View source for Battle of Powder River

{{Short description|1876 battle of the Big Horn Expedition}}
{{other uses|Powder River Battle (disambiguation){{!}}Powder River Battle}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=Battle of Powder River
|image=PR120 CloseUpC.jpg
|caption=The Powder River looking north on the battlefield
|partof=the [[Big Horn Expedition]], [[Great Sioux War of 1876]]
|date={{Start date and age|1876|3|17|p=1}}
|place=[[Powder River (Montana)|Powder River]], Montana Territory
45 05 18 N 105 51 28 W
Southwest of [[Broadus, Montana|Broadus]] in present-day [[Powder River County, Montana]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/battlefield/reynolds-battlefield.html#nearby |title=Reynolds Battlefield |publisher=Visitmt.com |date= |accessdate=2019-02-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mtphotos/powderriver/powderriver-reynolds-battlefield-monument.htm |title=Reynolds Battlefield Monument, Powder River County, Montana |publisher=Rootsweb.ancestry.com |date= |accessdate=2019-02-02}}</ref>
|result=Native American victory
|combatant1=[[Northern Cheyenne]]<br>[[Oglala Lakota|Oglala Lakota Sioux]]
|combatant2={{flag|United States|1867}}
|commander1=[[Two Moons|Two Moon]]<br>[[He Dog]]<br>[[Little Wolf]]<br>[[Wooden Leg]]
|commander2={{flagicon|United States|1867}} [[Joseph J. Reynolds]]<br>{{flagicon|United States|1867}} [[Anson Mills]]<br>{{flagicon|United States|1867}} [[Henry E. Noyes]]<br>{{flagicon|United States|1867}} [[Alexander Moore (soldier)|Alexander Moore]]
|strength1=100–250
|strength2=384
|casualties1=3 killed, several people later died of exposure<br />3 wounded
|casualties2=4 killed <br> 6 wounded <br> 66 frostbitten<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tJsdAQAAIAAJ&dq=Killed+March+17,+1876+Powder+River,+Montana&pg=PA29 1876 Annual Report of the Secretary of War. p.29]</ref>
|coordinates=
|notes=
}}
{{Campaignbox Big Horn Expedition}}
{{Campaignbox 1876 North Plains Campaign}}
The '''Battle of Powder River''', also known as the '''Reynolds Battle''', occurred on March 17, 1876, in [[Montana Territory]], United States, as part of the [[Big Horn Expedition]]. The attack on a [[Northern Cheyenne]] and [[Oglala|Oglala Lakota]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] encampment by Colonel [[Joseph J. Reynolds]] initiated the [[Great Sioux War of 1876]]. Although destroying a large amount of Indian property, the attack was poorly carried out and solidified Northern [[Cheyenne]] and [[Lakota people|Lakota]] [[Sioux]] resistance to the U.S. attempt to force them to sell the [[Black Hills]] and live on a reservation.<ref>Greene, Jerome A. ''Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877'', Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994, p. xvi</ref>

==Background==
[[File:John J. Reynolds cph.3b20677.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Brevet Major General, Colonel Joseph Jones Reynolds]]
The [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)]] granted the Lakota Sioux and their northern Cheyenne allies a reservation, including the [[Black Hills]], in [[Dakota Territory]] and a large area of "unceded territory" in what became [[Montana]] and [[Wyoming]]. Both areas were for the exclusive use of the Indians, and whites, except for government officials, were forbidden to trespass. In 1874, the discovery of gold in the Black Hills caused the United States to attempt to buy the Black Hills from the Sioux.  The U.S. ordered all bands of Lakota and Cheyenne to come to the Indian agencies on the reservation by January 31, 1876, to negotiate the sale. Some of the bands did not comply and when the deadline of January 31 passed, the [[Commissioner of Indian Affairs]], [[John Q. Smith]], wrote that "without the receipt of any news of [[Sitting Bull]]'s submission, I see no reason why... military operations against him should not commence at once." On February 8, 1876, General [[Phillip Sheridan]] telegraphed Generals [[George Crook|George R. Crook]] and [[Alfred Howe Terry]], ordering them to undertake winter campaigns against the "hostiles."<ref>Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Secretary of the Interior, January 31st, 1876; Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of War, February 1st, 1876; Colonel Drum to Gen. Terry and Gen. Crook, February 8th, 1876, National Archives.</ref>

