Battle of the Rose Bud
June 17th, 1876
The Battle of Rosebud Creek took place about a week before and approximately 25 miles south east of the Little Bighorn battle site. General Cook and his column were on their way to meet Custer but Cook never made it to Custer's location due to a six-hour skirmish that depleted his men of valuable resources. Crook retreated south.
"Concerned for his wounded and short on supplies, Crook retraced his steps to his camp on Goose Creek, near Sheridan, Wyoming, and remained there immobile for seven weeks awaiting reinforcements.." ~wikipidia
"Winchester .44-40-Caliber Cartridge Case
A single .44-40-caliber cartridge case (#43) was identified. It is a brass center-fire cartridge case with no headstamp. It is primed with a Boxer type primer. The firing pin imprint and extractor and ejector marks are consistent with a round being fired in a Winchester Model 1873. The lack of a headstamp is consistent with early Winchester cartridge production (Shuey 1999: preface). "Analysis of Ammunition Components from the Rosebud Battlefield and Battle Butte Sites". (Scott - 2013)
"Rosebud Battlefield Firearm Observations
Analysis of the battle-related Rosebud ammunition components from the four collections yielded identification of the use of 11 Henry or Winchester Model 1866 firearms, one Winchester Model 1873 rifle...In addition...one .44-caliber Henry were cross-matched to guns that were used at the Little Bighorn Battle on June 25 and 26, 1876. "Analysis of Ammunition Components from the Rosebud Battlefield and Battle Butte Sites". (Scott - 2013)
Add another 73' to the list now for a total of 11-12 rifles thus far used during the campaign.
Five .44-220 grain-caliber bullets were found, two in the Gap area, one across from the buffalo jump on the west side of the valley, and one in the same area, but mid valley. All exhibit low impact velocity deformation suggesting they were near terminal velocity when they hit. The 44 caliber conical bullets were fired from Henry rifles, Model 1866 Winchesters, or Model 1873 Winchester rifles. Most likely they were fired by warriors. "Systematic Metal Detector Survey and Assessment of Fire Effects of the Rosebud Battlefield State Park, Montana" - Scott 2016
It is my understanding that no 44-40s were excavated by Scott's team but only analyzed at some point for the University of Montana.
Looking at this battle area (The Gap and Kobold Buffalo Jump) on google earth, the shots described above could range from 200-500 yards either south east down into the Gap, north east across the Gap, north into another valley or south onto the next ridge. Such distances would explain the low impact damage described by Dr Scott. The yellow thumb-tacks represent 220gr lead bullets fired from either Henry or Winchester 66 rifles...with a slim chance from a Winchester 73' even though we know there was at least one 73' present. Troops advanced up a ridge-line on the north east side of the Gap, across Buffalo Jump and the Gap then pushed the warriors back up Crooks Ridge all the way to Conical Hill. Not sure how this correlates to the artifacts recovered but Scott suggests the following...
"One possible interpretation of the cartridge case distribution is that the west southwest position had two warriors who were firing on some of Crook’s troops as they moved north and west to drive the warriors from the hilltop. Henry 1 fired at least two rounds and Henry 2 fired at least one round. As the warriors fell back Henry 1 fired and/or extracted a spent round from the gun as he moved across the hilltop to the west northwest position. This second position is just below and north of the edge of the hill and would have afforded the two warriors with some protection from incoming fire. Here Henry 1 fired at least three rounds and Henry 2 at least one round before the position was abandoned." - Scott
The above left and left maps show the locations of two Henry rifles used. Henry 1 and Henry 2 along with 220gr bullet impact locations. This may or may not be from these Henry rifles but shows the possible direction and distances of the shooting as Scott explained. There was at least one Winchester 73' out there somewhere. Looks like the Warriors were being pushed back to the North West and eventually fled back to the Little Bighorn Village.
Items used by the author to acquire the information for this page.