Federal ultimatums to assemble upon designated reservations were spurned by the Sioux, and a campaign of coercion was invoked with Brigadier Generals Alfred H. Terry and George Crook on far-flung phalanx and Colonel George A. Custer as the spearhead of the advance. Whether through reckless bravery, error of judgment, or necessity, Custer rushed into a treacherous situation, and his entire command (265 men) was annihilated. The day was June 25, 1876; the place, Little Bighorn River. It was a red letter event in the history of the Sioux, but it was a fleeting victory because the military, ably led by Colonel Nelson A. Miles, persisted in the campaign, and within a few months the mighty Sioux were either upon their appointed reservations or in exile. One of the last scenes in this solemn drama was enacted in June, 1881, at Miles City, Montana. Sixteen hundred Sioux, formerly under the leadership of Chief Rain-in-the-Face, were loaded on government steamboats for the Standing Rock Reservation in Dakota. Deep mourning issued from their camp on Tongue River: For two days and nights the Indians, and more especially the squaws, kept up their dismal howlings on taking farewell of their beloved homes and hunting grounds.[175] [Illustration: Courtesy Union Pacific Ry. _Strong medicine against the Indians_] As the buffalo and Indian went out, the Texas longhorn and “long drive” came in. The long drive lay across the tablelands of western Texas into Kansas, crossed the Santa Fe Trail at Dodge City, passed over the headwaters of the Salmon and across the Republican, and reached the South Platte at Ogallala. From this camp it followed the Oregon Trail to Fort Laramie, and then veered north over the Bozeman road.[176] The Texas Longhorn rolled up from the Southwest like a tidal wave once the way was opened. In fact, wild “speckled cattle” had been sharing part of the Texas plains for generations. Now, cattle raising became the great bonanza for a period. The American cattle industry started back in 1521 when seven calves of Andalusian breed landed in Mexico. Gregorio was the pioneer ranchman on the continent. His flocks literally covered “a thousand hills.” In spite of his vaquero’s diligence, some of his stock strayed and formed the nucleus of a mighty herd.[177] From buffalo to range cattle is not a wide step; it was the capacity of the winter range to carry bison that suggested the cattle industry. Conditions for stock raising were ideal in Texas. Millions of acres were plush carpeted with grama, mesquite, buffalo, and bluestem grasses. Early settlers gathered this wild stock into princely domains, and a new industry was born. The greatest problem was getting the cattle to market. New Orleans, Mobile, and Cuba were reached from Shreveport by boat. Still, there were the thriving northern cities where prices doubled those in Texas.