Background
General George Crook commanded a mixed force of some 970 cavalry and mule-mounted infantry, 80 civilian teamsters and miners, and 260 Crow (or Absaroke) and Shoshone Indian scouts, traditional foes of the Lakota. The expedition was part of a three-pronged campaign by some 2,400 soldiers to force roughly between 600 and 1,700 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors, and thousands of family noncombatants, to return to their reservations.
Crook had made a previous attempt in March to corner the Lakota. When his force got within a hundred miles of the Yellowstone River, it was struck by a blizzard, forcing him to abandon his supply train and resulting in numerous frostbite casualties. When the force managed to locate a track of horses, Crook sent three companies of the 2nd Cavalry under its commander, Colonel J. J. Reynolds, to continue the search.
Reynolds discovered a village of Cheyenne which was in use as a staging area, containing 800-1500 ponies as well as large stores of guns, ammunition, food and other supplies. Ordering a pistol charge by a single company under his command, Reynolds took the Cheyenne by surprise and drove their warriors from the immediate area, but failed to support his attack with the rest of his force. When resistance on the outskirts of the village stiffened, Reynolds ordered the Cheyenne supplies destroyed and left with great haste, leaving several soldiers behind and exhausting his force in attempting to reunite with Crook thereafter. Guards posted that night to watch the ponies which had been seized were so tired they fell unconscious, and the ponies were liberated by Cheyenne trailing Reynolds' force.
For failing to follow through on the initial attack with his full detachment, and for destroying rather than holding the Cheyenne supplies, Reynolds was later court-martialed.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of The Rosebud
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