Battle of Slim Buttes
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Slim Buttes was fought on September 9–10, 1876, in the Great Sioux Reservation
Great Sioux reservation
The Great Sioux Reservation was established in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and includes all of modern western South Dakota and modern Boyd County, Nebraska...

 between the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 and Miniconjou
Miniconjou
The Miniconjou are a Native American people constituting a subdivision of the Lakota Sioux, who formerly inhabited an area from the Black Hills in South Dakota to the Platte River. The contemporary population lives mostly in west-central South Dakota...

 Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 during the Great Sioux War of 1876. It marked the first significant victory for the army since the stunning defeat of George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...

 at the Battle of Little Bighorn in June.

Background

Following the Little Bighorn debacle, Maj. Gen.
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 Philip H. Sheridan, commanding the Department of Missouri, ordered the U.S. Army to convince the hostile Indians to return to their reservations. Generals Alfred Terry
Alfred Terry
Alfred Howe Terry was a Union general in the American Civil War and the military commander of the Dakota Territory from 1866 to 1869 and again from 1872 to 1886.-Early life and career:...

 and George Crook
George Crook
George R. Crook was a career United States Army officer, most noted for his distinguished service during the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.-Early life:...

 took up an unsuccessful late summer chase of the Lakota and Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...

. The campaign resumed on August 5, and on August 10 the combined force, leaving its wagon train behind to unencumber the pursuit, moved east toward the Black Hills. Bad weather, extreme muddy conditions on the trail, and overtaxed men and animals led to the combined force breaking up on August 18, with Terry's men returning to their bases.

General Crook’s force continued the pursuit but soon began running short of supplies. The general ordered his men to go on half rations. Soon, many of the men resorted to eating mule and horseflesh. A column under Capt. Anson Mills
Anson Mills
Anson Mills was a United States Army officer, surveyor, inventor, and entrepreneur. Engaged in south Texas as a land surveyor and civil engineer, he both named and laid out the city of El Paso, Texas...

 was dispatched to Deadwood
Deadwood, South Dakota
Deadwood is a city in South Dakota, United States, and the county seat of Lawrence County. It is named for the dead trees found in its gulch. The population was 1,270 according to a 2010 census...

, a Black Hills
Black Hills
The Black Hills are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, USA. Set off from the main body of the Rocky Mountains, the region is something of a geological anomaly—accurately described as an "island of...

 mining town, to find supplies, and en route stumbled onto the Miniconjou Sioux village of American Horse
American Horse (elder)
American Horse was a minor headman of the Oglala Lakota during the Plains Indian wars of the last half of the nineteenth century. More commonly known as Iron Plume, he was probably present at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Slim Buttes...

.

The Battle

On the evening of September 8, 1876, near the present town of Reva, South Dakota
Reva, South Dakota
Reva is an unincorporated community in Harding County, South Dakota, United States. Although not tracked by the Census Bureau, Reva has been assigned the ZIP code of 57651....

, Mills’s 150 troopers from the 3rd U.S. Cavalry surrounded the village of 37 lodges and attacked it the next morning, shooting anyone who resisted. Taken by surprise, the Indians fled, with a mortally wounded American Horse (elder)
American Horse (elder)
American Horse was a minor headman of the Oglala Lakota during the Plains Indian wars of the last half of the nineteenth century. More commonly known as Iron Plume, he was probably present at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Slim Buttes...

 and fifteen women and children hiding in a nearby cave. Having refused treatment by the army surgeons after surrendering, American Horse eventually died, as well as two women and one child. One Indian boy was found alive in the village, having slept through the initial fighting. Those Sioux who escaped spread the word to neighboring Sans Arc, Brulé
Brulé
The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands of the Teton Lakota Sioux American Indian nation. They are known as Sičháŋǧu Oyáte , or "Burnt Thighs Nation," and so, were called Brulé by the French...

 and Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...

 villages, telling Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U.S...

 and other leaders that they had encountered 100-150 soldiers. Unknown to them, Crook's main column of infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

, artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

, and other cavalry had since arrived.

Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader of the Oglala Lakota. He took up arms against the U.S...

 and 600-800 warriors quickly rode 10 miles northward towards American Horse's village, set in a depression among several hills. They reached an overlook, where they saw much larger than expected numbers of well-armed soldiers surrounding the village. From their positions atop the bluffs, the warriors opened fire, causing Crook to immediately form a defensive perimeter around his horses and mules. The general soon ordered the village to be set ablaze. Crook sent forward a strong line of skirmishers, with four companies of infantry in the lead, followed by dismounted troopers from three cavalry regiments. After a 45-minute steady firefight, the advancing soldiers drove most of the warriors from their hilltop positions. A few Sioux held their ground, even charging the perimeter of the 3rd Cavalry at one point, but were eventually chased away.

