Distinctly Montana Magazine

51 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m son (1960), John Gray (1976) and Robert Marshall (1984), Hedren concludes that the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne prob- ably fielded "[s]omewhere between 750 to 800" warriors. Those figures comport well with Gray's earlier projection of "850 fighting men." On the other hand, casualties from this engagement appear to have been surpris- ingly low. According to Gray, "A survey of ten sources provides the names of nine soldiers killed and 23 wounded," num- bers that correspond closely with Crook's official report, which documents 10 fatal- ities and 21 wounded in action. Howev- er, Crook's most respected scout, Frank Grouard, cited "twen- ty-eight soldiers killed and fifty-six wounded." Cheyenne and Lakota losses are less clear. Crook careful- ly qualified his remarks on this point, stating only that the re- mains of 13 enemy warriors were left "in close proximity to our lines." According to some Cheyenne informants, 20 or more Sioux were killed at the Rosebud. Other sources advanced much higher, but more speculative, to- tals for Lakota casualties. History may have told a much bloodier tale if the opening salvos of conflict had unfolded differently. When gunfire was first reported around 8:30 A.M., Crook's column was bivouacked along the Rose- bud. Soon thereafter, scouts returned from their reconnaissance patrols at a gal- lop, with a large party of enemy warriors in hot pursuit. Crow and Shoshone auxil- iaries were the first to engage their Lako- ta adversaries. For 20 minutes, Kingsley Bray emphasizes, the battle "teetered in the balance." According to Grouard, who was then with Crook, "if it had not been for the Crows, the Sioux would have killed half of our command before the soldiers were in a position to meet the attack." Viewed in its entirety, Hedren describes Rosebud as a "baffling engagement," one marked most fundamentally by "concurrent action across an expansive field," wherein massed warriors took full advantage of the area's rolling topography to seemingly ap- State Park IT IS DISTINCTLY POSSIBLE THAT THE ROSEBUD FIGHT WAS THE LARGEST PITCHED BATTLE EVER FOUGHT BETWEEN THE U. S. ARMY AND PLAINS TRIBES. Her Brother"

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