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111-617: During the late 1860s, the area was the scene of Red Cloud's War , fought between the Lakota peoples and the United States. The Lakota victory in the war resulted in the continuation of their control of the area for the next decade. After control of the area fell to the U.S. government in the 1870s following the end of the Great Sioux War of 1876–77 , the area was opened to white settlement for homesteading . From 1889 to 1893,

222-868: A bludgeon. Aside from his fatal head and chest injuries, his body was left untouched and covered with a buffalo robe by the Indians. The reason for this remains unknown. This battle was called the "Battle of the Hundred Slain" or the "Battle of the Hundred in the Hand" by the Indians and the "Fetterman Massacre" by the soldiers. It was the Army's worst defeat on the Great Plains until the Little Big Horn battle nearly ten years later. The evening after

333-623: A column of men from Fort Ellis near Bozeman, Montana and traveled down the Yellowstone to meet up with General Alfred Terry 's Dakota Column, which had traveled upstream from North Dakota. Terry formed a base of operations at the mouth of Rosebud Creek on the Yellowstone, but the US miscalculated the strength of the Lakota, who had gathered by the thousands along the river. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer departed from Rosebud Creek with

444-666: A delaying tactic by the Indians. The Lakota held their annual Sun Dance in July, delaying the renewal of major hostilities. In late July 1867, the Lakota and Cheyenne took two different paths in attacks. A force composed primarily of Cheyenne and Arapaho gathered for an attack at Fort C. F. Smith on the Bighorn River in Montana. Another, mostly Lakota, decided to attack Fort Phil Kearny, 90 miles (140 km) southeast. Crow people lived near Fort Smith and provided intelligence to

555-643: A field for "large-scale battles with invading Sioux". By 1860, the Lakota and their allies had driven the Crows away from their treaty-guaranteed hunting grounds on the west side of the Powder River. The Lakota winter count by Ben Kindle (Oglala) reflects the fighting between the Crow and the Oglala during these decisive years. In five out of eight "winters" (years) from 1857 to 1864, he refers to Oglala triumphs over

666-552: A foot (30 cm) of snow and temperatures below 0 °F (−18 °C). He did not see any Indians during his ride. He arrived at Fort Laramie late in the evening on December 25, during a full-dress Christmas ball. He staggered, exhausted, into the party to deliver his message. General Cooke immediately relieved Carrington of command, replacing him with Brigadier General Henry W. Wessells . Wessells arrived safely at Fort Kearny on January 16 with two companies of cavalry and four of infantry. One man in his command froze to death during

777-595: A forecast of more rain to come. The historic Carbella Bridge was destroyed. In June 2023, a railroad bridge collapsed that had been built adjacent to the Twin Bridges Road Bridge ( c.  1931 –2021). This resulted in several rail cars falling into the Yellowstone River. Approximately 48,000 US gallons (180,000 L) of molten petroleum products were released into the river. Fish consumption advisories were put in place due to

888-472: A history of nine oil spills in 2006–14 leaking an amount of 11,000 US gallons (42,000 L; 9,200 imp gal) of crude. Also, their sister company Belle Fourche Pipeline owned by Tad True and their family, recorded twenty-one incidents in the same period leaking 272,832 US gallons (1,032,780 L; 227,180 imp gal) of oil, both companies had federal fines levied against them and appear in governments records. The oil cleanup on Yellowstone River

999-587: A hydropower company, is unrelated. On February 22, 2012, Montana lost that case too.) The name is widely believed to have been derived from the Minnetaree Indian name Mi tse a-da-zi (Yellow Rock River) ( Hidatsa : miʔciiʔriaashiish' ). Common lore recounts that the name was inspired by the yellow-colored rocks along the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, but the Minnetaree never lived along

1110-401: A knife slash. It remains a subject of debate. The warriors mutilated most of the bodies of the soldiers. Most of the dead soldiers were scalped, beheaded, dismembered, disemboweled, and often castrated, facts widely publicized by the newspapers. The only body left untouched was that of a young teenage bugler, Adolph Metzler. He was believed to have fought several Indians with just his bugle as

1221-507: A massive fish kill attributed to proliferative kidney disease, a rare but serious salmonid disease. The parasite-- Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae —is not harmful to humans or other mammals. Wildlife officials estimate tens of thousands of fish may have died, mostly mountain whitefish , but Yellowstone cutthroat and rainbow trout have been affected. The closure is expected to cause significant adverse economic impact to businesses which depend on summer tourist and recreational activities along

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1332-546: A mobile search-and-destroy attack force. Nearly all of the meager successes of the Powder River Expedition a year earlier were attributable to the Pawnee and Omaha scouts who had accompanied the expedition. A scout in another Indian war would say of US soldiers, "Uncle Sam's boys are too slow for this kind of work." Carrington's guide was the seasoned Mountain man Jim Bridger . Carrington's opponents,

1443-655: A more structured and centralized political organization. Some historians have estimated that Red Cloud's warriors numbered up to 4,000 men. The total number of Lakota in 1865 was about 13,860. The Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho numbered about 3,000, adding up to a total of about 17,000 Indian men, women, and children. Thousands of people in all three of those tribes were not in the Powder River country with Red Cloud; others stayed aloof from warfare. As had been typical of United States militias, Indian men were part-time warriors. They had to spend much of summer and fall each year hunting buffalo and other game to feed their families. In

