ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



43 



Indians in Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. 



, t> the number of about 8,000, under 

 Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and other chiefs, 

 had niiuU- war on the friendly Indians, and had 

 refused to settle upon a reservation. In March 

 un unsatisfactory ( -xpedition was made by Gen- 

 eral Crook toward Powder River. General 

 Sheridan now ordered three columns to move 

 simultaneously to a common centre, where the 

 Indians were supposed to be, from Montana, 

 from Dakota, and from the Platte. The two 

 former wore under command of General Terry, 

 and the latter under General Crook. General 

 Crook started from Fort Fetterman, May 29th, 

 with about 1,000 men. This expedition marched 

 to a point on Goose Creek, which is the head 

 of Tongue River, a tributary of the Yellow- 

 stone. On June 17th General Crook was 

 attacked by the Indians on the Rosebud, also 

 a tributary of the Yellowstone. The Indians 

 left 13 dead warriors on the field; General 

 Crook's loss was nine dead and 21 wounded. 

 Meantime, Colonel John Gibbons, with about 

 450 men, had marched from Fort Ellis, in Mon- 

 tana, down the valley of the Yellowstone, to 

 meet General Terry, who was ascending the 

 same valley. General Terry, with the-Seventh 

 Cavalry, under its lieutenant-colonel, Custer, 

 containing about 600 men and horses, and about 

 400 infantry, had started from Fort Abraham 

 Lincoln on the 17th of May, and reached the 

 Yellowstone, at the mouth of Powder River, 

 June 9th, where he established a supply-camp. 

 Resuming his march along the south bank, he 

 reached the mouth of the Rosebud on the 21st. 

 Near this point he came in communication 

 with Colonel Gibbons, whose command was 

 left at the mouth of the Big Horn, and deter- 

 mined in person to continue to the same place, 

 but to detach the Seventh Cavalry by a circuit 

 to the Upper Rosebud (a tributary of the Big 

 Horn), where all his command, embracing that 

 of Colonel Gibbons, was to meet on a day ap- 

 pointed. 



On the 22d General Custer started, with his 

 whole regiment and a strong detachment of 

 scouts and guides, from the mouth of the Rose-, 

 bud. Proceeding up that river about twenty 

 miles, ho struck a heavy Indian trail, which he 

 followed to the Little Big Horn River. Here 

 he found a village of almost unlimited extent, 

 and at once attacked it with that portion of 

 his command which was immediately at hand. 

 Major Reno, with three companies, was sent 

 into the valley of the stream at the point where 

 the trail struck it. General Custer, with five 

 companies, attempted to enter about three 

 miles lower down. Reno forded the river, but 

 was completely overwhelmed by the Indians, 

 and was forced to recross. In a short time he 

 was joined on the bluffs by Captain Benteen 

 with three companies, and by Captain Mc- 

 Dongall with one company. Soon after, this 

 united force was nearly surrounded by Indians. 

 The fighting continued from about half-past 

 two o'clock of the 25th till six o'clock of the 



26th. General Terry's command arrived on 

 the morning of the 27th, and the Indian* with- 

 drew from the valley, taking with them their 

 village. 



Of the movements of General Custer, and 

 the five companies under his immediate com- 

 mand, scarcely anything is known. He WHS 

 killed, and his entire command was obliterated. 

 The remaining seven companies of the Seventh 

 Cavalry were saved by the brave and prudent 

 conduct of Major Reno, and the timely arrival 

 of General Terry. The loss was 12 officers, 

 247 enlisted men, five civilians, and three In- 

 dian scouts killed, and two officers and 51 men 

 wounded. The Indian force was estimated at 

 from 2,500 to 3,000 warriors. 



General Terry, after burying the dead and 

 caring for the wounded, regained his position 

 at the mouth of the Big Horn, and called for 

 reinforcements. General Crook also awaited 

 reinforcements at his camp on Goose Creek, 

 and the hostile Indians meantime remained be- 

 tween them, near the base of the Big Horn 

 Mountains. These commands, having been re- 

 enforced, effected a junction, August 10th, on 

 the Rosebud, at a point 35 miles above its 

 mouth. The march was now begun in pursuit 

 of the retreating Indians. The followers of 

 Sitting Bull seemed to have retreated north, 

 near or beyond the Yellowstone, and those of 

 Crazy Horse to the south, near Slim Butte 

 and Owl Creek, in the direction of the Black 

 Hills. 



In October Colonel Miles received hostages, 

 on the Yellowstone, opposite the mouth of 

 Cabin Creek, for the surrender of about 2,000 

 Indians. 



In his annual report, Lieutenant - General 

 Sheridan says : 



The surrender of the Indians from the Missouri 

 River agencies to Colonel Miles, on the 27th of Oc- 

 tober, numbering, in men, women, and children, at 

 least 2.000, and the escape of Sitting Bull with his 

 small band to the north, leave now out and hostile 

 only the northern Chejennes and the band of Crazy 

 Horse and his allies from the Red Cloud agency, 

 and it is against these Indians that General Crook is 

 now operating ; and when these are killed, captured, 

 or surrendered, the Sioux war will be at an end, and 

 I think all future trouble with them, as it is intended 

 to put most of them on foot, and a Sioux on foot is a 

 Sioux warrior no longer. . . . I recommend that the 

 whole Sioux nation oe established on the Missouri 

 River, between Standing Rock and Fort Randall. 

 They can be cheaply fed there, and can be sufficiently 

 isolated to be controlled. To take so many wild In- 

 dians to the Indian Territory would be a difficult 

 undertaking at this time, and would, in my opinion, 

 be attended with the worst results to tncse now 

 there, ns well as to the Sioux. They should go 

 gradually, from time to time, and when the Indians 

 there are ready to receive them. 



In April, 1876, the headquarters of the Army 

 were transferred from St. Louis to Washington. 

 During the year the number of grand military 

 divisions was reduced from four to three, viz., 

 Missouri, Atlantic, and Pacific. The aggregate 

 force of the army is 28,571, including 2,151 

 officers and 26,420 enlisted men. 



