What is Battle's Name?

[Son of A Cavalryman]

Does anyone know the proper name of the battle against the Sioux and allies by Custer in 1873? This fight took place at the junction of the Yellowstone and Rosebud Rivers. When Custer wrote his report he began with the intro tag of:

Pompey's Pillar
------1873

Then he began his report. Please, if you have titles for this battle to put forward, give me a source for your submission, not just a guess.

SOACM

[George Armstrong Custer]

The action of August 11 1873 was The Battle of the Yellowstone.

There was also a skirmish between 90 men of Custer's expedition and about 300 Sioux on August 4.

(source: Robert M . Utley, 'Cavalier in Buckskin', p. 122)

Ciao,
GAC

[George Armstrong Custer]

SOACM,
Further to my earlier reply, I note that in 'Custer in '76' : Walter Camp's Notes on the Custer Fight' (University of Oklahoma, 1990), p. 19, Walter Camp in an address to the Order of Indian Wars of the United States in 1920, refers to the engagements of August 1873.

With reference to the skirmish of August 4 1873, Camp states that this 'occurred on the north side of the Yellowstone, a few miles West of where Fort Keogh is now.' Camp gives no specific title to this fight.

Regarding the engagement of August 11 1873, Camp notes that this fight 'was on the same side of the river, on what later came to be known as Pease Bottom.' In Camp's list of 'Sites of Indian Battles Visited by Walter Camp', which is reproduced in ibid., p. 4, Camp designates the engagement of August 11 as 'Pease Bottom'.

In his 1920 address referred to above, Camp states that at that time 'both of these sites [August 4 & August 11] have been identified and temporarily marked. '

Camp's 1920 designation of the 'Battle of Pease Bottom', it would appear, has now been superceded amongst historians by the 'Battle of the Yellowstone' referred to by Utley.

Ciao,
GAC

[Son of A Cavalryman]

Thanks. The question came up because of Custer's use of "Pompey's Pillar", however, the engagement took place about 25 miles from the pillar. I figure Custer was imitating Napoleon who titled his climactic battle in Egypt "The Battle of the Pyramids" even though he was no where near the pyramids.

SOACM

[Steve Wilk]

Michno's _Encylopedia of Indian Wars_ cites the 4 August skirmish as "Tongue River" with the actual skirmish site "about eight miles above the mouth of the Tongue River, across from Moon Creek."

The 11 August fight is called "Bighorn"; the cavalry camp was along the Yellowstone near the mouth of the Big Horn, not the Rosebud, according to Michno.

[Son of A Cavalryman]

Ah, just as I thought we had it down as the "Battle of the Yellowstone", more confusing data. Oh well, that's what makes it interesting, thanks Steve.

SOACM