After awhile, the enemy fire slackened. About that time a man got through with two pack mules carrying ammunition. About 5 p.m., McDougall finally showed up with the rest of the pack train, and the men received more ammunition. Since the Indians seemed to have retreated for the moment, Reno and others began to bury the dead along the river and the bluff.
Where was Custer? After Reno had left him, he had turned his troops away from the river. Custer had reached the high bluffs that cut them off from view of Reno's troops. Their horses were very tired and some were refusing to move. While Reno was battling Indians, Custer was high on the bluff cut off from helping. His troops started to descend but it was to the right, away from Reno's troops.
The Indians had been waiting for them. The Sioux had hurried the women and children away from the scene to save them from the bluecoats. They had also drug away those who had been wounded or killed in Reno's earlier attack. Those that had been scavenging the bodies of the dead soldiers quickly abandoned them to help their brothers fight the new wave of soldiers coming down the hills. At first the soldiers were holding their own, some firing from horseback, some from the ground. Some Indians tired to circle around behind them, but the soldiers managed to hold them off. But then the other Indians from the Reno battle joined in, and Custer's troops withdrew a little as the pressure increased. The horses were beginning to panic and throw their riders.
Gall's warriors charged a knoll being held by Calhoun. These Indians used mostly bow and arrow, killing many and causing the soldiers to waste their ammunition as they disappeared from sight in the smoke and dust. They overran this hill, with the surviving soldiers running to Custer's main force. Young Cheyenne braves and women captured many of the stray horses. Calhoun was killed in the skirmish.
Lame White Man, a Cheyenne war chief, led a strong force of Indians against Tom Custer. Lame White Man was accidentally shot by his own men because he was wearing a captured army
