Crazy Horse

Recorded sideLakota and Northern Cheyenne

Recorded resultTactical success / forced enemy withdrawal

Indecisive in casualties but a strategic Native success: Crook's aggressive Native attackers fought his column to a standstill and forced it to withdraw to resupply.

Aggressive, mobile mounted attacks and use of broken terrain prevented Crook from pressing forward; the disruption removed his column from the converging campaign.

What followed

By knocking Crook out of the campaign, the Rosebud left the other columns unsupported eight days before Little Bighorn.

Recorded sideLakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho

Recorded resultDecisive victory

Decisive Native victory. Custer divided his regiment and attacked a far larger camp; the five companies under his immediate command were surrounded and killed, while the rest were besieged.

Concentration of numbers at the point of contact, mobility, terrain, and Custer's decision to split his force allowed the allied warriors to envelop and overwhelm an outnumbered, divided enemy.

What followed

The most famous Native battlefield victory of the Indian Wars. Yet it provoked an overwhelming U.S. response: within a year the great encampment had scattered, Crazy Horse had surrendered, and the destruction of the buffalo, railroads, and relentless attrition broke Lakota independence. Tactical triumph, strategic catastrophe.