I was wondering if anybody had any info on when the various roaming groups arrived in the Valley prior to the battle? To a first approximation, were the Hunkpapa there first, etc? ... I'm interested in both Sioux and N Cheyenne. Many thanks, LBM
Pete,
Does this help?
1. First camp on the Rosebud was about seven or eight miles up from the Yellowstone, probably around May 22.
2. About May 25, they stayed in camp # 2, about twelve miles farther up the river from the first. Only one night at this camp.
3. Teat Butte camp. Probably around May 26. Only one night.
4. Greenleaf Creek camp. Around May 27. Stayed five or six nights.
5. Sundance camp. Probably reached it around June 2.
6. Mouth-of-Davis Creek/Busby camp. Probably reached by June 8 or 9. May have stayed only one night.
7. Davis Creek/East-of-the-divide camp. Probably around June 10. Stayed only one night. The camp extended northward up a broad coulee full of plum thickets.
8. Great Medicine Creek/Reno Creek camp. The center of the camp was where the present road crosses a bridge at the fork of the creek.
9. Upper LBH camp; June 18, for sure.
10. Lower LBH camp; reached here on June 24. This date is disputed by Runs In Circles/Iron Hawk who claimed the village was set up a day earlier, i. e., June 23. Runs In Circles made this claim in an interview with Judge Eli S. Ricker, May 13, 1907. The claim was supported by an Oglala named Knife who married and “eloped” with his wife on that same day.
The Cheyenne location was about two miles north of the old 1920s–1930s railroad station at Garryowen. It was near the mouth of a small creek flowing from the southwestward into the river. Across the river to the east—and a little upstream—is Medicine Tail Coulee. Wooden Leg claimed there were only six main Indian circles: Cheyenne, Minneconjou, Oglala, Sans Arc, Hunkpapa, and Blackfeet Sioux. The Brulé, Assiniboine, and Waist and Skirts (Santee) stayed in their own groups, but close to another circle. The rest were set up as follows:
• Santee: next to the Hunkpapa.
• Brulé: part by the Oglala, part by the Blackfeet.
• The general order was Cheyenne, Sans Arcs, Minneconjou, Hunkpapa along the river. The Oglala were away from the river and southwest of the Cheyenne and Sans Arcs. The Blackfeet were also set back from the river and between the Oglala and Hunkpapa, nearer the latter.
• All the camps were east of the 1930 highway and the railroad, an important fact in determining village size.
The Sioux warrior, Black Elk, said the village configuration was:
• Hunkpapa, farthest south, then…
• Oglala
• Minneconjou
• Sans Arc
• Blackfeet
• Cheyenne
• Santee and Yanktonnais, farthest north. Standing Bear, a Minneconjou, did not agree with this placement of the Santee, but he did not address it specifically. He merely alluded to the fact that Medicine Tail Coulee was below the Santee camp.
Michno wrote that the village was only about 1½ miles long, stretching from Ford B to just beyond Shoulder Blade Creek (probably from where it comes out of the hills and not where it flows into the Little Big Horn) and the western edge of Garryowen Loop. This is the general area of the village as it is depicted on the McElfresh map and by measuring that distance it proves to be about 7,325 feet or 1.39 miles long. Neither Michno nor McElfresh take into account Wooden Leg’s claim that the Cheyenne village extended a little farther north, and Wooden Leg should not be discounted:
The Cheyenne location was about 2 miles north from the present railroad station at Garryowen, Montana. We were near the mouth of a small creek flowing from the southwestward into the river. Across the river east of us and a little upstream from us was a broad coulee, or little valley, having now the name Medicine Tail coulee [Marquis,
Wooden Leg, p. 206].
The only creek near this location would have been Onion Creek. That would make the length of the village somewhere around 1¾ miles and it would fit perfectly with Wooden Leg’s description, especially when compared to Ford B’s location and Wooden Leg’s description. The McElfresh map has Onion emptying into the Little Big Horn too far downstream, but a topographical map shows intermittent branches farther upstream and closer to Ford B. These little branches could have easily flowed into the river in 1876.
Best wishes,
Fred.