1554-415: A renewal of friendly relations." Unbeknownst to Johnson, Carrington at that time was under virtual siege by the Indians at Fort Phil Kearny . The agreement was not ratified. The United States, as signer of the 1851 Fort Laramie treaty, could only undertake meaningful negotiations about the western Powder River plains with the legitimate holder of the area, the Crow tribe. Carrington left Fort Laramie for

1665-581: A system of rivers, including the Yellowstone River, and four tributary basins: the Clarks Fork Yellowstone , Wind River and Bighorn River , Tongue River , and Powder River . These rivers form tributaries to the Missouri River . The mainstem of the Yellowstone River is more than 700 miles (1,100 km) long. At the headwaters, elevations exceed 12,800 feet (3,900 m) above sea level and descends to 1,850 feet (560 m) at

1776-506: A treaty had been concluded and that a "most cordial feeling prevails" between white and Indian. He said that only about 300 warriors, led by Red Cloud, objected to the treaty. The US government expressed optimism that the treaty would be successful in keeping the peace. In December, President Andrew Johnson in his State of the Union address said that the Indians had "unconditionally submitted to our authority and manifested an earnest desire for

1887-644: Is a Class I river from the Yellowstone National Park boundary to the North Dakota border for the purposes of stream access for recreational purposes. The division of water rights to the entire Yellowstone River Basin among Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota, governed by a 1950 compact, was disputed in a 2010 lawsuit brought directly to the U.S. Supreme Court by Montana against Wyoming. Oral argument took place in January 2011. On May 2, 2011,

1998-557: Is considered a long-term risk." Nearly 6,000 people were told not to use municipal water in Glendive due to the elevated levels of cancer-causing benzene found in the Yellowstone River, and in the tap water supplied. Bottled water was provided to their residents. On January 23, 2015, the city water treatment plant was declared decontaminated. City officials declared tap water safe to consume. The Wyoming company from True Companies' Poplar pipeline system involved in this incident has

2109-473: Is normally done by boat. The most productive stretch of water is through Paradise Valley in Montana, especially near Livingston which holds brown , rainbow and native Yellowstone cutthroat trout as well as mountain whitefish . From Billings downstream to the North Dakota border, anglers seek burbot , channel catfish , paddlefish , sauger , smallmouth bass , and walleye . The pallid sturgeon ( Scaphirhynchus albus ), an endangered species endemic to

2220-501: Is present in some streams within the watershed. The exploitation of oil resources and infrastructure in the region has also produced contamination of the river, including by major oil spills . The Yellowstone River is considered to be one of the greatest trout streams of the world and is officially classed as a blue ribbon stream in Montana from the park to the confluence with the Boulder River east of Livingston and from

2331-734: The 7th Cavalry on the expedition that ended in his complete defeat by the Lakota and Cheyenne at the Battle of the Little Bighorn . The army ferried its survivors down the Yellowstone to the Missouri, and to Fort Abraham Lincoln . The US Army returned in force and finally achieved victory over the tribes, forcing them onto reservations. The Lakota and allies were forced from eastern Montana and Wyoming: some bands fled to Canada, while others suffered removal to distant reservations, primarily located in present-day South Dakota and Nebraska west of

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2442-696: The Absaroka Range , on the Continental Divide in southwestern Park County . The river starts where the North Fork and the South Fork of the Yellowstone River converge. The North Fork, the larger of the two forks, flows from Younts Peak . The South Fork flows from the southern slopes of Thorofare Mountain. The Yellowstone River flows northward through Yellowstone National Park , feeding and draining Yellowstone Lake , then dropping over

2553-649: The Bozeman Trail through the heart of the traditional territory of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota. It was the shortest and easiest route from Fort Laramie and the Oregon Trail to the Montana gold fields. From 1864 to 1866, the trail was traversed by about 3,500 miners, emigrant settlers and others, who competed with the Indians for the diminishing resources near the trail. The United States named

2664-671: The Cook–Folsom–Peterson Expedition and the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition . In the early 1870s, the Northern Pacific Railroad attempted to extend rail service along the Yellowstone to Livingston from Bismarck, North Dakota , a route proposed to cross the last of the Lakota buffalo hunting grounds. This route was finally completed in 1883. By the early 20th century, Northern Pacific was providing train service along

2775-587: The Crow Indian reservation ten years later. " ... the most dramatic battles between the army and the Dakota [in the 1860s and 1870s] were on lands those Indians had taken from other tribes since 1851." With peace achieved under the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, the Lakota and their allies were victorious. They gained legal control of the western Powder River country, took down the forts and permanently closed

2886-613: The Department of the Platte , Gen. Philip St. George Cooke , to have ordered the garrison to mount an aggressive winter campaign. On the morning of December 21, 1866, the wood train was attacked again. Carrington ordered a relief party composed of 49 infantrymen of the 18th Infantry, 27 mounted troopers of the 2nd Cavalry, with Captain James Powell to command. Powell had led a similar effort two days earlier and declined to pursue

2997-655: The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation . It flooded the fertile bottomlands of the Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa), damaging their economy and reducing their ability to be self-sufficient. In Montana, the river's waters have been used extensively for irrigation since the 1860s. In its upper reaches, within Yellowstone Park and the mountains of Montana, it is a popular destination for fly fishing . The Yellowstone

3108-577: The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks closed a 200-yard (180 m) section of the Yellowstone River approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Reed Point at the request of the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), after MDT inspectors discovered the bridge that carried Twin Bridges Road (former US-10) over the river was in danger of collapse. The 3-span truss bridge, built in 1931, had shown advanced deterioration of