In bitterly cold weather, [[Brigadier General]] [[George Crook]], commander of the [[Department of the Platte]], marched north with the [[Big Horn Expedition]] from [[Fort Fetterman]] near present-day [[Douglas, Wyoming]], on March 1. General Crook's objective was to strike against the Indians while they were at their most vulnerable in winter camps. [[Sitting Bull]], [[Crazy Horse]], and their followers were thought to be on the [[Powder River (Montana)|Powder]], [[Tongue River (Montana)|Tongue]], or Rosebud rivers. Crook's force consisted of 883 men, including United States [[Cavalry]] and [[Infantry]], civilian packers, scouts, guides, and a newspaper reporter.<ref>Collins, Jr., Charles D. ''Atlas of the Sioux Wars'', Second edition, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2006, Map 14, 15</ref>  Crook's highly valued chief scout was [[Frank Grouard]], who had lived among the Lakota and spoke their language.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vestal|first=Stanley|title=New Sources of Indian History 1850-1891|publisher=Read Books |year=2008|page=339|isbn=978-1-4437-2631-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=flT9DcDFY-sC&q=Frank+Grouard&pg=PA339|accessdate=2009-04-25}}</ref>

The soldiers had to heat their forks in the coals of their fires to prevent the tines from freezing to their tongues. A [[blizzard]] on March 5 deposited over a foot of snow and significantly delayed Crook's progress. Temperatures fell so low that the [[thermometers]] of the day could not record the cold. Crook's column slowly followed the [[Bozeman Trail]] north to [[Fort Reno (Wyoming)|Old Fort Reno]], reaching it on March 5. There, the expedition established its supply base, leaving the wagons and Infantry accompanying the column, Companies C, and I, of the 4th U.S. Infantry, under Captain Edwin M. Coates. The five Cavalry battalions then marched to the head of Otter Creek. On March 16, scout Frank Grouard saw two Indian warriors observing the soldiers. He identified them as [[Oglala Lakota|Oglala]] Lakota and believed that the camp of Crazy Horse might be nearby. This was reported to Crook, and at 5 p.m. he divided his command and sent [[Colonel]] Joseph J. Reynolds (a [[West Point]] classmate of President [[Ulysses S. Grant]], and a combat veteran of both the [[Mexican–American War]], and [[American Civil War|Civil War]]) on a night march with about 384 men, with rations for one day, following the trail of the two Oglalas southeast toward Powder River. Crook kept with him about 300 men. That night Frank Grouard and the other scouts followed the two Oglala Sioux's trail in the snow. It led right to what they were looking for, an Indian village, which they described as containing more than 100 lodges on the west bank of Powder River. The scouts immediately reported this information back to Colonel Reynolds.<ref>Porter, Joseph C. ''Paper Medicine Man: John Gregory Bourke and his American West'', Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986, pp. 30-32</ref>

==Plan of attack==
In frigid weather, Reynolds' plan was for one battalion, Companies I and K, of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry under the command of Captain [[Henry E. Noyes]], to descend the steep hills south of where the second field hospital would be established to the valley floor. One company, (K) under Captain James R. Egan, was to attack the southern end of the village. The other company (I), under Captain Noyes, was to capture the Indian pony herd estimated at 1,000 animals, grazing and spread out through the valley on both sides of the river. A second battalion, Companies E and M of the 3rd U.S. Cavalry, under the command of Captain [[Anson Mills]], was to attack the village simultaneously from the west, and the remaining Cavalry battalion, Company E, of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, and Company F of the 3rd U.S. Cavalry, under the command of Captain [[Alexander Moore (soldier)|Alexander Moore]], was to occupy the ridges north and west of the village, to prevent the Indians from escaping in that direction.

==Battle==
The village, however, was further north than anticipated, with the result that only Captain James R. Egan's 2nd Cavalry Company K of 47 men, accompanied by Second Lieutenant [[John Gregory Bourke|John G. Bourke]] and newspaper reporter [[Robert E. Strahorn]], charged into the village from the south, while the other companies were delayed by the distance and rough terrain.<ref>Porter, pp. 32–35</ref>

According to Captain Egan's watch, the battle began at 9:05&nbsp;a.m. on the morning of Friday, March 17. The Indians, now identified as Northern Cheyenne and a few Oglala Sioux, were surprised. [[Wooden Leg]], an eighteen-year-old Cheyenne warrior in the village remembered the attack: "Women screamed. Children cried for their mothers. Old people tottered and hobbled away to get out of reach of the bullets singing among the lodges. Braves seized whatever weapons they had and tried to meet the attack."

