Yellowstone Expedition of 1873

Yellowstone Expedition of 1873
Part of the Sioux Wars
Date June 20 – September 23, 1873 Location Dakota Territory and Montana Territory Result United States Victory
Belligerents
Lakota Sioux	United States
Commanders and leaders
Sitting Bull Crazy Horse Gall Rain in the Face	David S. Stanley George A. Custer
Strength
~1000 Warriors	1,530 Soldiers 353 Civilians
Casualties and losses
4 killed, 12 wounded	11 killed, 4 wounded, 5 horses killed, ~90 mules killed

The Yellowstone Expedition of 1873 was an expedition of the United States Army in the summer of 1873 in Dakota Territory and Montana Territory, to survey a route for the Northern Pacific Railroad along the Yellowstone River. The expedition was under the overall command of Colonel David S. Stanley, with Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer second in command.

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.

The Native American forces that fought against the expedition in Montana Territory were from the village of Sitting Bull, estimated at anywhere from 400 to 500 lodges with over 1000 Warriors. It included Hunkpapa Sioux under Gall accompanied by the warchief Rain in the Face, Oglala Sioux under Crazy Horse, and Miniconjou and Cheyenne.

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. Rosser, 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 Montana Territory, reaching the Yellowstone River, 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.

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Wikipedia