Battle of Slim Buttes According to one newspaper account, it was on Cody's recommendation that Col. Wesley Merritt subsequently appointed Crawford to succeed Cody as chief of scouts of the 5th Cavalry Regiment." News of the defeat of General Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 25 and 26, 1876, arrived in the East as the U.S. was observing its centennial. The American public was in dismay, called to punish the Sioux, and awaited the government's response. War correspondents with national newspapers fought alongside General Crook and reported the campaign by telegraph. Correspondents embedded with Crook were Robert E. Strahorn
The Great Sioux Massacre The Senator assigns a newspaper journalist/minder possibly based on Mark Kellogg to Custer, who is sent back without court martial to his regiment. Benton notices that Custer's empathetic feelings for the Native Americans have vanished and he is pushing his regiment into a war where he can claim glory. Custer motivates his command by personally shooting deserters in the back including his scout Dakota who has turned from Indian baiter to Indian booster. This prompts Benton to strike his commanding officer where he is arrested. He is freed by Indians who know of his attempts to help their people at