The Yellowstone Expedition of 1873 was an expedition of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

in the summer of 1873 in

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

and

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

, to survey a route for the

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

along the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountain ...

. The expedition was under the overall command of

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

David S. Stanley, with Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer second in command.

Participants

U.S. Army forces

Custer and units of the 7th Cavalry were part of the military column commanded by Colonel David S. Stanley accompanying the 1873 Northern Pacific Railway survey party surveying the north side of the Yellowstone River west of the Powder River in eastern Montana. Stanley's column consisted of a 1,530 man force of cavalry, infantry, and two artillery pieces (3" rifled Rodman guns), and 60 days' rations. It traveled out of Dakota Territory in June, 1873 with the 1,530 soldiers, 275 mule-drawn wagons, 353 civilians involved in the survey, and 27 Indian and mixed-blood scouts supporting the column.

Native American forces

The Native American forces that fought against the expedition in

were from the village of

Sitting Bull Sitting Bull ( ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota people, Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against Federal government of the United States, United States government policies. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian ...

, estimated at anywhere from 400 to 500 lodges with over 1000 Warriors. It included

Hunkpapa The Hunkpapa (Lakota: ) are a Native American group, one of the seven council fires of the Lakota tribe. The name ' is a Lakota word, meaning "Head of the Circle" (at one time, the tribe's name was represented in European-American records as ...

Sioux under

Gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or war ...

accompanied by the warchief Rain in the Face, Oglala Sioux under

Crazy Horse Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...

, and

Miniconjou The Miniconjou (Lakota: Mnikowoju, Hokwoju – ‘Plants by the Water’) are a Native American people constituting a subdivision of the Lakota people The Lakota (; or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people. ...

and

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

The Expedition Begins

The main expedition was ready and started from Fort Rice, Dakota Territory on June 20, 1873. The surveying party and six companies under Major E. F. Townsend, 9th Infantry had started four days earlier from Fort Abraham Lincoln on the Missouri River, being directed to travel west until the main command might overtake them. In the first seventeen days of marching it rained fourteen days, in some instances with three or four heavy rain-falls in twenty-four hours. After taking a day to cross the main command over the Heart River, Colonel Stanley received a report from Mr. Risser, the chief engineer, and Major Townsend, that on June 24, the surveying party and its escort had "been overtaken by a most furious hail-storm...in which men had barely escaped with their lives, and the animals stampeding on the march had broken up their wagons to such an extent as to completely cripple both engineers and escort." Stanley sent the remainder of the 7th Cavalry and the mechanic outfit ahead to the surveyors to help repair the damages, while the infantry stayed with the heavy wagon train. By July 1, the infantry and wagon train had crossed over the Muddy River, which was flooded approximately 60 feet wide, via a makeshift pontoon bridge of overturned wagon beds, designed by the chief commissary officer, Lieutenant P. H. Ray of the 8th Infantry. At this time Stanley sent 47 wagons back to Fort Rice for additional supplies. On July 5, the infantry escorting the wagons had caught up with the surveying party under Mr. Rosser, Major Townsend's Infantry detachment, and the 7th Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer. The expedition pushed on, crossing the flooded Little Missouri River, and entering into

, reaching the

, on July 13, 1873. Custer and two squadrons of cavalry then going across a rough trail, reached the mouth of Glendive Creek on the Yellowstone, there meeting the steamboat ''Key West'', which had established a supply depot at that point. After Stanley reached the depot, he left two 7th Cavalry companies and one 17th Infantry company to guard it, and on July 26, had the ''Key West'' ferry troops and wagons over to the north bank of the Yellowstone. After traveling west, on August 1, Stanley's column met the Steamship ''Josephine'' under Captain Grant Marsh eight miles above the mouth of the Powder River. Captain William Ludlow of the engineers had brought the boat up with a supply of forage and some necessary clothing. That night the expedition had the first evidence of the presence of Indians, the camp guards firing on several during the night, and the trail of ten being plainly seen going up the valley the next morning, August 2. In marching up the left bank of the Yellowstone, an escort of one company of infantry and one of the 7th Cavalry took care of the surveying party, which aimed to follow the valley, while the wagon train had to take many detours, leaving the valley and crossing the plateaus where the river ran close the bluffs.

