Gen.Crook's attack

[dan25]

Hope I posted this in the correct place.

Gen. Crook's encounter with the NA's at Powder River and the Rosebud may have sparked a small chain of events that contributed to the number of NA's at the LBH.



Early that year Short Bull a Sioux warrior and several other Sioux were told to return to the agency, they agreed to return after the spring hunt. They moved to Powder River and camped with other Sioux and a group of Cheyenne that were already there.



While out hunting Col. Reynolds attacked. After it was over, for safety reasons they moved to the Rosebud where they joined even more Sioux and Cheyenne already camped there.



Then Gen. Crook attacked. Again for safety they moved and wound up at the LBH joining those already there.



Had Reynold's and Crook not attacked when they did, it's a reasonable assumption some or all may have remained where they were.



The number of NA's at the Rosebud was sufficient enough to stop Crook, and his command was larger than Custer's.


regards
dan25

[colt45]

Good information Dan. Crook was fortunate that his scouts were out front doing their job while he was sitting at the Rosebud. If not for the 15 minutes of warning he received from them, he could have suffered extreme casualties, as did Custer.

[quincannon]

Reynolds operating under Crook did attack on the Powder River on Saint Patrick's Day. Actually it was a smart thing to do if you wanted to catch Indians with their drawers down around their ankles in winter quarters. Reynolds botched the attack badly, and while he did inflict damage, he did not endear himself to Crook.

Crook really did not attack in June. That was his intention, but the Indians stole the march on him, and attacked him on the Rosebud. Crook really was not defeated in the normal way we would use the word. He was surprised, but held the ground at battle's end. What "defeated" Crook was the state of his own logistics at the end of the battle. After the days fighting, his ammunition reserves were so used up, that he was forced to retire to the area around present day Sheridan Wyoming where he had set up a base. His logistics allowed him to fight only one battle before resupply and that battle had been fought.

As to your point about there being a series of events that led to the gathering on the Little Big Horn, I believe you are on target. They gathered the bands for mutual protection. All of which makes you wonder why the Army was so concerned with Indian bands scattering? Why should they not encourage them to scatter. After LBH until the conclusion of the campaign in early 1877, the Army went in and chewed them up band by band, MacKenzies Thanksgiving dinner being the most notable.

Your thinking and analysis in this particular matter are something I greatly appreciate. Any dumb son of a bitch can read history, but it takes a mind to pick it apart and ask why.

[deadwoodgultch]

Some last things. The NA's were already near the LBH river, not on the Rosebud. They were camped along Reno Creek, and they did in fact attack Crook, not the other way around. A group of scouts found Crook, returned to their camp, and the attack was planned for the next morning. Crook was doubly lucky on this day, not only did he get short notice before the battle from his scouts, but Crook called back a wing of cavalry prior to a trap set up by CH et al.

Regards,
Tom

[yanmacca]

I think it was a remarkable achievement by the Sioux, they heard of the approach of the soldiers and saw that they would soon be close to their village, they knew that the soldiers attacked villages so they decided to meet the army out in the open.
Here is a a bit of text about how they planned the attack and a map of the battle;

[dan25]

I realize my error in regards to the Rosebud. I tried to make it as brief as possible focusing on the assumption to the NA's moving.

A brief excerpt from He Dog.

When fought Crook, Ogalalla village was on Sundance Creek. I lost seven horses in this scrap. The next night we camped on Lodgepole Creek and sent men who got some of these horses back.

We started out to fight Crook the second time but did not see Crows around and afraid Crows and Shoshones would get at our village, and we turned back. The reason did not pursue Crook was that we were too far from our villages which were not only a long distance off but were strung out over much country. We saw Crook had a good many Indians. We knew that we had defeated him because he turned back.

Moved to Little Bighorn third day after Crook fight. Sioux did not want to fight and so when got away off at Little Bighorn thought would have no more fighting. We had our wives and children with us and had to get buffalo meat for them and wished to be let alone.