The Cheyennes hurried their women and children to shelter while retreating northward out of the village, then took positions on the bluffs overlooking the village.  They then directed fire toward the soldiers now in the village. Several cavalrymen of Company K, 2nd Cavalry were wounded early in the battle and a number of the company's horses were killed or wounded. Captain Egan was reinforced in the village by several more companies.  When Colonel Reynolds arrived, the soldiers were still under fire.  He ordered everything in the village destroyed, including dried buffalo meat.  During this time, Privates Peter Dowdy of Company E, 3rd Cavalry and George Schneider of Company K, 2nd Cavalry were killed.  The village and supplies proved difficult to burn, and when fire reached the gunpowder and ammunition stored in the tipis, they exploded. First Lieutenant John Gregory Bourke, General Crook's aide-de-camp, commented on the richness of the goods in the village: "bales of fur, buffalo robes, and hides decorated with porcupine quills". Some soldiers went against orders and took buffalo robes from the village, as they were freezing. Bourke later estimated that 66 men suffered from frostbite, including himself.<ref>Porter, pp. 34–36</ref>

[[File:PR120 CloseUpC.jpg|thumb|right|500px|The Indian village area is slightly west (left) of the upper left side of the photo. Company I, 2nd Cavalry gathered Indian ponies on both sides of the river, and the surviving soldiers withdrew from the battlefield across the frozen stream from left to right. Photograph taken from hospital bluff looking north, October 16, 2012.]]

Throughout the day, soldiers gathered in over 700 Indian ponies. The battle had lasted five hours when, at approximately 2:00&nbsp;p.m., with the destruction of the village complete, Reynolds ordered his soldiers to withdraw, and the men made their way across to the east side of the frozen Powder River. Private Michael I. McCannon of Company F, 3rd Cavalry was killed around this time.  During the retreat, Private Lorenzo E. Ayers of Company M, 3rd Cavalry, was seriously wounded in his right arm and leg, and was left behind in the Indian village. Although saddler [[Jeremiah J. Murphy]] of Company F, and blacksmith [[Albert Glawinski]] of Company M, 3rd Cavalry attempted to rescue Ayers, he was subsequently "cut limb to limb" by vengeful Indians.  By the end of the battle, four soldiers had been killed and six wounded.  For their actions, Jeremiah J. Murphy and Albert Glawinski would later be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on October 16, 1877. Hospital Steward [[William C. Bryan]] would also be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the battle.

The last action of the battle took place about {{convert|1|mi|km}} south of Hospital bluff, when First Lieutenant William C. Rawolle, commanding the rear guard, Company E, 2nd Cavalry, dismounted eight of his men in a defensive skirmish line. Lieutenant Rawolle's line remained in place for only a short time, although First Sergeant William Land reported that during this time he shot an Indian warrior from his horse. In Reynolds' premature haste to withdraw, he left behind the bodies of three dead soldiers, with one in the village, and two at the second field Hospital as well as the badly wounded Private Ayers. The soldiers withdrew approximately {{convert|21|mi|km}} south that afternoon and evening, crossing and recrossing the frozen Powder River as needed, up the river to the confluence of the Powder River and Lodge Pole Creek (now called Clear Creek), arriving there after 9:00&nbsp;p.m. in an exhausted condition. However, General Crook with the other four companies and the pack train was not there, as he had camped ten miles to the northeast and had failed to inform Colonel Reynolds of his location.<ref>"Reynold's Attack on Crazy Horse's Village on Powder River, March 17, 1876" [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nalakota/wotw/military/reynoldsattackcrazyhorsevillage_wotw043034.html], accessed 8 Jan 2013</ref>

The Cheyenne recaptured over 500 of their horses the next morning, March 18, as no guards for them had been posted. It was not until approximately 1:30&nbsp;p.m. that day that Reynolds finally rendezvoused with General Crook. The reunited column returned to [[Fort Fetterman]], [[Wyoming Territory]], arriving on March 26, 1876.<ref>Bourke, John Gregory ''On the Border with Crook'', Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971, pp. 279–280</ref>