Battle of Honsinger Bluff

On Sunday, August 4, 1873, Stanley's column camped near the mouth of Sunday Creek, a tributary to the Yellowstone on the northeasterly end of Yellowstone Hill in present-day Custer County, Montana. Early on the morning of August 4, 1873 the column moved up the northwest side of the hill along the south fork of Sunday Creek. Captain George W. Yates with a company of the 7th Cavalry accompanied the surveyors along the southeast side of the hill along the Yellowstone River. George Custer, with Companies A and B of the 7th Cavalry under the command of Captain Myles Moylan scouted to the west ahead of Stanley's column. Custer's group consisted of 86 enlisted men, 4 officers, and Indian scouts. Custer's brother, First Lieutenant

Thomas Custer Thomas Ward Custer (March 15, 1845 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and two-time recipient of the Medal of Honor for bravery during the American Civil War. A younger brother of George Armstrong Custer, he served as his aide at ...

, and his brother-in-law, First Lieutenant James Calhoun, accompanied him. Shots were exchanged with Sioux Warriors near the Yellowstone River early in the battle, and George Custer's men formed a skirmish line. A volley from the line distracted the pursuing Indians enough to halt the warriors' charge. Custer had Captain Moylan pull back his Company A to a wooded area previously occupied by Company A. After reaching the wooded area, the cavalrymen dismounted, forming a semicircular perimeter along a former channel of the Yellowstone River. The usual configuration for dismounted cavalry was every fourth man holding horses, however, due to the length of the semicircular perimeter, only every eighth man was detailed to hold horses. The bank of the dry channel served as a natural parapet. The warrior's siege on the detachment of the 7th Cavalry continued for about three hours in reported heat, when Custer's mounted soldiers burst from their wooded river position in a charge that scattered the Lakota Sioux forces, who fled upriver with Custer's men in pursuit. The soldiers pursued them for nearly four miles but were never able to close on them sufficiently to engage them.

Battle of Pease Bottom

The Yellowstone Expedition continued west on the Yellowstone River throughout August, surveying along the way. On August 11, a sharp skirmish with Sitting Bull's warriors near the mouth of the Bighorn River at what later became known as Pease Bottom resulted in the death of Private John H. Tuttle and the critically wounding of First Lieutenant Charles Braden, both of the 7th Cavalry. Braden's thigh was shattered by an Indian bullet and the officer remained on permanent sick leave until his retirement from the army in 1878.

The Expedition Continues

After scouting along the Musselshell River, Colonel David S. Stanley and the Yellowstone Expedition made its ways back down the Yellowstone River and returned to Dakota Territory in late 1873, with the expedition ending on September 23, 1873.

Expedition Casualties

Colonel Staneley's expedition suffered 11 men killed, and 1 man wounded. Names of four of the killed: John Honsinger, 7th Cavalry senior veterinarian surgeon; Augustus Baliran, 7th Cavalry sutler; Private John Ball, 7th Cavalry; Private John H. Tuttle, Company E, 7th Cavalry; One of the wounded; First Lieutenant Charles Braden, 7th Cavalry. Native American casualties while fighting the Expedition were estimated to number 5 killed, with numerous other warriors and horses wounded.

Aftermath

Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, Captain Thomas W. Custer, Captain George W. M. Yates, First Lieutenant James Calhoun, and Second Lieutenant Henry M. Harrington, 7th Cavalry officers accompanying the Yellowstone expedition were all killed during the

Battle of the Little Bighorn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota people, Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Si ...

, Montana on June 25, 1876. Captain Myles Moylan and Second Lieutenant Charles Varnum were also present but survived the battle. Moylan, four years later, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery at the

Battle of Bear Paw The Battle of Bear Paw (also sometimes called Battle of the Bears Paw or Battle of the Bears Paw Mountains) was the final engagement of the Nez Perce War of 1877. Following a running fight from North Central Idaho, north central Idaho Territor ...

, Montana, on September 30, 1877, against the Nez Perce under

Chief Joseph ''Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt'' (or ''hinmatóowyalahtq̓it'' in Americanist orthography; March 3, 1840 – September 21, 1904), popularly known as Chief Joseph, Young Joseph, or Joseph the Younger, was a leader of the wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) ...

near present-day

Havre, Montana Havre ( ) is the county seat of and the largest city in Hill County, Montana, United States. Havre is nicknamed the crown jewel of the Hi-Line (Montana), Hi-Line. It is said to be named after the city of Le Havre in France. As of the 2020 Unite ...

. Sitting Bull, Gall, Crazy Horse and Rain in the Face who all participated in the fighting against the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873 also participated in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The campaign resulted in the encirclement of the Sioux Lands reserved by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, putting the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe in an unfavorable position for the upcoming Great Sioux War.

