Originally Posted by ipopum
Some other interesting reading is about the Yellowstone Campaign. It was somewhat prior to this battle. Custer had problems with the Indians

Then also.

Possibly Shrapnel can comment on the battles of that campaign as well.


There were several expeditions into Montana and the Black Hills from 1872-1874. There were surveys along the Yellowstone to find where a railroad could be put to get supplies to Bozeman and Virginia City as the Bozeman trail was too dangerous to travel due to Indian conflicts.

There was even a Bozeman supported group of so called miners sent to the Bighorn in 1874 to get in fights with the Indians and hopefully gain enough support for the US military to put forts along the Bozeman trail for safety. They were funded by Bozeman business men and were acting as if they were miners to make it appear as a mining exploration, it they were heavily armed and had a canon and a howitzer to fight the Indians as they traveled east.

I have seen an actual letter from an Army Captain sent to his wife from the earliest expedition on the railroad survey, and the Captain told of how the Indians tried to lure them into an ambush and kill them. The army didn’t fall for the plot, they did have a parley with the Indians and he remarked how a particular Indian with a new black hat, representing the 7 Sioux tribes, by the name of Sitting Bull, and he was declaring war in the United States for their encroachment into Indian territory.

How letters like this survive, always amazes me…

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