3219-508: The Powder River Expedition against the Lakota , Cheyenne and Arapaho . Three columns of soldiers numbering 2,675 men, commanded by Patrick E. Connor , moved into the Powder River country. The expedition failed to defeat the Indians in any decisive battles, although it destroyed an Arapaho village at the Battle of the Tongue River . The expedition was a failure in most respects as Lakota Indian resistance to white emigrants traveling

3330-671: The Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park . It flows northeast to its confluence with the Missouri River on the North Dakota side of the border, about 25 miles (40 km) west of Williston . The Yellowstone River watershed is a river basin spanning 37,167 square miles (96,260 km ) across Montana , with minor extensions into Wyoming and North Dakota , toward headwaters and terminus, respectively. The Yellowstone Basin watershed contains

3441-613: The Secretary of the Interior investigated the Fetterman Fight. The Army reached no official conclusion, and Interior exonerated Carrington. After a severe hip injury, Carrington resigned his commission in 1870. He spent the rest of his life defending his actions and condemning Fetterman's alleged disobedience. After the Fetterman Fight, the Indians dispersed into smaller groups for the 1866–1867 winter. Conflict subsided for

Powder River Country - Misplaced Pages Continue

3552-644: The "loafers" took the task. On March 12, 1866, Red Cloud and his Oglala rode into Fort Laramie. Red Cloud committed to remain peacefully at the Fort until such time as the U.S.'s chief negotiator, E. B. Taylor, arrived with presents for the assembled Indians. Crows such as Wolf Bow tried to push the whites to take action against the Indian intruders: "Put the Sioux Indians in their own country, and keep them from troubling us. Don't stop fighting them". When possible,

3663-506: The 100,000 rounds promised him. Carrington's men were armed with muzzle-loading Springfield rifles from the Civil War rather than new, faster-firing Spencer carbines and breech loading rifles. He had been "equipped with the men, arms, and supplies to build and garrison forts, not to wage war with an active army." Carrington did not use Indian scouts, but they could have provided him essential intelligence on his opponents and informed him of

3774-571: The Big Horn, Powder and Tongue rivers is the traditional summer hunting grounds for numerous Native American tribes: Lakota Sioux , Crow, Cheyenne and Cree . Gold was discovered near Virginia City, Montana in the 1860s, and two of the primary routes for accessing the goldfields were the Bozeman Trail and the Bridger Trail both of which followed the Yellowstone for a short length. In the 19th century, European-American settlers depended on

3885-570: The Bozeman Trail became more determined than ever. After the Powder River Expedition, the U.S. attempted to negotiate safe passage for settlers through Indian territory. In autumn 1865, it negotiated several treaties with Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho leaders. The treaties provided monetary compensation to the Indians in exchange for their agreement to withdraw from the overland routes, established and to be established, in

3996-730: The Bozeman Trail from Fort Laramie north through the Powder River country east of the Bighorn Mountains to the Yellowstone , then westward over what is now Bozeman Pass . "It is apparent that the great northern routes of travel to and from Montana, both by land and water, lie through the country of the Crow Indians..." established the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1867. However, the Lakotas "had gradually driven

4107-472: The Bozeman trail. The Crow lost their hunting grounds in the Powder River region to their enemies. With the treaty, "... the [United States] government had in effect betrayed the Crows, who had willingly helped the army to hold the posts for two years". The victory of the Lakota and their allies endured for eight years until the Great Sioux War of 1876 , when the US resumed taking their territories, including

4218-452: The Civil War, but he lacked experience fighting Native Americans . Fetterman disagreed with Carrington's strategy, reportedly saying it was "passive" and boasting that given "80 men," he "would ride through the Sioux nation." Later, Carrington reported these boasts while trying to defend his own reputation. On December 6, a force of Company C, 2nd Cavalry tasked to protect a wood train,

4329-491: The Court held 7-2 (by Justice Thomas, with Justice Scalia dissenting) that Montana had no valid claim that its water supply had been diminished since Wyoming was irrigating the same acreage as always, albeit by a more modern method that returned less runoff to go downstream to Montana. (A subsequent 2011 Supreme Court case, in which Montana asserted ownership of Missouri Basin river bottoms, so as to collect decades of back rent from

4440-432: The Crow or the reverse. The year 1857 is remembered for a battle in which "The Sioux killed ten Crow Indians." In an 1863 fight, "The Crow killed eight Oglala Sioux." The discovery of gold in 1863 around Bannack, Montana was a catalyst for white settlers to find an economical route to the gold fields. While some emigrants went to Salt Lake City and then north to Montana, pioneer John Bozeman and John M Jacobs developed

4551-502: The Crow warned the troops of imminent attacks from hostile Indians and they joined soldiers in fending off attempts to capture horses. The strikes and attacks on the soldiers by the Lakota "... appeared to be a great Sioux war to protect their land. And it was but the Sioux had only recently conquered this land from other tribes and now defending the territory both from other tribes and from the advance of white settlers". Negotiations between Red Cloud and other Native American leaders and

Powder River Country - Misplaced Pages Continue

4662-497: The Crows back upon the headwaters of the Yellowstone", and now they claimed "as a conquest almost the entire country traversed by what is called the Powder River route [Bozeman Trail] ...". The trail passed through the Powder River hunting grounds of the Lakota or Western (Teton) Sioux . A second trail, the Bridger Trail , passed west of the Bighorns but was longer and therefore less favored. The Powder River country encompasses

