Historic markers tell the story of the Rosebud Battle. (Bob Zellar/Billings Gazette)
The Rosebud Battlefield in southern Montana is now par with Wounded Knee, the Alamo and Mount Vernon in terms of National Historic Landmark status.
This week, a celebration on the 134th anniversary of the historic battle there between an alliance of Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne against the U.S. Army, marked that status. Lorna Thackeray of the Billings Gazette writes about it here.
The drum group Last Bear played and sang at the celebration for the Rosebud Battlefield. (Bob Zellar/Billings Gazette)
The Cheyenne call the battle site Kase’eetsevo’ – Where the Girl Saved Her Brother. The name comes from the actions of Buffalo Calf Trail Woman, who rescued her brother, Chief Comes In Sight, when his horse was shot out from under him.
By 2:30 that afternoon, with no clear victory for either side, the battle wound down. Crook lost 10 men and 21 more were wounded. The Sioux lost about 25 warriors and one Cheyenne was killed. Crazy Horse estimated the wounded at 63.
The major result was that [Gen. George] Crook withdrew his column to Wyoming, spoiling the government’s plan for a three-pronged assault.
A week later, and about 30 miles away, the same alliance of Sioux and Cheyenne were camped along the Little Bighorn River when Lt. Col. George Custer ordered an attack.
As William Walks Along, a member of the Northern Cheyenne’s Rosebud and Wolf Mountain National Historic Landmark Committee, told the people at this week’s ceremony, “events like this anchor me to the Earth.”
Thackeray recounts his comments that such sits have to be preserved so future generations will know their history.
“It is our duty,” Walks Along said.
Tags: Buffalo Calf Trail Woman, Chief Comes In Sight, Crazy Horse, Gen. George Crook, Gwen Florio, Kase'eetsevo', Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, National Historic Landmark, Native American news, Northern Cheyenne, Oglala Sioux, Rosebud Battlefield, The Alamo, William Walks Along, Wounded Knee