Cry of the Hawk

July 26, 1865

On the far hills, hundreds of warriors were leaping atop their ponies, kicking them furiously downhill toward the river. They had spotted the tops of the wagons not long after the fort had seen the incoming train, inching along the road on the Indians’ side of the North Platte.

“How many’s with Sergeant Custard?” Shad Sweete inquired.

“I remember him having ten soldiers and fourteen teamsters,” Hook answered.

“Say!” shouted a picket above them. “The Injuns just cut off five of our boys from the rest of the wagon.”

“How many warriors following those five?” Shad slung his voice up the wall.

“More’n a hundred, mister.”

Hook felt helpless, knowing some of those men out there by face, if not by name. Knowing they had families back home, waiting for a husband or father or brother to come marching home. “Ain’t nothing we can do to help ’em?”

“Ain’t a damned thing now, Jonah,” Shad whispered. “Not a damned thing.”

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 Mountain Low

    for Bruce and Sandra,    

and all they’ve meant to me

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Hook Family

Jonah Hook

Gritta (Moser) Hook

Hattie Hook

Jeremiah Hook

Ezekiel Hook

Hook’s Mentor

Shadrach Sweete     Toote Sweete/Shell Woman

Pipe Woman—daughter

High-Backed Bull—son

Danite Freebooters

Colonel Jubilee Usher

Major Lemuel “Boothog” Wiser

Captain Eloy Hastings

Riley Fordham

Laughing Jack

Healy Stamps

Sam Palmer

Major Military Characters

General William Tecumseh Sherman—Commander, Military Division of the Missouri

Lieutenant-General Philip H. Sheridan—Commander, Military Dept. of the Platte

Lieutenant Caspar Collins

General Patrick E. Connor—Commander, Military Dept. of the Plains

Captain Henry Leefeldt—Co. K (Camp Marshall)

Captain A. Smith Lybe

Sergeant Amos Custard—11th Kansas Cavalry

First Sergeant William R. Moody—Co. I

Major Martin Anderson—Platte Bridge Station, post commander

Captain Henry Bretney—11th Ohio Cavalry

Lieutenant George Walker—Platte Station Adjutant

Corporal James Shrader—11th Kansas Cavalry

Captain Henry E. Palmer—Powder River Exped. Quartermaster

Colonel Henry E. Maynadier—Commander, Fort Laramie

Dr. Henry R. Porter—surgeon, 7th U. S. Cavalry, Ft. Hays

Captain Frederick W. Benteen—7th U. S. Cavalry

Major Wycliffe Cooper—7th U. S. Cavalry

Captain George W. Yates—7th U. S. Cavalry

Lieutenant Myles W. Moylan—7th U. S. Cavalry

Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer—7th U. S. Cavalry

Lieutenant Thomas Ward Custer—7th U. S. Cavalry

Major Joel H. Elliott—7th U. S. Cavalry

Captain Louis M. Hamilton—7th U. S. Cavalry

Lieutenant Lyman S. Kidder—2nd U. S. Cavalry

Lieutenant Edward Godfrey—7th U. S. Cavalry

Pawnee Battalion Major Frank North Lieutenant Issac Davis (Co. B) Captain Luther North Half Rope

Lieutenant/Captain James Murie (Co. B) Sgt. Bear Runs Him

Major Indian Characters Crazy Horse—Oglalla Porcupine—Cheyenne Spotted Tail—Brule Whistler—Brule

Roman Nose—Cheyenne war chief Grass Singing—Pawnee

George Bent—half-breed Cheyenne son of fur trader Bent Black Kettle—Cheyenne

Blind Wolf—Cheyenne chief (father to High-Back Wolf) Pawnee Killer—Brule Spotted Wolf—Cheyenne Young Man Afraid—Oglalla He Dog—Oglalla High-Back Wolf—Cheyenne Turkey Leg—Cheyenne chief

Major Scouts

Jim Bridger

Captain E. W. Nash—Omaha and Winnebago scouts (Powder River)

California Joe (Moses) Milner—Hancock Expedition

Jack Corbin—Hancock Expedition

James Butler Hickok—Hancock Expedition

Will Comstock—Platte River Expedition

Major Civilian Characters

Nathan (Nate) Deidecker—newsman, Omaha Bee

Artus Moser

Samuel Hosking

Eldon Boatwright

Major Edward W. Wynkoop—government agent to the Cheyenne

Colonel Jesse W. Leavenworth—government agent to the Sioux

Sidney Gould—mercantile sutler, Fort Larned