Rosebud Battlefield State Park in

Big Horn County, Montana Big Horn County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,124. The county seat is Hardin. The county, like the river and the mountain range, is named after the bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mou ...

preserves a large portion of the battlefield of the

Battle of the Rosebud The Battle of the Rosebud (also known as the Battle of Rosebud Creek) took place on June 17, 1876, in the Montana Territory between the United States Army and its Crow and Shoshoni allies against a force consisting mostly of Lakota Sioux and Nor ...

, fought on June 17, 1876. The battle is known by various other names such as The Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother by the

Northern Cheyenne The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( chy, Tsėhéstáno; formerly named the Tongue River) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately ...

, and Crook's Fight on the Rosebud. A

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

, the park is a day use facility offering hiking, hunting, picnicking and wildlife viewing. It is located south of Kirby, Montana on Montana Highway 314.

Setting

Rosebud Battlefield State Park is located in a rural setting of

, southeast of Billings and just east of the

Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( chy, Tsėhéstáno; formerly named the Tongue River) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately ...

. It is located west of Montana Highway 314, in an area of rolling prairie characterized by numerous ridges. Immediately to the south of the battlefield is a

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...

, below which Rosebud Creek meanders in a generally easterly direction. The park has an information kiosk and vault toilet at its entrance, and a rough gravel road traverses around the main battlefield area, but is otherwise undeveloped.

History

The Battle of the Rosebud, fought on June 17, 1876, marked a turning point in the Great Sioux War of 1876, in which the United States sought to force Native American tribes in the region onto reservations.

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

forces under the command of General George Crook were attacked here by a mixed force of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne commanded by Crazy Horse, stopping an advance that was part of an intended three-pronged movement against Native villages in Bighorn area. Over a six-hour period, the battle extended across a nearly area along Rosebud Creek. It was tactically a stalemate, but Crook failed to make the planned rendezvous and withdrew from the theater of war, ultimately leaving General

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 West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

exposed to defeat at the

Battle of the Little Bighorn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

a week later. The Cheyenne name for the battlefield, "Where The Girl Saved Her Brother", is derived from an incident during the battle, in which

Buffalo Calf Road Woman Buffalo Calf Road Woman, or Brave Woman, (c. 1844 – 1879) was a Northern Cheyenne woman who saved her wounded warrior brother, Chief Comes in Sight, in the Battle of the Rosebud (as it was named by the United States) in 1876. Her rescue helped ...

, a Cheyenne woman, came to the rescue of her brother, Chief Comes in Sight, who was lying wounded on the battlefield. Her act of valor is said to have rallied the Native American forces.

References

External links

Rosebud Battlefield State Park
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Rosebud Battlefield State Park Map
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks {{authority control National Historic Landmarks in Montana Protected areas of Big Horn County, Montana State parks of Montana Conflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Big Horn County, Montana Great Sioux War of 1876 1876 in Montana Territory

Setting

History

See also

References

External links