Monday, June 19

Today, with his scouting force approaching the rest of the Dakota Column, Reno sent a dispatch rider to bring a report to Terry. The message, cheekily reporting that he had discovered where the enemy was not and confirming that Reno had disobeyed Terry’s orders and diverted to the Rosebud infuriated the General, who was already near the end of his rope with such shenanigans due to Custer’s earlier such wanderings near the Little Missouri. Captain Robert Hughes, Terry’s aide and brother in law, was dispatched immediately to Reno, with orders to hold where he was. Terry and Custer would move out on the morrow to link with Reno.

A pack mule in Crook’s column during the Great Sioux War

For the Montana Column, they remained in place as Reno set out eastward along the river, while their own scouts reported no signs of the enemy along the path to the Little Bighorn River’s meeting with the Yellowstone. Lt. Bradley reported that he considered this proof that Sitting Bull had moved southward, and was not looking to cross the Yellowstone at this point. Meanwhile, the men of the Wyoming Column arrived back at the Goose Creek forks, ending their retreat from the Rosebud. Crook used the return to camp to send a telegram to Sheridan, bragging of his routing of the hostiles. The press, however, was not so sure, and lambasted Crook’s leadership. Regardless of the General’s claims, the fact remained that the Wyoming Column had been forced to retreat, and would play no further significant role in the campaign.

At the recent battlefield, a group of men returned from the large village at the Little Bighorn, quickly finding the graves of the soldiers, exhuming them and looting the bodies, with some being scalped. Back in the village, the Lakota dead were placed into their burial lodges, with the main body breaking camp to move farther down the Little Bighorn. Councils were held between Sitting Bull and the other Chiefs, while medicine men tended to the wounded, while hunting parties roamed in search of buffalo and antelope. To many, it was believed that the victory over Crook meant that the fighting was over, at least for a time.

1. Dakota Column - CUSTER - Yellowstone River/Tongue River + Reno Scouts

2. Wyoming Column - CROOK - Goose Creek

3. Montana Column - GIBBON - Yellowstone River

5. Sioux Encampment - SITTING BULL - Little Bighorn River