4773-467: The Fetterman disaster, a civilian, John "Portugee" Philips, volunteered to carry a distress message to Fort Laramie. Carrington's message to General Cooke reported Fetterman's defeat and requested immediate reinforcements and supplies of repeating Spencer carbines . Philips accomplished the 236 miles (380 km) ride to Fort Laramie in four days. A blizzard began on December 22, and Philips rode through

4884-563: The Hayfield and Wagon Box fights discouraged the Indians from mounting additional large-scale attacks, but they continued harassment of the forts along the Bozeman Trail, killing soldiers and civilians. On August 7 the Indians attacked a Union Pacific Railroad train at Plum Creek near present-day Lexington, Nebraska , far from the Powder River Country and in a region considered by the US to be peaceful until then. This alarmed

4995-600: The Indians over the ridge. However, by claiming seniority as a brevet lieutenant colonel, Fetterman asked for and was given command of the relief party. Powell remained behind. Another officer of the 18th, Lt. George W. Grummond, also a vocal critic of Carrington, led the cavalry, which had been leaderless since Lt. Bingham's death in early December. Captain Frederick Brown, until recently the post quartermaster and another of Carrington's critics, and two civilians, James Wheatley and Isaac Fisher, joined Fetterman, bringing

5106-476: The Indians were armed with equally obsolete weaponry. These foot soldiers fought from cover for a short while, until their ammunition ran out and they were overrun. Carrington heard the gunfire and immediately sent out a 40-man support force on foot under Captain Tenedor Ten Eyck. Shortly after, the 30 remaining cavalrymen of Company C were sent dismounted to reinforce Ten Eyck, followed by two wagons,

5217-446: The Lakota. The treaty breaking annexation of the Crow's Powder River area in the 1850s by the Lakotas was the basis for Red Cloud's War against the United States on exactly the same soil a decade later. The United States vs. the Lakota was a conflict between "... two expanding empires, with the most dramatic battles occurring on lands only recently taken by the Sioux from other tribes". In 1865, Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge ordered

5328-466: The Minnetaree name, French trappers in the area referred to the river as Roche Jaune (Yellow Rock), a name adopted by ethnic American, French and other European mountain men until the mid-19th century. Independently, Lewis and Clark recorded the English translation of Yellow Stone for the river after they encountered the Minnetaree in 1805. With expanding settlement by English-speaking people from

5439-530: The Missouri River. Crow warriors had enlisted as scouts with the US Army during the war and the Crow Indian Reservation was established in south-central Montana. The Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation is south of the Yellowstone in Montana. Many of the early expeditions to the area that was later protected as Yellowstone National Park traveled along the Yellowstone River. These included

5550-416: The Oglala and Cheyenne sprang their trap, the soldiers had no escape; none survived. Evidence indicated the cavalry probably had charged the Indians; the bodies of the cavalry's most advanced group were found nearly a mile down the ridge beyond the infantry. Reports from the burial party sent to collect the remains said the soldiers had died in three groups. The most advanced, and probably most effective, were

5661-513: The Plains and mountainous West, including Crow, Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho; Gros Ventre, Mandan, and Arikara; Assiniboine and other nations. Intertribal warfare had been common among the tribes to gain social and economic advantages in furs, slaves, horses, hunting grounds, and other interests. They continued to wage war against each other into the late 19th century, conducting affairs separate from interaction with US forces and representatives. As

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5772-722: The Powder River Country on June 17, 1866. He led 700 soldiers, 300 civilians, including wives and children of soldiers, and civilian contractors; 226 wagons full of supplies, a 35-man regimental band, and 1,000 head of cattle for a supply of fresh meat. The number of soldiers reflected the reductions that had been made in the army since the Civil War . Previous military expeditions against the Sioux by Alfred Sully , Henry Hastings Sibley , and Patrick Edward Connor from 1863 to 1865 had numbered more than 2,000 soldiers. Five hundred of Carrington's men were new recruits and most were infantry, rather than cavalry. He had much less ammunition than

5883-579: The Powder River area. According to him, the Crow "... inhabit the Eastern part of the Rocky Mountains at the head of the Rivière aux Roches Jaunes ( Yellowstone River ) and its Branches, Bighorn River , Tongue River , Powder River and others and Close to the head of the Missouri". From the late 17th century, the Lakota had been moving west into the Plains, enlarging their territory so that by

5994-400: The Powder River country. However, the signatories to these treaties were "Laramie loafers"—Indians who lived near Fort Laramie and lived off handouts. For a treaty to be effective, the Indians who had fought Connor, especially Red Cloud, had to be engaged. No white man could be found to undertake a dangerous mission to find Red Cloud and bring him to Fort Laramie for negotiations, so several of

6105-478: The US army. Red Cloud's War consisted mostly of constant small-scale Indian raids and attacks on the soldiers and civilians at the three forts in the Powder River country, wearing down those garrisons. The largest action of the war, the Fetterman Fight (with 81 men killed on the U.S. side), was the worst military defeat suffered by the U.S. on the Great Plains until the Battle of the Little Bighorn in

6216-473: The United States' representatives began in June 1866. On June 13, however, with the worst possible timing, Colonel Henry B. Carrington commanding the 18th Infantry , arrived at Laramie with the two battalions of the regiment (approximately 1,300 men in 16 companies) and construction supplies. He had orders to establish forts in the Powder River country using the 2nd Battalion of the 18th Infantry. The 3rd Battalion

