May 21 through May 23: Continuing West

[fred]

What kind of a formation did these columns use? Did they use flank security and what would that have consisted of? How did they employ their scouts?

How fast could they travel, encumbered with infantry, government-owned wagons, private teamsters, and herds of animals?

What went on these days or was it just more the boredom of trekking through unknown country? And was it unknown?

Did they use maps and how accurate were they?

Has anyone been killed yet?

[gocav76]

Fred, In "The Custer Companion" by Thom Hatch, he says that "various Indian bands-were aware that the army was on their trail" and that "Scouts under Col. George Gibbon had noticed this activity as early as May 16 but failed to inform General Terry" By May 21st this information still had not reached Terry-any idea what intelligence he was getting?

[fred]

gocav76--

I outlined as much of the intelligence information as I have on the May 17 thread. There was another report on May 24.

Best wishes,
Fred.

[fred]

May 21: Occasional rain; gloomy, misty. By noon, the sun was out and temperatures warmed. 13.3 miles.

May 22: Bright and clear morning. Temperatures in the mid-60s. Drier, but still rough terrain with prickly-pear cactus and rattlesnakes. 15 1/2 miles.

May 23: Cool, 48 degrees, clear, breezy. Early rise, early camp: by 8 a.m.! 8 miles.

[elisabeth]

Not wholly unknown, I think. The first few days' march followed the trail taken by the 1874 NW Boundary Survey expedition, and after that they were on territory covered by Custer on the Yellowstone expedition. It would be a while yet before they were beyond familiar landscapes.

Maps: Darling has a useful chapter on that in A Sad and Terrible Blunder. He suggests they most probably used the 1872 Hancock map; that the might just possibly have had the 1876 Gillespie map, but that this would not have added much to what was known. Hancock's map, he notes, gets the water-courses pretty much right, but lacks any useful contour information. So they weren't flying totally blind; just partially.

These recorded distances already start to vindicate the decision to switch to a pack-train once hot pursuit was called for ...

[conz]

Out of Bray's Crazy Horse:

"Hunts continued successfully as the Northern Nation swung west into the valley of Rosebud Creek. Food packs were filled, and clean white tipis replaced the smoke-smudged skins of winter. Warrior societies held reunion feasts, stoking the rhetoric of total resistance. On May 21, as tipis were pitched barely seven miles upstream from the mouth of the Rosebud, scouts topped the ridges overlooking the Yellowstone. Across the river were visible the white tents and unlimbered wagons of a major troop bivouac. One element of Sheridan's spring campaign had reached the hunting grounds."

"On May 22 and 23...warriors targeted Gibbon's hunting parties. Their intelligence convinced Crazy Horse and the other leaders that the Montana column would stay put...Scouts were posted to warn of any troop approach from the east."

In the meantime, Sitting Bull is said to have had a further vision that a great dust storm was approaching from the east...

Clair

[crzhrs]

It appears the Indians (hostiles, since most reservation Indians have not joined in) have been vigilant about keeping an eye out for soldiers and were even willing to skirmish with them at times.

[conz]

crzhrs said:

It appears the Indians (hostiles, since most reservation Indians have not joined in) have been vigilant about keeping an eye out for soldiers and were even willing to skirmish with them at times.

Yes, especially since Crook had already stirred the hornet's nest, flushing the Natives out of their winter camps.

Whether just due to game, or due to Crook's presence, the Natives initially moved right towards Terry's column.

Clair