Photo By Erin Thompson | On 17 June 1876, Gen. George R. Crook encountered Chief Crazy Horse in the Rosebud...... read more read more
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by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
17 JUNE 1876
On 17 June 1876, Gen. George R. Crook encountered Chief Crazy Horse in the Rosebud Valley in Montana. After a six-hour battle, both sides retreated: Crook to await reinforcements from the north and the Sioux to their encampment at Little Bighorn.
The Great Sioux War of 1876, which included the Rosebud and Little Bighorn battles, was prompted by Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 1874 discovery of gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Over the next couple years, white settlers streamed into the region. A previous allowance of off-reservation hunting for the local Sioux and Cheyenne meant frequent confrontations between white settlers and the Native Americans. Conditions became especially contentious on the Cheyenne-Black Hills Stagecoach Route connecting Cheyenne, Wyoming, with Deadwood, South Dakota, the major thoroughfare used by miners entering the Black Hills.
The U.S. government sought to buy the Black Hills back from the Sioux due to the presence of gold. Despite not reaching an agreement, the War Department ordered Generals Crook and Alfred Howe Terry to begin removing the Sioux from their reservations in January 1876. The first campaign of the Black Hills War occurred at Powder River in March and failed to expel the indigenous peoples from their reservations. Further escalation in violence throughout the spring led to increased military presence in the region.
The Sioux and their Cheyenne allies gathered near Little Bighorn that spring to discuss this increase. Among the tribes was Oglala Sioux Chief Crazy Horse, a well-known commander during Red Cloud’s War a decade earlier that resulted in the formation of the Great Plains reservations. Between 15-16 June 1876, Cheyenne scouts reported that General Crook was heading for their encampment with a thousand men. The elders determined Crazy Horse would lead more than one thousand warriors to meet Crook while the rest remained at Little Bighorn.
General Crook had sent his own scouts, made up of Shoshoni and Crow warriors, to perform reconnaissance, though he remained unconcerned by their reports of the Sioux’s approach. Crook’s advance was part of a planned, three-pronged offensive. As he marched his men north from the Wyoming border, Col. John Gibbon moved his men northeast up the Yellowstone River, and General Terry moved west with the Seventh Cavalry Regiment commanded by Colonel Custer.
On 17 June 1876, General Crook halted his men along the Rosebud Valley to allow their horses to rest and graze. His scouts rode out along the western slope of the Rosebud Valley in different directions, where they quickly encountered Sioux warriors. The scouts hurriedly raced their horses back to Crook, shouting, “Sioux! Sioux!” Crazy Horse’s warriors gave chase, leading both armies into the large, grassy basin. The initial fighting occurred between these Shoshoni and Crow scouts and the charging Sioux and Cheyenne. Frank Grouard, one of Crook’s most respected scouts, later stated “had it not been for the Crows, the Sioux would have killed half our command.”
The fighting lasted six hours. The Sioux and Cheyenne suffered about thirteen deaths with between sixty and one hundred wounded, while the Army lost about twenty soldiers, around five Crow and eight Shoshoni scouts, and a collective forty-six wounded. Though Crook later claimed victory, accounts of the battle affirm victory belonged to the Sioux and Cheyenne. The brutality and disorganization of Crook’s command during the battle soured his relationship with his troops. Sgt. George Howard of the Second Cavalry wrote in his diary that evening: “The soldiers have lost all confidence in General Crook.” Five days later, the U.S. Army entered into battle once again when the Seventh Cavalry, commanded by Colonel Custer, advanced on the Sioux encampment at Little Bighorn. [See "This Week in MI History" #140 25 June 1876]
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| Date Taken: | 06.12.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2023 10:59 |
| Story ID: | 446755 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 1,608 |
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