Order of battle

United States Army

* 6th U. S. Infantry, Company C: Captain James Powell * 8th U. S. Infantry, Companies B, C, F and H: Captain Charles Porter * 9th U. S. Infantry, Companies A, D, E, F, H and I: Lieutenant Colonel Luther P. Bradley * 17th U. S. Infantry, Companies A, B and H: Major Robert E. A. Crofton * 20th U. S. Infantry, Company E: Second Lieutenant John McA. Webster * 22nd U. S. Infantry, Companies B, E, H, I and K: Colonel David S. Stanley, Captain C. J. Dickey * 7th U. S. Cavalry, Companies A, B, C, E, F, G, H, K, L and M: Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer * Artillery Section of (two) 3-inch ordnance rifles (Cannons): Second Lieutenant John McA. Webster * Indian Scouts (27 men): Second Lieutenant Daniel H. Brush * Guides: Chief Guide Basil Clement, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Norris * Civilians, 353 men: Mr. Rosser, Mr. Frost, Mr. Clifford, Mr. Molesworth * Steamship ''Josephine'': Captain Grant Marsh * Steamship ''Key West'': -Totaling: * 1,451 Enlisted men. * 79 Officers. * 353 Civilians. * 275 Wagons and Ambulances. * 2,321 Horses.

Native Americans

Lakota Sioux The Lakota (; or ) are a Native American people. Also known as the Teton Sioux (from ), they are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people, with the Eastern Dakota (Santee) and Western Dakota (). Their current lands are in N ...

Officers Accompanying the Expedition

David Sloane Stanley, Headquarters, 22nd Infantry. * Lieutenant Colonel

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point ...

, Headquarters, 7th Cavalry. * Lieutenant Colonel Luther P. Bradley, Headquarters, 9th Infantry. * Lieutenant Colonel William B. Royall, Headquarters, 3rd Cavalry. *

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Edwin Franklin Townsend, Headquarters, 9th Infantry. *

Robert E. A. Crofton, Headquarters, 17th Infantry. *

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

William Ludlow, Headquarters, Corps of Engineers. *

Myles Moylan, Company A, 7th Cavalry. *

Thomas Ward Custer, 7th Cavalry. *

George Wilhelmus Mancius Yates, 7th Cavalry. *

James W. Powell, 6th Infantry. *

Charles Porter, Company B, 8th Infantry *

Augustus W. Corliss, Company C, 8th Infantry. *

James J. VanHorn, Company F, 8th Infantry. *

Henry M. Lazelle, Company H, 8th Infantry. *

Philip H. Owen, Company D, 9th Infantry. *

Edward Pollock, Company E, 9th Infantry. *

Andrew S. Burt, Company H, 9th Infantry. *

Frederick Mears, Company I, 9th Infantry. *

William M. Van Horne, Company A, 17th Infantry. *

Charles J. Dickey, 22nd Infantry. *

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

James Calhoun, Company L, 7th Cavalry. *

Charles Braden, 7th Cavalry. (

Wounded in action Wounded in action (WIA) describes combatants who have been wounded while fighting in a combat zone during wartime, but have not been killed. Typically, it implies that they are temporarily or permanently incapable of bearing arms or continuing ...

) *

Daniel T. Wells, Company C, 8th Infantry. *

Egbert B. Savage, Company F, 8th Infantry. *

Cyrus A. Earnest, Company H, 8th Infantry. *

George W. Griffith, Company A, 9th Infantry. *

William B. Pease, Company D, 9th Infantry. *

James Regan, Company E, 9th Infantry. *

William E. Hofman, Company H, 9th Infantry. *

William P. Rogers, Company A, 17th Infantry. * Second Lieutenant Charles Varnum, Company B, 7th Cavalry. * Second Lieutenant Henry Moore Harrington, Company C, 7th Cavalry. * Second Lieutenant Edward Lynch, Company C, 8th Infantry. * Second Lieutenant Patrick Henry Ray, Company H, 8th Infantry. * Second Lieutenant Jennifer H. Smallwood, Company A, 9th Infantry. * Second Lieutenant William F. Norris, Company E, 9th Infantry. * Second Lieutenant Charles M. Rockefeller, Company F, 9th Infantry. * Second Lieutenant William L. Carpenter, Company H, 9th Infantry. * Second Lieutenant James Mc B. Stembel, Company I, 9th Infantry. * Second Lieutenant Daniel H. Brush, Company A, 17th Infantry. * Second Lieutenant John McA. Webster, Company E, 20th Infantry.

Literary references

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

's poem "Revenge of Rain in the Face" describes the clash that occurred between Rain in the Face and Captain Thomas Custer as a result of the Expedition.