Yellowstone Expedition of 1873

The Yellowstone Expedition of 1873 was an expedition of the United States Army in August, 1873 along the Yellowstone River in Montana to survey a route for the Northern Pacific Railroad. The main escort for the expedition were companies of the 7th United States Cavalry Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, although the expedition was under the overall command of Colonel David S. Stanley.

U.S. Army forces
Custer and units of the 7th Cavalry were part of the military column commanded by Col. David S. Stanley accompanying the 1873 Northern Pacific Railway survey party surveying the north side of the Yellowstone River west of the Powder River in eastern Montana. Stanley's column consisted of a 1,530 man force of cavalry, infantry, and two artillery pieces (3" rifled Rodman guns), and 60 days' rations. It traveled out of Dakota Territory in June, 1873 with the 1,530 soldiers, 275 mule-drawn wagons, 353 civilians involved in the survey, and 27 Indian and mixed-blood scouts supporting the column.

Native American forces
The Native American forces that fought against the expedition in Montana Territory were from the village of Sitting Bull, estimated at anywhere from 400 to 500 lodges with over 1000 Warriors. It included Hunkpapa Sioux under Gall accompanied by the warchief Rain in the Face, Oglala Sioux under Crazy Horse, and Miniconjou and Cheyenne.

The Battle of Honsinger Bluff
On Sunday, August 3, 1873, Stanley's column camped near the mouth of Sunday Creek, a tributary to the Yellowstone on the northeasterly end of Yellowstone Hill in present-day Custer County, Montana. Early on the morning of August 4, 1873 the column moved up the northwest side of the hill along the south fork of Sunday Creek. Captain George W. Yates with a company of the 7th Cavalry accompanied the surveyors along the southeast side of the hill along the Yellowstone River. George Custer, with Companies A and B of the 7th Cavalry under the command of Captain Myles Moylan scouted to the west ahead of the Stanley column. Custer's group consisted of 86 enlisted men, and 5 officers and Indian scouts. Custer's brother, First Lieutenant Thomas Custer, and his brother-in-law, First Lieutenant James Calhoun, accompanied him.

Shots were exchanged with Sioux Warriors near the Yellowstone River early in the Battle, and George Custer's men formed a skirmish line. A volley from the line distracted the pursuing Indians enough to halt the warriors' charge. Custer had Captain Moylan pull back his Company A to a wooded area previously occupied by Company A. After reaching the wooded area, the cavalrymen dismounted, forming a semicircular perimeter along a former channel of the Yellowstone River. The usual configuration for dismounted cavalry was every fourth man holding horses, however, due to the length of the semicircular perimeter, only every eighth man was detailed to hold horses. The bank of the dry channel served as a natural parapet.

The warriors siege on the detachment of the 7th Cavalry continued for about three hours in reported 110 F heat, when Custer's mounted soldiers burst from their wooded river position in a charge that scattered the Lakota Sioux forces, who fled upriver with Custer's men in pursuit. The soldiers pursued them for nearly four miles but were never able to close on them sufficiently to engage them.

The Expedition Continues
The Yellowstone Expedition continued west on the Yellowstone River throughout August, surveying along the way. On August 11, a sharp skirmish with Sitting Bull's warriors near the mouth of the Bighorn River resulted in the death of Private John H. Tuttle and the critically wounding of First Lieutenant Charles Braden, both of the 7th Cavalry Regiment. Braden's thigh was shattered by an Indian bullet and the officer remained on permanent sick leave until his retirement from the Army in 1878. After accomplishing the purpose the expedition was sent for which was surveying for a new railroad, Colonel David S. Stanley and the Yellowstone Expedition returned to Dakota Territory in late 1873.

Expedition Casualties
Colonel Staneley's expedition suffered 11 men killed, and 1 man wounded. Names of four of the killed: John Honsinger, 7th Cavalry senior veterinarian surgeon; Augustus Baliran, 7th Cavalry sutler; Private John Ball, 7th Cavalry; Private John H. Tuttle, Company E, 7th Cavalry; One of the wounded; First Lieutenant Charles Braden, 7th Cavalry.

Native American casualties while fighting the Expedition were estimated to number 5 killed, with numerous other warriors and horses wounded.

Aftermath
Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, Captain Thomas W. Custer, Captain George W. M. Yates, First Lieutenant James Calhoun, and Second Lieutenant Henry M. Harrington, 7th Cavalry officers accompanying the Yellowstone expedition were all killed during the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Montana on June 25, 1876. Captain Myles Moylan and Second Lieutenant Charles Varnum were also present but survived the battle. Moylan, four years later, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery at the Battle of Bear Paw, Montana, on September 30, 1877, against the Nez Perce under Chief Joseph near present-day Havre, Montana. Sitting Bull, Gall, Crazy Horse and Rain in the Face who all participated in the fighting against the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873 also participated in the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Officers Accompanying the Expedition

 * Colonel David S. Stanley, Headquarters, 22nd Infantry.
 * Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, Headquarters, 7th Cavalry.
 * Lieutenant Colonel L. P. Bradley, Headquarters, 9th Infantry.
 * Major E. F. Townsend, Headquarters, 9th Infantry.
 * Major R. E. A. Crofton, Headquarters, 17th Infantry.
 * Captain William Ludlow, Headquarters, Corps of Engineers.
 * Captain Thomas Ward Custer, 7th Cavalry.
 * Captain George Wilhelmus Mancius Yates, 7th Cavalry.
 * Captain Powell, 6th Infantry.
 * Captain Myles Moylan, Company A, 7th Cavalry.
 * Captain C. J. Dickey, 22nd Infantry.
 * First Lieutenant James Calhoun, Company L, 7th Cavalry.
 * First Lieutenant Charles Braden, 7th Cavalry, (Wounded).
 * Second Lieutenant Henry Moore Harrington, Company C, 7th Cavalry.
 * Second Lieutenant Charles Varnum, Company B, 7th Cavalry.
 * Second Lieutenant P. H. Ray, 8th Infantry.
 * Second Lieutenant D. H. Brush, Indian Scouts, 17th Infantry.
 * Second Lieutenant Webster, Company E, 22nd Infantry.

United States Army

 * 6th U. S. Infantry, 1 Company: Captain Powell
 * 7th U. S. Cavalry, 10 Companies: Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer
 * 8th U. S. Infantry, ~4 Companies: Second Lieutenant P. H. Ray
 * 9th U. S. Infantry, ~6 Companies: Lieutenant Colonel L. P. Bradley
 * 17th U. S. Infantry, 3 Companies: Major R. E. A. Crofton
 * 20th U. S. Infantry, Company E: Second Lieutenant Webster
 * 22nd U. S. Infantry, 10 Companies: Colonel David S. Stanley, Captain C. J. Dickey
 * Artillery Section of (two) 3-inch ordnance rifles (Cannons): Second Lieutenant Webster
 * Indian Scouts (27 men): Second Lieutenant D. H. Brush
 * Guides: Chief Guide Basil Clement, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Norris
 * Civilians, 353 men: Mr. Rosser, Mr. Frost, Mr. Clifford, Mr. Molesworth
 * Steamship Josephine: Captain Grant Marsh
 * Steamship Key West:

-Totaling:
 * 1,451 Enlisted men.
 * 79 Officers.
 * 353 Civilians.
 * 275 Wagons and Ambulances.
 * 2,321 Horses.

Literary references
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Revenge of Rain in the Face" describes the clash that occurred between Rain in the Face and Captain Thomas Custer as a result of the Expedition.