6327-646: The United States, the English name eventually became the most widely used. The river was explored in 1806 by William Clark as the Lewis and Clark Expedition returned east from the Pacific Coast. Clark's Fork of the river was named after him. Most of the natural features of the Yellowstone Valley not already named by Lewis and Clark were named by pioneer steamboat captain Grant Marsh . Marsh

6438-463: The Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls at the head of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone within the confines of the park. After passing through the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone downstream of the Grand Canyon, the river flows northward into Montana between the northern Absaroka Range and the Gallatin Range in Paradise Valley . The river emerges from the mountains near the town of Livingston , where it turns eastward and northeastward, flowing across

6549-720: The Yellowstone Watershed that have lasted several years. Droughts have occurred in the basin in 1929–42, 1948–62 and 1976–82. The 1977 drought affected most of the western United States and resulted in decreased streamflows in the watershed. The reduced flow resulted in increased dissolved solids concentrations in the basin. Water quality varies across the various rivers in the basin. In mountainous areas, suspended sediment and dissolved solid concentrations are lower than in basin and plain areas. Human activities, including agriculture and mining , along with natural sources, contribute to suspended sedimentation levels in plain areas. In addition, fecal bacteria , salt , and selenium contamination

6660-403: The area was the scene of the Johnson County War . In the early 20th century, the discovery of oil in the area led to the development of the area's oil fields. Coal is also mined. 44°30′N 105°30′W  /  44.500°N 105.500°W  / 44.500; -105.500 Red Cloud%27s War Red Cloud's War (also referred to as the Bozeman War or the Powder River War )

6771-418: The attack in the afternoon. American casualties were two soldiers and one civilian killed and three wounded. The Indians claimed they had lost eight dead; the soldiers estimated they had killed 18 to 23. The Wagon Box Fight near Fort Kearny the next day was similar. Twenty-six soldiers and 6 civilians were escorting a wood-cutting detail outside the fort. The heavy wooden boxes of 14 wagons had been placed on

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6882-404: The best bison range in the west. In 1851, the area in question was included in a treaty with the United States for the first time, namely in the Fort Laramie treaty . This peace agreement defined territories for the tribes, in an effort by the US to establish peace among Native tribes and protect its own settlers. The treaty was signed by representatives of some factions of the numerous tribes of

6993-408: The big game dwindled in the mid-1850s, the Lakota began to enlarge their hunting grounds and encroached and "ignored the boundaries" of the 1851 treaty. They crossed Powder River (the dividing line between the Lakota territory and that of the Crow) and launched their "own program for expansions" westward at the expense of other Natives. For the Crow, the plains near present-day Wyola, Montana became

7104-494: The confluence with the Missouri River in far western North Dakota . The watershed spans 34,167 square miles (88,490 km ). The area contains many lakes, including Yellowstone Lake . There are no storage dams located on the mainstem of the Yellowstone River. However, the watershed contains five major reservoirs built on tributary rivers: Bull Lake , Boysen , Buffalo Bill , Big Horn , Tongue River , and Lake De Smet reservoirs. The river rises in northwestern Wyoming in

7215-402: The crossing of the creek; they deployed in skirmish line and marched over the Ridge in pursuit. They raced into the Peno Valley, where an estimated 1,000–3,000 Indians were concealed. They had fought the soldiers there on December 6. The ambush was not observed from the fort, but around noon, men at the fort heard gunfire, beginning with a few shots followed immediately by sustained firing. When

7326-437: The deaths of 6 soldiers and 28 civilians and the loss of several hundred horses, mules, and cattle. Carrington's hay-cutting machine was also destroyed. In November 1866, Captains William J. Fetterman and James Powell arrived at Fort Phil Kearny from the 18th Infantry's headquarters garrison at Fort Laramie to replace several officers recently relieved of duty. Unlike Carrington, Fetterman had extensive combat experience during

7437-445: The detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mountain whitefish downstream of the collapse. Flooding occurs in the watershed due to snowmelt , rainfall , and intense thunderstorms . In higher elevations, snowmelt can cause flood conditions due to rapid melt in spring and early summer. In lower elevations, regional rainstorms and intense thunderstorms can cause flooding in summer and fall. Severe droughts have occurred in

7548-420: The discovery of gold in 1874 in the Black Hills, however, attracted thousands of miners who invaded the sacred grounds and competed for resources. New armed conflicts broke out with the Lakota Sioux. The new competition and violence led to the Great Sioux War of 1876-77 . The US sent in troops to protect the miners, although they had violated the treaty, and to defeat the Sioux. In 1876, Colonel John Gibbon led

7659-404: The early 19th century, they controlled the mid-Missouri River region. Cheyenne and Lakota warriors committed a carnage on a big Crow camp at Tongue River in 1820, known today as the Tongue River Massacre , making their enmity permanent. In 1843, United States explorer John Frémont said that Lakota had told him that they would soon fight the Crow and take their land, as the Crow country had about

7770-438: The first loaded with hastily loaded ammunition and escorted by another 40 men. Carrington called for an immediate muster of troops to defend the post. Including the wood train detail, the detachments had left only 119 troops remaining inside the fort. Ten Eyck took a roundabout route and reached the ridgetop just as the firing ceased about 12:45 p.m. He sent back a message reporting that he could not see Fetterman's force, but

