General Crook’s 1876 March up the Powder River

The Power River Country

Last week was the first installment of Crook’s March from Fort Fetterman, up the Powder River, to the Tongue River and to Rosebud Creek. According to newspaper accounts of the day, his men marched over 400 miles of rough and little explored country before they returned to old Fort Reno.

On March 18, Major Reynolds, in Crook’s command, found and attacked an Indian village near present day Broadus, Montana. The Battle of the Powder River was poorly carried out and helped to solidify the Sioux and Cheyenne resistance to the U.S. attempts to force them back on the reservations. but that’s another story.

Wyoming Weekly Leader, April 15, 1876: Saturday, March 11.— At 7 o’clock this morning the thermometer marked 22 degrees below zero, and as that was the full capacity of the instrument, we had no means of telling how much colder it was. Not notwithstanding the severity of the weather, the animals fed all night on such grass as they could get from under the snow, which was thin and poor at best. They remained free until 8 o’clock, and then the packers begin loading the mules. By 10 o’clock, the hour of starting, the weather had moderated several degrees, and the march was down Prairie Dog River to Tongue River, four miles, and down this latter stream four miles further where good grass and plenty of wood were found, and Gen. Crook decided to go into camp and give the animals a chance to graze the remainder of the day.

Sunday, March 12,—This morning was the coldest we have yet experienced, the mercury in the thermometer dropping into the bulb—the same experience as yesterday—but the air was much sharper, and Dr. Munn decided that the degree of cold would be properly expressed by -3O. The command marched at 9:30 a. m., and proceeded down Tongue River. Five miles out Tongue River canon was entered, and we traveled in it throughout the day, or until 5 p. m. when camp preparations were ordered. Fifteen miles of the 20 miles marched today were down the canon, which is narrow, irregular, full of sharp elbows, and has wails of red sandstone and conglomerate e 350 to 500 feet in height. We crossed the river 10 times on the ice, and the entire command marched for considerable distances down the river on its thick icy covering. About midway in the canon we found a piece of buffalo skin on a stick with a note which ran thus; “Up to right buffalo.” The scouts had killed an enormous bull bison, and stripped off all the best part of the flesh from him, and packed it on their horses, so there was little left worthy of our attention. Louis Richard with his party of eleven half breeds was sent over to Rosebud Creek this morning to look for Indians, and Ben Clark, Frank Gruard (Grouard), the Kemoka, and about twenty others, went down the river about fifteen miles below our present camp to reconnoiter near the mouth of Hanging Woman Creek. Both parties returned later in the evening, having seen no sign of Indians.

Frank Grouard was Crook’s favorite scout. Grouard spent six years as a prisoner of Sitting Bull, and could easily take on an Indian persona. He would occasionally dress as an Indian so he could pass as either a white man or an Indian. In a Laramie Daily Sentinel, in Jan. of 1877, there is a short tidbit about Grouard: Frank Gruard, General Crook’s principal scout, don’t wear long hair, nor dress in a buckskin suit. He avoids, rather then courts, notoriety.

Monday, March 11.—Thermometer stood at zero this morning, with a cold north-west wind, and about four inches of snow. Left camp at nine o’clock, and continued our march down Tongue River. Passed several lately abandoned Indian encampments, and at 3 p. m. captured a handsome mule, which had evidently strayed from some village not far ahead of us. Many indications served to satisfy us that we were not far from Indians, and we went Into camp at 2:30 p.m. under some small bluffs, having marched 13 miles. Scouts were sent three miles further down stream to waylay the trail of the mule and instructed to kill any Indian who might be following it up.

At dark the scouts were sent down the river to reconnoiter, with instructions to follow it, if necessary, to the Yellowstone, about 5O miles distant, and report what they may find. At the mouth of Hanging Woman River to-day we saw six buffaloes, and killed one of them the meat of which was distributed thorough the camp. We also passed a cave which had been excavated into the bank by the Indians to get red clay for paint. Crossed the river seven times on the ice, and at our camp find plenty of wood, principally dry cottonwood. The Indians have cut down enormous quantities of this tree, almost destroying the principal timber those valleys afford.

The bluff’s on each side have a dark, irregular fringe of scrub pine, cedar and juniper, and grease-brush flourishes in the bottom. The guides relate that there are innumerable trout in the Tongue River, and many of the soldiers have been endeavoring to entice these finny delicacies to bite at bait suspended through holes cut in the ice. I have not heard that a fish has been caught as yet. Our food is all frozen hard, and has to be thawed before it can be eaten.

