The Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, 1876, is one of the most important engagements in the history of the Plains Wars,
The Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, 1876, is one of the most important engagements in the history of the Plains Wars, and it is consistently overshadowed in popular memory by the Battle of the Little Bighorn that followed eight days later. The Rosebud deserves its own accounting, because what happened there was not simply a prelude to Little Bighorn but a demonstration of the tactical sophistication and personal leadership that made the Lakota and Cheyenne alliance the most formidable military force General George Crook had ever faced. Crook led approximately 1,300 soldiers and allied Crow and Shoshone scouts south along Rosebud Creek on the morning of June 17, moving toward the main Lakota encampment. Crazy Horse led a force of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors that intercepted them in a battle that lasted six hours and covered several miles of rolling Montana grassland. The engagement was marked by the mobility and initiative of the Lakota and Cheyenne fighters, who attacked from multip...