7881-401: The fort over the winter. Proceeding north, on July 14, Carrington founded Fort Phil Kearny on Piney Creek, near present-day Buffalo, Wyoming . From there two companies of the 18th advanced 91 miles to the northwest, where on August 13, they established a third post, Fort C. F. Smith on the Bighorn River . Given the typically early and severe winters of the high plains, the middle of August

7992-462: The fort's horses. On the morning of August 1, 21 soldiers and 9 civilians were working in the hayfield 3 miles (5 km) from Fort Smith, when several hundred mounted Indians charged them; the soldiers and civilians took cover behind logs in a makeshift fort and in rifle pits. During the course of the day, the Americans repulsed several attacks with their fast-firing rifles. The Indians broke off

8103-426: The fort, they found the bodies of six civilian traders killed by the Indians. On July 20, Red Cloud's warriors attacked a wagon train of 37 soldiers and civilians, killing two, at Crazy Woman Fork of the Powder River. After they attacked other civilian wagon trains, nearly all civilian traffic on the Bozeman Trail ceased. Carrington could only be re-supplied with food and ammunition by heavily guarded wagon trains. In

8214-483: The government. Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River , approximately 692 miles (1,114 km) long, in the Western United States . Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains and high plains of southern Montana and northern Wyoming , and stretching east from

8325-472: The ground in an oval corral near the main cutting site, and most of the soldiers and civilians took refuge there when hundreds of mounted Indian warriors suddenly appeared. Armed with the new breech-loading rifles, the Americans held off the Indians for six hours before being rescued by a relief force from Fort Kearny. Three Americans were killed and two wounded in the corral, and four woodcutters were killed about 1 mi (1,600 m) away. The Wagon Box Fight

8436-485: The journey. Carrington left Fort Kearny on January 23 with his wife and the other women and children, including the pregnant wife of the deceased Lt. Grummond, and braved temperatures as low as −38 °F (−39 °C) during the journey to Fort Laramie. One half of his 60-soldier escort suffered frostbite. General Ulysses S. Grant , commanding the U.S. Army, was not inclined to blame only Carrington. He relieved Cooke on January 9, 1867. Both an Army court of inquiry and

8547-504: The late winter and spring, they were limited in mobility until the grass turned green and their horses could recover their strength after the severe winters of the northern Great Plains . The effectiveness of Indian forces were diminished by their lack of cohesion and organization. The Indians had few guns and little ammunition; only six of the 81 soldiers who were later killed in the Fetterman Fight had gunshot wounds, and two of those may have shot themselves accidentally. Their basic weapon

8658-940: The migratory hunting and warrior societies of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne , and Arapaho, had advantages in mobility, horsemanship, knowledge of the country, guerrilla hit-and-run tactics, and the capability to concentrate their forces to achieve numerical superiority. They also had many weaknesses as a fighting force, especially in organization and weapons. During winter and spring, the scarcity of natural resources resulted in their living in small, scattered autonomous groups. In late summer and fall they congregated into large encampments for ceremonies and to make political decisions and plan collective action. Bands were highly decentralized and individual Indians felt little obligation to obey group decisions. The Lakota consisted of seven independent bands, each made up of numerous sub-bands, all of whom operated independently. The Cheyenne had

8769-470: The mouth of Rosebud creek near Rosebud, Montana to the North Dakota border. The lack of dams along the river provides for excellent trout habitat from high inside Yellowstone Park, downstream through Gardiner , the Paradise Valley, Livingston, and to Big Timber , a stretch of nearly 200 miles (320 km). The Yellowstone varies in width from 74 feet (23 m) to 300 feet (91 m), so fishing

8880-516: The muzzle-loading muskets; also, they could be easily reloaded by men lying in a prone position. The supply of the new Springfields was perhaps the biggest change in the conflict since the Fetterman Fight. They allowed the soldiers to reload quickly, ending the Indian tactic of charging defenses before the soldiers could reload. With the new rifles, the soldiers could also remain behind cover while reloading. The soldiers at Fort Smith were tasked with protecting civilians cutting hay for winter food for

8991-411: The negotiations and departed Fort Laramie. Negotiations continued with a reduced number of Indian leaders. The US offered a substantial inducement for their cooperation: 70,000 dollars per year for the Lakota and 15,000 dollars per year for the Cheyenne. The Indians may have learned that the US often failed to deliver on its promises in treaties for annuities. On June 29, Taylor reported to Washington that

9102-584: The northern Great Plains past the city of Billings . East of Billings, it is joined by the Bighorn River . Farther downriver, it is joined by the Tongue near Miles City , and then by the Powder in eastern Montana. It flows into the Missouri River near Buford, North Dakota just upstream from Lake Sakakawea . The latter is a reservoir formed in 1953 by the Garrison Dam , built on the Missouri River within

9213-604: The numerous rivers (the Bighorn , Rosebud , Tongue and Powder ) that flow northeastward from the Bighorn Mountains to the Yellowstone. The Cheyenne had been the first tribe in this area, followed by bands of Lakota. As more of the northern plains became occupied by white settlement, this region became the last unspoiled hunting ground of the Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho and several of the seven bands of

9324-503: The pipeline company shut down the pipeline at 11 a.m. in effort to prevent further environmental hazards. The company stated that 300–1,200 oil barrels (equivalent to 12,600 to 50,400 US gallons) were spilled into the river. State officials estimated, on the other hand, up to 50,000 US gallons (190,000 L; 42,000 imp gal) of spilled oil. Benzene , a carcinogen , was found in ten to fifteen parts per billion. An EPA official said that "anything above five parts per billion