Although the Cheyenne and Lakota only suffered several warriors killed, and two to three wounded during the battle, they lost most of their property, and in the words of the warrior Wooden Leg: "The Cheyennes were rendered very poor. I had nothing left but the clothing I had on&nbsp;... My eagle wing bone flute, my medicine pipe, my rifle, everything else of mine, were gone." The women and children walked several days to reach the [[Oglala Sioux]] village of [[Crazy Horse]] farther north near the [[Little Powder River]], where they were given shelter and food.  On the way, several Cheyennes froze to death. The army stated that the village consisted of about 104 lodges, including tipis and wikiups, while Cheyenne accounts said the village had about 40–65 tipis, and about 50 other structures. The number of warriors involved in the engagement was from 100 to 250, while there were around 384 United States soldiers and civilians present.<ref>Porter, p. 36; Green, pp. 3, 7, 12</ref>

==Aftermath==
Colonel Reynolds was accused of dereliction of duty for failing to properly support the first charge with his entire command; for burning the captured supplies, food, blankets, buffalo robes, and ammunition instead of keeping them for army use; and most of all, for losing hundreds of the captured horses. In January 1877, his [[court-martial]] at [[Cheyenne, Wyoming|Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory]] found Reynolds guilty of all three charges. He was sentenced to suspension from rank and command for one year. His friend and West Point classmate, President Ulysses S. Grant remitted the sentence, but Joseph J. Reynolds never served again. He retired on disability leave on June 25, 1877, exactly one year after the culminating battle of the Great Sioux War at the [[Battle of Little Bighorn|Little Bighorn]]. Crook's and Reynolds' failed expedition and their inability to seriously damage the Lakota and Cheyenne at Powder River probably encouraged Indian resistance to the demands of the United States.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Vaughn|first1=J. W.|title=The Reynolds Campaign On Powder River|date=1961|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press}}</ref>

==Medals of honor==
Three [[Medal of Honor|Medals of Honor]] were awarded to soldiers for their actions during the battle:
* [[Hospital Steward]] [[William C. Bryan]], temporarily attached to Company K, [[2nd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|2nd United States Cavalry Regiment]], "...having his horse killed under him. He continued to fight on foot, and under severe fire and without assistance conveyed two wounded comrades to places of safety, saving them from capture."
* [[Saddle]]r (Private) [[Jeremiah J. Murphy]], Company F, 3rd United States Cavalry Regiment, "...for trying to save a wounded comrade." 
* [[Blacksmith]] (Private) [[Albert Glawinski]], Company M, 3rd United States Cavalry Regiment, "During a retreat Blacksmith Glavinski selected exposed positions, he was part of the rear guard."
<gallery>
William C Bryan.jpg|William C. Bryan
Jeremiah_Murphy.jpeg|Saddler Jeremiah Murphy
</gallery>

==Casualties==
'''Native Americans'''

[[Killed in action]]
* Eagle Chief, Northern Cheyenne
* Whirlwind, Northern Cheyenne
* Unknown warrior, Oglala Lakota
* several women and children died of exposure following the battle

[[Wounded in action]]
* Braided Locks, Northern Cheyenne, "one cheek furrowed by a bullet"
* Unknown warrior, Northern Cheyenne, "forearm badly shattered"
* Unknown elderly woman, Oglala Lakota, "left in the village"

'''United States Army'''

Killed in action
* Private George Schneider, Company K, 2nd Cavalry
* Private Peter Dowdy, Company E, 3rd Cavalry
* Private Michael I. McCannon, Company F, 3rd Cavalry
* Private Lorenzo E. Ayers, Company M, 3rd Cavalry

Wounded in action
* First Lieutenant William C. Rawolle, Company E, 2nd Cavalry
* Sergeant Charles Kaminski, Company M, 3rd Cavalry
* Corporal John Lang, Company E, 2nd Cavalry
* Farrier Patrick Goings, Company K, 2nd Cavalry
* Private John Droege, Company K, 2nd Cavalry
* Private Edward Eagan, Company K, 2nd Cavalry

==Battlefield==
In the early 20th century, a schoolteacher named Frank Theodore Kelsey filed a desert claim for land along the Powder River, land that encompassed the Reynolds battle site. Kelsey would later become a Montana state senator, and helped to get the soldiers' monument placed near the village site in 1934, but died in 1937. Since then, the battlefield has changed hands over five times. Now, the Powder River / Reynolds Battlefield, located on private land at [45 05 18 N 105 51 28 W], is accessible by [[Montana Secondary Highway 391]] (Moorhead Road), along the [[Powder River (Montana)|Powder River]], in [[Powder River County, Montana]]. It is about {{convert|1|mi|km}} north of the present-day unincorporated community of [[Moorhead, Montana]], and about {{convert|34|mi|km}} southwest of the present-day town of [[Broadus, Montana]].

