Major Richard I. Wiles - The Battle Of The Rosebud: Crooks Campaign Of 1876

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Text originally published in 1993 under the same title.

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THE BATTLE OF THE ROSEBUD: CROOKS CENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1876

BY

MAJOR RICHARD I. WILES, USA

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER

This study of the Battle of the Rosebud shows parallels between the army of 1876 and our army today. It briefly investigates the linkage of National Policy, political objectives, National Military Strategy, and the operational level of war. The army of 1876, like the army of today, experienced drastic downsizing. It had problems adjusting doctrine to the type of fight they were experiencing, not unlike our experience in Vietnam. The study of the battle provides some lessons we have had to relearn in the recent past. It is a study of how a relatively small, unsophisticated culture fought and won against an adversary that was vastly superior in population, organization, technology and resources. As a secondary benefit, the study of this battle offers a look at the advantages, disadvantages and compromises that must be considered in combined warfare. For these reasons, this study holds powerful lessons for soldiers serving in our armed forces today. The struggles with doctrine, training the force, force structure, combined warfare, and leadership challenges are just some of the parallels that can be drawn between Crooks Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition and our modern units.

To Dad,

who always set the example,

fought two major wars

and taught me what professionalism was all about

I owe a great deal of thanks to the many people who helped me develop and construct this thesis. First, I would like to acknowledge and thank my committee, Major Bill Campsey and Dr. Jerold Brown. Both were extremely helpful throughout the entire process. Bill was especially helpful as a sounding board, while I was piecing the campaign together. Dr. Jerry Brown provided the technical expertise, without it, this infantry soldier would have had even greater difficulty scaling that academic wall to complete this Thesis. I owe a great deal of thanks to Iron Mike, who challenged me to do this MMAS and has been my mentor over the last thirteen years. He was always in the background, challenging me every step of the way, and supplying the extra motivation it took to tackle this project during an already busy school year. My parents, who supplied encouragement at long-distance rates. Finally, thanks to my family, Teresa, Josh, and David, who had to sneak by my study, sacrificing family time, as I devoted countless hours to this thesis.

Figure

The Battle of the Rosebud was a major American frontier battle that took place on June 17, 1876. It involved larger United States Army forces than the more famous battle at the Little Big Horn, which took place one week later. It was part of the three-pronged operational Campaign designed by General Philip Sheridan to defeat the Sioux and Cheyenne in the unceded Indian Territory located in present day South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.

The study of this battle provides a close look at our national military heritage with lessons that could easily be applied to our modern day armed forces. The army that fought the Centennial Campaign of 1876 was a post-Civil War army that experienced vast draw downs. The Army also conducted combined warfare against the Sioux, which both greatly enhanced and hindered the Armys war effort. This battle highlights some of the problems that a small post-war army can experience when its responsibilities are far greater than its resources. It poses questions about 19th century operational art and tactics and how they were implemented to defeat a supposedly inferior military force.

To fully understand this battle, and how it fits into the Centennial Campaign of 1876, one must first understand the cultural Inflict between the Sioux-Cheyenne Nation and the United States, vital interests of both sides, and the basic organization and tactics of both sides.

Plains Indian. The culture of the Mississippi Valley tribes, the larger groups being the Dakotas (later known as the Sioux), Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho and Crow, was agrarian based and sedentary in nature prior to the 18th Century. They settled in permanent camps, grew maize, beans, squash, and hunted small game, deer, and bear when they could get it. Their only mode of transportation was either by foot or, if they were near water, by canoe. They settled mostly along the eastern rim of the Missouri, from as far north as the present day Dakotas down to Mississippi.

In 1598, the Spanish introduced the horse to the southern plains. Over the next two hundred years, with mastery of the horse and pressure from white civilizations, the western tribes of the Mississippi Valley pushed out into the game rich Plains. Prior to the introduction of the horse, man could not sustain life on the Plains. However, if he were highly mobile to pursue the estimated 75 million buffalo, gather the wild fruits of the Plains, acquire materials from the few trees to provide lodge poles and materials for weapons, he could provide a rich and fulfilling life for his family. These tribes thus evolved into a nomadic hunter and warrior culture. It was no longer acceptable to grow food and stay in one place. With their new mobility, they could follow and hunt the vast buffalo herds, living off of what nature provided.

To acquire additional tribal wealth, they developed a warrior culture, taking what they wanted from other tribes or settlers when they were strong enough to get it. The major source of wealth and power came from enlarging the tribes pony herds. The bigger the herd, the more power the tribe could project and dominate the prime hunting grounds.

The Sioux and Cheyenne were the last of the Mississippi Valley tribes to be pushed out into the Plains. Around the time of the American Revolution, the Chippewas, who acquired guns from French and English fur traders, drove the Sioux across the Missouri River, west into the Plains. The Sioux Nation was made up of thirteen tribes. They soon mastered the horse, and with their confederation, organized a large military alliance dominating the Plains throughout most of the 19th Century. They declared war on all competing tribes that stood in their way for the domination of the vast hunting region stretching from the Missouri River on the east, north and west to the Black Hills, and to the Platte River in the south. With the horse, the Sioux became the superior hunter and warrior that dominated the Plains, driving fear in neighboring tribes.