Foreshadowing the Little Bighorn
Every school kid knows about Custer's defeat at the Little Bighorn .
Far fewer know of the Battle of the Rosebud where warriors under Lakota leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse took the offensive against US troops under General George Crook . However, this battle may well have foreshadowed Custer's annihilation on the Little Bighorn eight days later.
Why was the Rosebud so significant?
There were two reasons.
First, whether it was a victory for Crook (as he claimed), a victory for the Indians (as some of his officer's and the press later claimed), or simply a draw (which may be more accurate), warriors under Crazy Horse essentially crippled one prong of the three-prong attack designed to finally defeat the "hostiles" on the northern plains. The other two prongs were headed by Col. John Gibbon and General George Armstrong Custer, serving under the command of General Alfred Howe Terry.
Second, Crook was surprised by a new fighting style for the Plains Indians involving a larger number of relatively well-armed warriors than even he, a seasoned campaigner, had ever seen. Furthermore, the Lakota (Sioux) bands, the nation with the largest representation among the warriors, had done something very unusual by agreeing to have one man over them, Crazy Horse. He handled the military strategy while Sitting Bull,
far too old for battle, served as the charismatic political leader.
Why was the Indian attack such a surprise?
First, because it was an attack. While anxious to prove their bravery in battle, Plains Indians were practical. They tended not to attack against overwhelming odds unless they had some plan, like the ambush that proved so successful in the Fetterman Fight of 1866. In most encounters with US troops the Indians were forced into a defensive position, protecting the village, often at night or in the early morning hours when they were least prepared for battle.
Second, depending on who was counting, Indians at the Rosebud may or may not have outnumbered US troops, but it was clear to everyone that it was a much larger force than they had ever dealt with.
Third, many of the Indians carried as good or better arms than Crook's men. Since, in most other ways, Indian warfare was much better adapted to the plains than that of the US Cavalry, Crook was faced with a situation where the odds were stacked heavily against him.
Learn more about the the Rosebud foreshadowing the Little Bighorn in Part II.
