Battle of the Rosebud

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Battle of the Rosebud
Part of the Black Hills War

Battle on the Rosebud River, 1876
Date June 17, 1876
Location Big Horn County, Montana
Result Tactical U.S. victory
Combatants
Lakota
Cheyenne		 United States Army
Shoshone
Crow
Commanders
Crazy Horse George Crook
Strength
1,500 1,300
Casualties
36 dead
63 wounded		 10-28 dead
21-56 wounded
Black Hills War
Powder River – Rosebud – Little Bighorn – Warbonnet Creek – Slim Buttes – Cedar Creek – Dull Knife Fight – Wolf Mountain

The Battle of the Rosebud (also known the Battle of the Rosebud Creek) occurred June 17, 1876, in the Montana Territory between the United States Army and a force of Lakota Native Americans during the Black Hills War. The Cheyenne called it the Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother because of an incident during the fight involving Buffalo Calf Road Woman.

Contents

[edit] Background

General George Crook commanded a mixed force of some 970 cavalry and infantry, 80 civilian teamsters and miners, and 260 Crow (or Absaroke) and Shoshone Indian scouts, traditional foes of the Lakota desiring to retake old hunting grounds. The expedition was part of a three-pronged campaign by some 2,400 soldiers to force roughly 2,500 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors and thousands of noncombatants to return to their reservations.

The battle began shortly after 8 a.m. when Crook, stopping his column along the Rosebud to rest his animals and men, failed to take ordinary security precautions.

[edit] The battle

The battle was waged on difficult terrain, fighting from ridge to ridge and in a deep canyon. As Crook related: "The sides were very steep, covered with pine and apparently impregnable.". The Indian attack initially took the soldiers by surprise and a desperate battle ensued for six hours. Hard fighting by Crook's Crow and Shoshone scouts helped to save isolated units from complete disaster several times during the action. Crook recalled a detachment sent to destroy the Lakota village and when this force re-appeared, the Lakota and Cheyennes broke off their attack and withdrew.

[edit] Results

The results of the Battle of the Rosebud were not especially shocking in terms of human loss, and although there are suggestions of mutilation carried out on the Indian dead, it was the first instance where different tribes had shown enough cohesion to fight alongside one another. Crook reported a loss of 10 dead and 21 wounded, but other accounts list the U.S. losses at 28 dead and 56 wounded. Crook's force was left in possession of the battlefield and he claimed a victory, but his Indian scouts refused to advance further, halting his advance and preventing him from joining up with the 7th Cavalry under George A. Custer, ensuring the latter's defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876.

The battlesite is preserved at the Rosebud Battlefield State Park in Big Horn County, Montana.

[edit] Order of Battle

[edit] See also

[edit] Link

[edit] References

  • Dillon, Richard H. (1983). North American Indian Wars.
  • Finerty, John F., War-path and Bivouac: or, the Conquest of the Sioux: a first-hand account by a Chicago newspaper reporter accompanying the Crook expedition and present at the Rosebud
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