The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie gave the Sioux and Cheyenne Indian tribes control over a wide region, covering Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and part of the Dakotas. But in the 1870s gold was discovered in the Black Hills, and white settlers invaded Indian territory in desperate search for the precious mineral. Clashes between miners and Indians erupted. After trying other means of settling the disputes, the U.S. government decreed that all Indians in the northwest should be living on reservations by January 1876. The Sioux and the Cheyenne refused to obey, so the Bureau of Indian Affairs called in the military to enforce the order. Though the Battle of the Rosebud had a significant impact on the rest of the campaign against the Sioux, it has often been eclipsed by publicity surrounding the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It was not until 1956, when With Crook at the Rosebud was first published by Stackpole, that the first clear history of the battle emerged.

“Crook always maintained that, since his command occupied the field after the battle, he was not defeated at the Rosebud, and that if the battle had gone according to his orders, it would have resulted in a real triumph for his men. This view was also held by his superiors, although they called it a ‘barren victory.’ His part in the campaign was to form a junction with the other advancing columns, combining with them in returning the infractious Sioux to their reservations. His immediate purpose was to find and destroy the village of Crazy Horse. He accomplished none of these objectives. Instead he retired from the scene, permitting the forces of Crazy Horse to concentrate their strength against the troops to the north.” From With Crook at the Rosebud The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie gave the Sioux and Cheyenne Indian tribes control over a wide region, covering Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and part of the Dakotas. But in the 1870s gold was discovered in the Black Hills, and white settlers invaded Indian territory in desperate search for the precious mineral. Clashes between miners and Indians erupted. After trying other means of settling the disputes, the U.S. government decreed that all Indians in the northwest should be living on reservations by January 1876. The Sioux and the Cheyenne refused to obey, so the Bureau of Indian Affairs called in the military to enforce the order. Brigadier General George Crook led the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expeditionary forces into southern Montana against rebellious Sioux. But Crazy Horse, leading a party of Sioux and Cheyenne, defeated a portion of Crooks command at Powder River in March 1876. In his chagrin and determination for revenge, Crook led his troops to the Rosebud canyon to destroy Crazy Horse’s village. The two powerful forces, each numbering more than one thousand men, met at the Rosebud River on June 17. At the end of the fierce, day-long battle, Crook returned to his base nearly forty miles away, convinced that he had won. Time would prove, however, that the battle resulted in a stalemate. Crook’s force was removed from the larger campaign and he was unable to come to Custer’s aid at the Little Big Horn eight days later. Though the Battle of the Rosebud had a significant impact on the rest of the campaign against the Sioux, it has often been eclipsed by publicity surrounding the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It was not until 1956, when With Crook at the Rosebud was first published by Stackpole, that the first clear history of the battle emerged.

The only comprehensive work on one of the most important battles of the Indian Wars of the West. The fight on Rosebud Creek took place just days before General George Armstrong Custer and his Seventh Cavalry was decimated by the same warriors that forced General George Crook to withdraw from the Rosebud.Here in the words of survivors of the Rosebud fight on both sides, is J.W. Vaughn's classic book on the battle. Abridged and annotated for a modern audience, this edition takes you into the fight from various points on the battlefield.

The Battle of the Rosebud may well be the largest Indian battle ever fought in the American West. The monumental clash on June 17, 1876, along Rosebud Creek in southeastern Montana pitted George Crook and his Shoshone and Crow allies against Sioux and Northern Cheyennes under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. It set the stage for the battle that occurred eight days later when, just twenty-five miles away, George Armstrong Custer blundered into the very same village that had outmatched Crook. Historian Paul L. Hedren presents the definitive account of this critical battle, from its antecedents in the Sioux campaign to its historic consequences. Rosebud, June 17, 1876 explores in unprecedented detail the events of the spring and early summer of 1876. Drawing on an extensive array of sources, including government reports, diaries, reminiscences, and a previously untapped trove of newspaper stories, the book traces the movements of both Indian forces and U.S. troops and their Indian allies as Brigadier General Crook commenced his second great campaign against the northern Indians for the year. Both Indian and army paths led to Rosebud Creek, where warriors surprised Crook and then parried with his soldiers for the better part of a day on an enormous field. Describing the battle from multiple viewpoints, Hedren narrates the action moment by moment, capturing the ebb and flow of the fighting. Throughout he weighs the decisions and events that contributed to Crook’s tactical victory, and to his fateful decision thereafter not to pursue his adversary. The result is a uniquely comprehensive view of an engagement that made history and then changed its course. Rosebud was at once a battle won and a battle lost. With informed attention to the subtleties and significance of both outcomes, as well as to the fears and motivations on all sides, Hedren has given new meaning to this consequential fight, and new insight into its place in the larger story of the Great Sioux War.

General George Crook spent his entire military career, with the exception of the Civil War years, on the frontier. Fighting the Indians, he earned the distinction of being the lowest-ranking West Point cadet ever to rise to the rank of major-general. Crook’s autobiography covers the period from his graduation from West Point in 1852 to June 18, 1876, the day after the famous Battle of the Rosebud. Editor Martin F. Schmitt has supplemented Crook’s life story with other material from the general’s diaries and letters and from contemporary newspapers. “When Red Cloud, the Sioux chief, heard of the death of his old antagonist, the Army officer they called Three Stars, he told a missionary, ‘He, at least, never lied to us.’ General Sherman called Crook the greatest Indian fighter and manager the Army ever had. Yet this man who was the most effective campaigner against the Indians had won their respect and trust. To understand why, you ought to read General George Crook: His Autobiography, edited and annotated by Martin F. Schmitt.”—Los Angeles Times “A story straightforward, accurate, and interesting, packed with detail and saturated with a strong western flavor....The importance of this book lies not merely in its considerable contribution to our knowledge of military history and to the intimate and sometimes trenchant remarks made by Crook about his colleagues, but more particularly in the revelation of the character and aims of the general himself.”—Chicago Tribune

A firsthand account of General George Crook's campaigns against the Indians, by a member of his staff.