This massacre at Little Big Horn, now so memorable a part of American history, threw a gloom over the whole nation. The New York _Tribune_ on July 3, 1876, said: “It is the eve of Independence Day, the Centennial Fourth. All the land is ablaze with enthusiasm. Alas! if the tidings of General Custer’s terrible disaster could be borne on the wings of the four winds, dirges, not anthems would be heard in the streets of Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco. “A great shadow has fallen on the valley of the Big Horn. The youngest of our guard, the _beau sabreur_ of the Army of the Potomac, the golden-haired chief whom the Sioux had learned to love, has fought his last fight. Surrounded by over two hundred and fifty brothers in arms, Custer lies buried in the field where he fought, and fought until he could fight no longer.” But this serious situation of the Indian uprisings did not end with this calamity which is referred to commonly as the Custer Massacre, and Brother Van had a full share of the dangers. Later the wars came into his territory. CHAPTER VIII SCOUTING FOR UNCLE SAM GREAT excitement prevailed throughout the West over the rebellion of the Indians. The effect of the disturbances was felt increasingly severely in the district between Bannack and Sheridan. The Nez Percés Indians had long dwelt in the beautiful and fertile Wallowa Valley in Oregon. They resented the new treaty and fled into Montana from the soldiers sent to force them into the reservations. They were accustomed to the trails through Idaho and over the mountains as they had often come to Montana to camp and to hunt buffalo. This tribe had become known as the Nez Percés (nose pinched) Indians because they wore rings in their noses when Lewis and Clark found them during their western explorations. It is claimed by some members of the tribe that this was a mistake and that wearing nose rings had never been a custom of theirs. The Nez Percés were a peaceful people and it was this tribe that had sent the delegation to find the “White Man’s Book of Heaven.” They had remembered the white man’s religion during the twenty-five years after the visit of those early explorers and the time of the pilgrimage of their leaders to St. Louis. They were eager to know the true religion and had often disputed about it among themselves. Some members of the tribe held that the white man worshiped the sun, as he had pointed to the sky when he spoke to them of God. They knew that the book would tell them the truth.