9435-546: The region in mid-July, he tried to prepare for winter. Given the severity of the Wyoming winters, this was reasonable, but many of his junior officers, anxious for battle, were infuriated. Most were Civil War veterans, but they were unfamiliar with Indian fighting and believed the warriors could be easily defeated. On July 16, a group of Cheyenne, including Dull Knife and Two Moons , visited Carrington at Fort Reno and proclaimed their desire for peace. They said that Red Cloud

9546-415: The relief force up to 81 officers and men. The infantry marched out first; the cavalry had to retrieve its mounts before it could follow and catch up. Colonel Carrington said he ordered Fetterman not to cross Lodge Trail Ridge, where relief from the fort would be difficult, and that he told Grummond to remind Fetterman of his order. Upon leaving the fort, Fetterman, instead of marching down the wood road to

9657-483: The relief of the wood train, turned north and crossed the Sullivant Hills toward Lodge Trail Ridge. Within a few minutes of their departure, a Lakota decoy party including Oglala warrior Crazy Horse appeared on Lodge Trail Ridge. Fetterman took the bait; several of the warriors stood on their ponies and insultingly waggled their bare buttocks at the troopers. Fetterman and his company were joined by Grummond at

9768-570: The river for transportation, and generally entered the region by riverboat . Native American anger at settler encroachment on their hunting grounds led to Red Cloud's War . The conflict was settled with the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, by which the US granted the territory of the Black Hills and the Powder River Country to the Lakota people. This region included the drainages of the Big Horn, Powder and Tongue rivers. But

9879-427: The river to the north entrance of the park near Gardiner. An ExxonMobil pipeline runs from Silver Tip, to Billings, Montana. On Friday, July 1, 2011, it ruptured about 10 miles (16 km) west of Billings at about 10:40 p.m. The resulting spill leaked an estimated 1,500 barrels of oil, equivalent to 63,000 US gallons (240,000 L; 52,000 imp gal), into the Yellowstone River for 56 minutes before it

9990-619: The river. On September 1, 2016, the agency reopened two stretches of the river. The first stretch, from the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park to Carbella, Montana, was open to non-fishing recreation only to allow the fish population to recover. The second stretch, from Carbella, Montana to Laurel, Montana , was opened to all uses. Peak Yellowstone River temperatures exceeded 68 °F (20 °C) for 18 straight days from July 17 to August 4. Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks notes that trout and whitefish prefer water temperatures close to 55 °F (13 °C). On January 26, 2021,

10101-431: The sacred Black Hills. In a 1980 Supreme Court case, United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians , the court ruled that tribal lands covered under the treaty had been taken illegally by the US government, and the tribe was owed compensation plus interest. As of 2018 this amounted to more than $ 1 billion. As early as 1805, a Crow camp allowed French-Canadian fur trader François Antoine Larocque to follow it across parts of

10212-678: The season. Wessells and his men at Fort Phil Kearny had a difficult time through the winter. Food was short, most of the horses and mules died from lack of forage, and scurvy was common among the soldiers. He cancelled plans for a punitive winter campaign against the Indians. In April, Indians began raids along the Oregon Trail in the North Platte River valley. Journalist Henry M. Stanley , (later achieving fame in Africa), said, "Murders are getting to be so tame from their plurality, that no one pays any attention to them." Most serious

10323-435: The soldier's Springfield Model 1861 muskets had an effective range of 300 yards or more. The Springfield musket, however, had a much lower rate of fire than the bow, offsetting to an extent its range advantage. Carrington and his caravan reached Fort Reno on June 28, and left two companies (about 100 men) there to relieve the two companies of the 5th U.S. Volunteers (nicknamed the " Galvanized Yankees "), who had garrisoned

10434-463: The soldiers at the fort, warning of upcoming attacks. On July 23, the fort was reinforced by two companies of infantry under Lt. Col. Luther P. Bradley, bringing the complement of the fort up to 350 soldiers. Most importantly, the reinforcements were armed with breech-loading Springfield Model 1866 rifles, replacing the muskets the soldiers had previously been issued. The new rifles had a rate of fire of 8 to 10 shots per minute compared to 3 to 4 for

10545-518: The structural members. Of particular concern, one of the bridge piers had lost about half of its support capacity due to bridge scour undermining the pier footings. MDT awarded a $ 2 million emergency demolition contract on March 11, 2021. By the end of April 2021, construction crews had safely dismantled the failing structure, and the river reopened on May 26, 2021. On June 13, 2022, Yellowstone National Park officials announced all park entrances were closed to visitors, citing "record flooding events" and

10656-442: The two civilians, armed with 16-shot Henry repeating rifles , and a small number of cavalrymen who had dismounted and taken cover in the rocks. Up the slope behind them were the bodies of most of the retreating cavalrymen, armed with new 7-shot Spencer carbines , but encumbered by their horses and lacking cover. Further up the slope were Fetterman, Brown, and the infantrymen. They had nearly obsolete Civil War muzzle-loading muskets;

10767-435: The upper stretches of the Yellowstone. Some scholars think that the river was instead named after yellow-colored sandstone bluffs on the lower Yellowstone. The Cheyenne , who lived in the areas of present-day Billings and Yellowstone County , called it Mo'éheo'hé'e (also Yellow Rocks River). The Crow , who lived along the upper Yellowstone in southern Montana, called it E-chee-dik-karsh-ah-shay (Elk River). Translating

