I lifted him onto my horse in front of me and succeeded in getting him safely to
the Fort. Captain Egan on recovering, laughingly said: "I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains." I have borne that name up to the present time. We were afterwards ordered to Fort Custer, where Custer City now stands, where we arrived in the spring of 1874; remained around Fort Custer all summer and were ordered to Fort Russell in fall of 1874, where we remained until spring of 1875; was then ordered to the Black Hills to protect miners, as that country was controlled by the @Sioux Indians and the government had to send the soldiers to protect the lives of the miners and settlers in that section. Remained there until fall of 1875 and wintered at Fort @Laramie. In spring of 1876, we were ordered north with General Crook to join Generals Miles, Terry, and Custer at Big Horn river. During this march, I swam the @Platte River at Fort @Fetterman, as I was the bearer of important dispatches. I had a ninety-mile ride to make, and being wet and cold, I contracted a severe illness and was sent back in Gen. Crook's ambulance to Fort Fetterman where I laid in the hospital for fourteen days. When able to ride, I started for Fort Laramie where I met @William @Hickock, better known as Wild Bill, and we started for @Deadwood, where we arrived about June.
During the month of June I acted as a pony express rider, carrying the U.S. mail between Deadwood and Custer, a distance of fifty miles, over one of the roughest trails in the Black Hills country.
