I can say that I never saw troops so badly managed and provided for, both in regard to outfit and rations, as this division of cavalry was while it remained under the command of General Custer, or such a lack of common sense in orders and in the exercise of discipline, as was displayed by its command. - Lt. Col. Alexander G. McQueen, First Iowa Cavalary, January 25, 1867

Once when General Sherman was serving in that region, some one remarked to him that "it was a fine country and all that it needed was plenty of water and good society." To this the General is reported to have replied very brusquely, "That is all that hell needs." - Frances Carrington, My Army Life and the Fort Phil Kearny Massacre

I had cast my lot with a soldier, and where he was, was home to me. - Martha Summerhayes, Vanished Arizona

Th Great Spirit did not make us to work, but to live by hunting. You white men can work if you want to. We do not intefere with you, and again you say, why do you not become civilized? We do not want your civilization! We would live as our fathers did, and their fathers before them. I am no white man! - Crazy Horse

However vigilant the troops may be, the Indian on his raid is more so - however well mounted the trooper, the Indian has three mounts to his one. Whatever care may be taken to secure the best arms and ammunition to the troops, the Indians finds means through his frieds to be fully his equal in that respect, and in his entire familiarity with the country, vastly his superior. - General Christopher Augur, Annual Report for the Department of Texas, 1873

I am ready to set out for Hays, or any point where I can see you at fifteen minutes' notice. Remember, I am not afraid of Indians, or anything else, if you are at the end of the trip. - Libbie to Custer, June 27, 1867

I can whip the indians if I can find them, and I shall leave no effort untried to do this. I have a difficult task before me but I am confident that if the Indians can be fouund I can do it as well as most persons could. - Letter from Custer, correspondent unknown, Fort Dodge, Tuesday, October 8, 1868

The old-time rule of the Plains: "When fighting Indians, keep the last bullet for yourself." - Thomas B Marquis, Keep the Last Bullet for Yourself: The True Story of Custer's Last Stand

Three such long-haired show-offs as Custer and the two Bills could never work together. Who would do the admiring, the applauding? - Mari Sandoz, The Buffalo Hunters

These Wasichus wanted it, and they came to get it, and we gave it to them. - Iron Hawk