Before any of us would consent to be roped and tied by Thespis we insisted on a proviso that we be freed whenever duty called us to the Plains.

The first season was fairly prosperous, and so was the second.  The third year I organized a “show” of my own, with real Indians in it—­the first, I believe, who ever performed on a stage.  I made money and began to get accustomed to the new life, but in 1876 the call for which I had been listening came.

The Sioux War was just breaking out.  I closed the show earlier than usual and returned to the West.  Colonel Mills had written me several times to say that General Crook wanted me to accompany his command.  When I left Chicago I had expected to catch up with Crook at the Powder River, but I learned en route that my old command, the gallant Fifth Cavalry, was on its way from Arizona to join him, and that General Carr, my former commander, was at its head.

Carr wanted me as his guide and chief of scouts, and had written to army headquarters in Chicago to learn where I could be reached.

As soon as this news came to me I gave up the idea of overtaking Crook.  I hastened to Cheyenne, where the Fifth Cavalry had already arrived, and was met at the depot there by Lieutenant Charles King, adjutant of the regiment, who had been sent by General Carr from Fort D.A.  Russell.  In later years, as General Charles King, this officer became a widely popular author, and wrote some of the best novels and stories of Indian life that I have ever read.

As I accompanied the lieutenant back to the fort, we passed soldiers who recognized me and shouted greetings.  When we entered the Post a great shout of “Here’s Buffalo Bill!” arose from the men on the parade ground.  It was like old times, and I felt a thrill of happiness to be back among my friends, and bound for one of the regular old-time campaigns.  The following morning the command pulled out for Fort Laramie.  We found General Sheridan there ahead of us, and mighty glad was I to see that brave and able commander once more.  Sheridan was accompanied by General Frye and General Forsythe, and all were en route for the Red Cloud Agency, near the center of the Sioux trouble, which was then reaching really alarming proportions.  The command was to remain at Laramie for a few days; so, at General Sheridan’s request, I accompanied him on his journey.  We were able to accomplish little in the way of peace overtures.

The Indians had lately committed many serious depredations along the Black Hills trail.  Gold had been discovered there in many new places, and the miners, many of them tenderfoots, and unused to the ways of the red man, had come into frequent conflict with their new neighbors.  Massacres, some of them very flagrant, had resulted and most of the treaties our Government had made with the Indians had been ruthlessly broken.

On my return from the agency, the Fifth Cavalry was sent out to scout the country between there and the Black Hills.  We operated along the south fork of the Cheyenne and about the foot of the Black Hills for two weeks, and had several small engagements with roving bands of Indians during that time.