Rosebud Notes-Yellow Ribbon

 

The highest estimate of rounds fired by Crook’s Command at the Rosebud is 48,000.  The lowest I have seen is 15,000 rounds.  Either way it is a lot of lead.  Journo Finerty’s figure was 25,000 rounds.  That reflected the views of some of the officers who commanded that day. 

Whatever, it leads us to anticipate a bad butchers bill for the fellows on ponies in paint and feathers.

It proved not to be so.  The Cheyenne said they didn’t lose a single man.  Though some may have died later from wounds.  Post battle the Cheyenne were ready for more. They were, of course, still incensed by the Powder River Attack.

The Crow considered Rosebud a good day out.  Collectively they took 13 scalps. Presumably from stricken Sioux. Light losses for them too.  As ever the wounded might die subsequently. The Shoshone lost a lad minding the spare ponies to a Sioux raid.  He was 15.

Post battle the Crow decided to go home.  As did the Shoshone. For both fighting was what they lived for.  Now it was time to sing and dance about it.  Ominously, yet reasonably, they told Crook that they were going home because not to would get them all killed.

The Sioux immediately post action thought their own losses minimal.  There were more wounded than the 13 killed.  Mostly they thought they had done well and they also had lots of loot.  We know this because warriors interviewed in quieter times itemised the goodies. One fellow snagged a new hat, a rifle and a bag of coffee for his mother.  Across all cultures it is necessary and commendable to be a good son. 

Post action, the Sioux deliberated and decided they had won.

Crook’s regulars, infantry and cavalry, seem to have lost nine, or maybe 29 killed.  Again there were wounded.  The Indians had blazed away all day too. No shortage of ammunition there.  All in all light casualties all round. 

Tellingly, despite many witness written accounts, we cannot be certain of the true figures.

Crook held the field of battle.  He said that proved he had won.

Different perspectives then.  I find the Crow and Shoshone view compelling. They thought to continue would be the end of them.

The Rosebud was the biggest Plains War battle ever.  The Front ran for 3 miles. 

Low casualty rates aside, the Rosebud was an important battle. All involved fought hard and tirelessly for hours.

How many fought for the Home Team? Likely the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe warriors numbered between 750 and a 1000 men and youths.  It seemed like a lot more. The Indians attacked at various points during the day.  Then disappeared and attacked somewhere else.

Crook’s lads numbered 950 combined, cavalry and infantry. The armed Packers added about 100 men.  The Crow provided a solid 175 and the Shoshone 86 warriors.  Crook had the numerical edge.

Indian mobility meant that Army numbers couldn’t be brought to bear.  Royall’s entire command nearly ended up as dead as Custer's Command.  They faced about 500 warriors and the warriors weren’t messing. 

Luckily for those soldiers the Crow and Shoshone charged in and saved them. The soldiers then executed a fighting retreat that degenerated into a run for safety.  Intense fire from infantry “long Tom’s” enabled most to survive.

It was nearly a prequel to Little Big Horn.

Crook was a competent soldier and had perfected his Indian fighting tactics. Let’s summarise them:

Use Indians to find Indians.

Surprise attack the Indian Village, ideally at dawn.

Capture the pony herd.

Immobilised, the Indians must stand and fight while the elderly and women and children flee.

Capture the fleeing non-combatant Indians.

Burn the Village and shoot the ponies.

Kill the warriors or accept their surrender.

So much for the theory. What about the practice? What went wrong?  

First Crook was beaten to the attack. 

Second he was convinced that a major Indian village was nearby-it wasn't. In that belief he deployed and issued orders to enable the capture of the imaginary village. 

Thus he believed the warriors would fall back to defend it.  They didn't, because it wasn't there.  

Vital forces were detached to storm the phantom village taking them out of the fight.  They had to be recalled when things got tricky.  

Until near enough the last Crook thought he held the tactical initiative when in fact that lay entirely with the Indians. The Crow and Shoshone knew that all day long.

Post battle, and after withdrawing, Crook spent his time hunting and fishing. Sports very dear to his heart.  His men welcomed the supply of fresh meat.

Some scholars think the Rosebud experience had occasioned a collapse of his morale. It may have been so. Crook was used to winning his Indian fights and he had very nearly badly lost an important one.  At the very least he must have been seriously disquieted.

One of the Home Team opined that the warriors had fought in an entirely new way. Maintaining the fight when normally they would have gone home. Certainly, they had stopped Crook's expedition dead.

As the Army departed the Crow discovered a Sioux warrior blinded in the fight. They shot him dead and scalped him. Then they cut him into pieces and waving the body parts began to dance. Crook's column marched past in silence. The Crow capered and sang.

Out in the vastness of the West General George Armstrong Custer was searching for the same tribes Crook had just encountered.  He would find them encamped on the Little Big Horn River.  Custer would not be as fortunate as General Crook.