The soldiers seized 110 ponies in the village, as well as a supply of dried meat that was divided among Crook's ill and wounded men. Of emotional interest to the cavalrymen, they recovered a number of artifacts of the Battle of Little Bighorn, including a 7th Cavalry guidon
Guidon (U.S. Army)
In the United States Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force, a guidon is a military standard that company or platoon-sized elements carry to signify their unit designation and corps affiliation or the title of the individual who carries it...

 from Company I, the bloody gauntlets of slain Capt. Myles Keogh
Myles Keogh
Myles Walter Keogh was an Irishman who fought in Italy during the 1860 Papal War before volunteering for the Union side in the American Civil War . During the war years, he was promoted from the rank of Captain to that of Major, finally being awarded the brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel...

, government-issued guns and ammunition, and other related items.

On September 10, Crook led his famished force away from the smoldering village, headed for the Black Hills and the promised food and supplies. The Sioux kept up a running fight with his troops for the next few days, before Crook finally made it to a supply column on September 15. The fighting at Slim Buttes cost the lives of two cavalrymen and one of Crook's civilian scouts, Charles "Buffalo Chips" White, as well as those of at least 10 Sioux.

Aftermath

The army continued to seek out the remaining Indian encampments. Further significant battles were fought on November 25 with Dull Knife and Wild Hog on the Red Fork of the Powder River
Powder River (Montana)
Powder River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately long in the southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming in the United States. It drains an area historically known as the Powder River Country on the high plains east of the Bighorn Mountains.It rises in three forks in eastern...

 (the so-called Dull Knife Fight
Dull Knife Fight
The Dull Knife Fight, or the Battle of Bates Creek, was a Great Plains battle in the Wyoming Territory between the United States Army and the Northern Cheyenne as part of the Great Sioux War of 1876-77. The battle essentially ended the Cheyennes' ability to wage war.After the battles of the Rosebud...

), and on January 8 with Crazy Horse at Wolf Mountain
Battle of Wolf Mountain
The Battle of Wolf Mountain, also known the Battle of the Wolf Mountains, Miles's Battle on the Tongue River, and the Battle of the Butte, occurred January 8, 1877 in the Montana Territory between the United States Army and a force of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne during the Great Sioux War of...

. Other assaults during the fall and winter convinced most of the Sioux and Cheyenne of the futility of fighting the soldiers. In May 1877, Crazy Horse surrendered at Fort Robinson
Fort Robinson
Fort Robinson is a former U.S. Army fort and a present-day state park. Located in the Pine Ridge region of northwest Nebraska, it is west of Crawford on U.S. Route 20.- History :...

 and Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull Sitting Bull Sitting Bull (Lakota: Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake (in Standard Lakota Orthography), also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow"; (c. 1831 – December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man who led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to United States government policies...

 led his remaining followers into Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

The Slim Buttes battle site is on private land. A nearby monument commemorates the fighting.

Order of battle

Sioux
  • American Horse's band of Miniconjou Sioux (37 lodges; perhaps 30-40 warriors)
  • Crazy Horse's mixed band of Sans Arcs, Brule, and others (600-800)


U.S. Army

  • Department of the Platte
    Department of the Platte
    The Department of the Platte was a military administrative district established by the U.S. Army on March 5, 1866, with boundaries encompassing Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota Territory, Utah Territory and a small portion of Idaho...

     - Brig. Gen. George Crook
    George Crook
    George R. Crook was a career United States Army officer, most noted for his distinguished service during the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.-Early life:...

    • 2nd U.S. Cavalry – Troops A, B, D, E, and I
    • 3rd U.S. Cavalry – Troops A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, L, and M: Capt. Anson Mills
    • 5th U.S. Cavalry
      U.S. 5th Cavalry Regiment
      The 5th Cavalry Regiment is a historical unit of the United States Army that began its service in the decade prior to the American Civil War and continues in modified organizational format in the U.S. Army.-Nineteenth century:...

       – Troops A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, K, and M: Lt. Col. Eugene A. Carr
    • 4th U.S. Infantry
      U.S. 4th Infantry Regiment
      The U.S. 4th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment in the United States Army. It has served the United States for approximately two hundred years.-Origins:...

       – Companies D, F, and G
    • 9th U.S. Infantry
      U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment
      The 9th Infantry Regiment is one of the oldest and most decorated active duty infantry units in the United States Army.- Early organizations :...

       – Companies C, G, and H
    • 14th U.S. Infantry
      U.S. 14th Infantry Regiment
      The 14th Infantry Regiment is a United States Army light infantry regiment, known as the Golden Dragons. It has been active in every major conflict since its creation, except World War I, including the American Civil War, Boxer Rebellion, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Operation Desert...

      – Companies B, C, F, and I
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