10878-595: The valley was filled with groups of Indians taunting him to come down. Ten Eyck suffered severe criticism for not marching straight to battle, though doing so would have resulted only in the destruction of his force, too. Ten Eyck reached and recovered the bodies of Fetterman's men. Because of continuing Indian threat, they could not recover those of the cavalry for two days. By that time, Fetterman and his entire 81-man detachment were dead. Carrington's official report said that Fetterman and Brown shot each other to avoid capture. Army autopsies recorded Fetterman's death wound as

10989-415: The war after Red Cloud , a prominent Oglala Lakota chief allied with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. The United States army had built forts in response to attacks on civilian travelers, using a treaty right to "establish roads, military and other post". All three forts were located in 1851 Crow Indian territory and accepted by these Indians. The Crow believed they guarded their interests best by cooperating with

11100-479: The weeks and months that followed, the Indians repeatedly attacked the wagon trains that sallied out of Fort Kearny to cut construction timber in a forest six miles away. For defense, the wood trains were large, consisting of two parallel lines of 24 to 40 wagons guarded by mounted soldiers on either flank. In the event of an attack, the wagons were quickly drawn into a corral for defense. Fifteen Indian attacks near Fort Kearny between July 16 and September 27 resulted in

11211-578: Was an armed conflict between an alliance of the Lakota , Northern Cheyenne , and Northern Arapaho peoples against the United States and the Crow Nation that took place in the Wyoming and Montana territories from 1866 to 1868. The war was fought over control of the western Powder River Country in present day north-central Wyoming and Montana . In 1863, European Americans had blazed

11322-411: Was attacked by Red Cloud. Commanding officer Second Lieutenant Horace S. Bingham was among those killed as he had followed them as they retreated over Lodge Trail Ridge and been overwhelmed. Carrington worried about his officers' tendency to follow blindly such Indian decoy parties. Fetterman was outraged by what he considered the ineffectiveness of Carrington's leadership. He understood the commander of

11433-529: Was hailed at the time as the "greatest Indian battle in the world," with Indian casualties fancifully estimated at up to 1,500. Historian George E. Hyde has said the Indians had 6 killed and 6 wounded and did not regard the fight as a defeat, as they captured a large number of mules and horses. Many years later Red Cloud claimed not to remember the Wagon Box Fight, although given the large number of Indians engaged that seems unlikely. The outcomes of

11544-479: Was nearby with 500 warriors. Two white civilians were killed that day, and the Lakota campaign against the forts along the Trail began the next day. Red Cloud's warriors infiltrated the picket lines near the fort and stampeded 175 horses and mules. About 200 soldiers pursued the Indians in a running 15 mile fight, attempting unsuccessfully to recover the animals and suffering two men killed and three wounded. Returning to

11655-547: Was put on hold for one month or more on February 3, 2015 until the ice melts. Montana Department of Environmental Quality was monitoring an area spanning a 90-mile (140 km) stretch of the Yellowstone, from the spill site downstream to a bridge just across the North Dakota border. On August 19, 2016 the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department indefinitely closed the river and its tributaries from Gardiner, Montana to Laurel, Montana to all recreational activity. The 183-mile (295 km) closure resulted from

11766-542: Was selected by the Army for an exploratory expedition in 1873 on his riverboat Key West . The team was commanded by Brevet Brig. Gen. George Alexander Forsyth . Marsh kept a detailed log during the journey. The names he bestowed were recorded by an expedition representative of the War Department and applied to official maps; they include the following: The Yellowstone River had long been an important artery of transportation for Native Americans . The region around

11877-546: Was shut down. As a precaution against a possible explosion, officials in Laurel, Montana evacuated about 140 people on Saturday just after midnight, allowing them to return at 4 a.m. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer stated that "The parties responsible will restore the Yellowstone River". According to the Bridger Pipeline LLC, an oil spill occurred near Glendive on January 17, 2015, at 10 a.m. In response,

11988-518: Was the Indian threat to the construction of the first transcontinental railroad routed through southern Wyoming. Although army forces had been augmented along the Bozeman Trail and at Fort Laramie in the wake of the Fetterman disaster, resources were still insufficient to take the offensive against the Indians. Peace negotiations conducted by the friendly Lakota chieftain Spotted Tail with Red Cloud initially seemed promising, but proved to be only

12099-491: Was the bow and arrow. The short (usually less than four feet long) and stout Indian bow was designed for short-distance hunting from horseback. Although deadly at short range, it probably had less than one-half the range of the English longbow , which was effective to 200 yards (180 m). Indian warriors lacked the capability to do significant damage to their opponents at ranges of more than 100 yards (90 m). By contrast,

12210-545: Was to garrison posts along the old Oregon Trail , now the Platte Road. Carrington chose the 2nd Battalion because it contained 220 veteran soldiers consolidated after the American Civil War . When Carrington appeared at the negotiations the following day, Red Cloud refused to acknowledge him and accused the U.S. of bad faith in the negotiations. Red Cloud, They Fear Even His Horses , and others withdrew from

12321-444: Was very late in the year to begin constructing forts, but Carrington's march had been slowed by having to transport a large mechanical "grass-cutting machine." With replacements and reinforcements, Carrington's total force did not much exceed 700, of whom 400 were located at Fort Kearny. Carrington was an engineer and political appointee, inexperienced in combat. He spent manpower resources building superior fortifications. Arriving in

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