Much of the time the column looks like a procession of Santa Clauses, so heavily are beards and mustaches covered with ice. To march into battle with banners flying and drums beating, to the roar of artillery and the rattle of musketry, does not call for half the nerve and determination that must be dally exercised to pursue mile after mile in such inhospitable weather over a wild and rugged country, a savage foe, whose presence one is likely to first know of by a fatal bullet.

The scouts are well into harness and do good work. But there is no concealing the fact that some of them, who have Indian wives, are not half as eager to encounter the enemy now as when they were at Fort Fetterman. As each mile brings them nearer to the hostile savages their courage seems to wane.

Among these cowards, however, are not such men as Ben Clark, Frank Gruard. Louis Richard, Little Bat (Baptist Gagnier), and others. They display the qualities of courage, judgment, and coolness that highly recommend them, and Gen. Reynolds finds their services of great value.

The weather in this region, 400 miles north of Cheyenne, seems to be utterly unpredictable, and would certainly puzzle a meteorologist. If we go to bed at night with a clear sky and bright moon, we generally awake in a snow-storm.

Tuesday, March 14.-Snowing this morning slightly, and has continued all day, with thermometer 0° below zero. Broke camp at 9 o’clock, and marched 10 miles down the river, camping near the mouth of Otter Creek, a small stream emptying into the Tongue River on the south side. Crossed the latter creek five times to-day. Saw four buffaloes at head of the column, and so badly wounded one that a detachment was sent out to overhaul and bring him in. Gen. Crook, who is a crack shot, killed six pin-tailed grouse as we came into camp, with his Springfield musket, taking taking off the head only in each case. Camp was pitched in a grove of dead cottonwood and ash, which make splendid fires, and the stock find fair grass on the bluffs overlooking the river, though they have to get it from under the snow as best they can. The Panther Mountains extend along both sides of the river, and consist of high tower-shaped and castellated hills, crowned with a dark fringe of pine trees. The formation consists exclusively of red and yellow sandstone as far as we can discover, no quartz, granite or other Paleozoic rocks being visible. Evidently this is not a gold-bearing region, the cheap maps to the contrary not withstanding.

Wednesday, March 12.—Scouts returned this evening. having reconnoitered the lower portions of the valleys of the Tongue River and the Rosebud to the Yellowstone without finding Indians. The signs seemed to indicate that all the villagers have moved over to Powder River, and thither accordingly, we shall take up our march tomorrow. Weather clear and pleasant to-day, after seven days of storm.

Animals have had a day’s good grazing, which they much needed. Many of the pack-mules are terribly sore, the flesh being worn away to the ribs and buck-bone in patches as large as two hands. It takes about 30 mules to a company of cavalry, including those ridden by the packers, so that we have 366 mules to carry provisions, ammunition, bedding, etc., for the expedition. Of the meat ration for the troops, only one-half supply was brought.

According to a Laramie Daily Sentinel in August of 1876 the column was made up of over 2,100 fighting men. It had 300 pack mules, 150,000 rounds of ammunition, 35,000 rations and no forage. This is the lightest marching condition.

The reporter continues about the pack train: The good mule-packer is hard to find, and out of a hundred men who pretend to know something about it, not ten will generally be employed by an experienced pack master. Of these we have many have seen service with General Crook in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Arizona, and may be classed among the best. Yet even some of these are pretty well tired out by the hard work and severe weather.

I heard one of them say last night; “Well, boys, I think if next summer is a good season for washing, my mother can make enough to keep me at home. I don’ t want no more of this”. One of our pack-masters named Closter has been at the business 26 years. His hair and beard are perfectly white, or the latter would be except for a path of tobacco juice down through the middle of it. He has a kindly face, and is a man of a great deal of originality and native force of character.

They are all of them hard-fisted, honest and blunt speaking fellows, and are in excellent repute throughout the command. Pack-mules and good packers are a necessity for any successful campaigning in a region as rough and nearly impracticable as this. Expeditions will undoubtedly be required to follow this one, as it does not now seem probable that we shall succeed in finding and removing the hostile Indians from this country. For all of these pack-trains will be the only means of transporting the supplies of the army.

General George Crook perfected the packing and use of mules during the Apache wars and the Plains Indian Wars. Mules provided mobility for the Army and were ideally suited for the harsh, western environment, given their hardiness and sure-footedness. Mules eat less than horses, and require less protein and forage. Pack mules were used as late as WWII to pack into rough country.

After the Battle of the Powder River, General Crook and his men returned to Cantonment Reno on March 21 to make plans for the summer campaign.