheri Graves

of the Red Fork Ranch,

and to

Mike Freidel

of Vermillion, South Dakota,

who all three graciously opened up their

hearts and their homes and allowed me to spend

the better part of a day moving across the

historic Dull Knife Battlefield

as few have since that dramatic battle:

from horseback.

Cast of Characters Seamus Donegan Samantha Donegan

Military

Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan—Division of the Missouri

Brigadier General George C. Crook—Department of the Platte

Colonel William B. Hazen—commanding Sixth U.S. Infantry, Fort Buford, D.T.

Colonel Nelson A. Miles—commanding Fifth U.S. Infantry, Tongue River Cantonment, M.T.

Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie—Fourth U.S. Cavalry, commanding cavalry wing, Powder River Expedition (brevet BRIGADIER GENERAL)

Colonel Richard I. Dodge—Twenty-third Infantry, commanding infantry wing, Powder River Expedition

Lieutenant Colonel Elwell S. Otis—Twenty-second U.S. Infantry (brevet BRIGADIER GENERAL)

Lieutenant Colonel William P. Carlin—commandant at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, D.T., Seventeenth U.S. Infantry

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Whistler—Fifth U.S. Infantry

Major George A. Gordon—Fifth U.S. Cavalry (Camp Robinson) (brevet COLONEL)

Major Caleb H. Carlton—Third U.S. Cavalry, commanding at Fort Fetterman (brevet COLONEL)

Major Edwin F. Townsend—Commanding Officer, Fort Laramie, W.T. (brevet COLONEL)

Captain Andrew S. Burt—H Company, Ninth U.S. Infantry

Captain Charles W. Miner—G Company, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry

Captain Malcolm McArthur—C Company, Seventeenth U.S. Infantry

Captain Louis H. Sanger—G Company, Seventeenth U.S. Infantry (brevet MAJOR)

Captain Mott Hooton—H Company, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry

Captain Augustus Randall—Quartermaster, Fifth U.S. Infantry, Tongue River Cantonment, M.T.

Captain Wyllys Lyman—I Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry

Captain James S. Casey—A Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry (brevet MAJOR)

Captain Andrew S. Bennett—B Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry

Captain Edmond Butler—C Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry

Captain Simon Snyder—F Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry

Captain Clarence B. Mauck—Fourth U.S. Cavalry (brevet MAJOR)

Captain Alfred B. Taylor—Troop L., Fifth U.S. Cavalry

Captain George M. (“Black Jack”) Randall—Chief of Scouts, Powder River Campaign Twenty-third Infantry (brevet MAJOR)

Captain John Lee—D Troop, Fourth U.S. Cavalry

Captain Wirt Davis—F Troop, Fourth U.S. Cavalry

Captain William C. Hemphill—I Troop, Fourth U.S. Cavalry

Captain Henry W. Wessels—H Troop, Third U.S. Cavalry

Captain Gerald Russell—K Troop, Third U.S. Cavalry

Captain John M. Hamilton—H Troop, Fifth U.S. Cavalry

Captain James “Teddy” Egan—K Troop, Second U.S. Cavalry

Captain J. B. Campbell—Fourth U.S. Artillery battalion commander (brevet MAJOR)

Captain John V. Furey—quartermaster, Powder River Expedition

Captain Edwin Pollock—Ninth U.S. Infantry, commander of Reno Cantonment (brevet MAJOR)

First Lieutenant John Bourke—Acting Assistant Adjutant General for Expedition