==Monuments==
In 1919, a historian named Walter M. Camp learned that while the four soldiers killed in the battle had been left on the field, no headstones had been erected. With help from Major H. R. Lemly and General Anson Mills (Mills had commanded the 1st Battalion, 3rd Cavalry at the Battle), headstones were prepared by the Quartermaster Corps and shipped by train to [[Arvada, Wyoming]] on the Powder River.

In a January 1920 address by Camp to the Order of the Indian Wars in [[Washington, D.C.]], he stated that the headstones would "be placed on the battlefield next summer." Despite this, the headstones would remain in storage in Wyoming for another 14 years.

In October 1933, Camp's 1920 address was reprinted in "Winners of the West," and came to the attention of D.C. Wilhelm of [[Gillette, Wyoming]], who informed the writer that the headstones were still in storage. In early 1934, with help from the American Legion, Montana State Senator Frank T. Kelsey, and others, a stone and concrete monument embedded with the soldiers' headstones was placed on the Powder River Battlefield. The monument was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1934, and it still stands today.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Brown|first1=W. C.|title=Reynold's Attack On Crazy Horse's Village On Powder River, March 17, 1876|website=rootsweb.ancestry.com |url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nalakota/wotw/military/reynoldsattackcrazyhorsevillage_wotw043034.html|accessdate=1 March 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Flag of Northern Cheyenne.svg|thumb|right|150px|Northern Cheyenne flag, painted on the Cheyenne monument]]

Across the county road from the soldiers' monument is the Cheyenne monument, a sandstone boulder painted with the flag of the Northern Cheyenne tribe.

==Order of battle==
'''Native Americans''', Chief's Old Bear, [[Two Moons|Two Moon]], and [[Little Wolf|Little Coyote (Little Wolf)]].  About 60 to 250 warriors.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="width:25%;"| Native Americans
! style="width:25%;"| Tribe
! Leaders
|-
| rowspan=2 |
[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
| [[Northern Cheyenne]]
<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;
|
* [[Two Moons|Two Moon]]
* [[Little Wolf|Little Coyote (Little Wolf)]]
* [[Wooden Leg]]
* Old Bear
* Maple Tree
* White Bull (Ice Bear, Ice)
* Kate Bighead, sister of Ice
* Bear-Walks-on-a-Ridge
* Braided Locks ([[Wounded in action|wounded]])
* Powder Face
* Yellow Eagle
* Bull Coming Behind
* Tall Sioux
* Eagle Chief [[Killed in action|†]]
* Whirlwind [[Killed in action|†]]
|-
| [[Lakota people|Lakota Sioux]]
<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;
|
* [[He Dog]]
* [[Grant Short Bull|Short Bull]] brother of He Dog
* Rock (''Inyan'') wife of He Dog
* Crawler
|}

'''United States Army''', Big Horn Expedition Powder River Detachment, March 16–18, 1876, Colonel [[Joseph J. Reynolds]], 3rd Cavalry, commanding
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="width:25%;"| Big Horn Expedition
! style="width:25%;"| Battalion
! Companies and others
|-
| rowspan=5 |
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Colonel [[Joseph J. Reynolds]], commanding
| 1st Battalion
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;
Captain [[Anson Mills]]
|
* Company E, [[3rd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|3rd Cavalry]]: 1Lt John B. Johnson
* Company M, [[3rd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|3rd Cavalry]]: Cpt [[Anson Mills]], 1Lt Augustus C. Paul
|-
| 3rd Battalion
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;
Captain [[Henry E. Noyes]]
|
*  Company I, [[2nd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|2nd Cavalry]]: Cpt [[Henry E. Noyes]], 1Lt Christopher T. Hall
*  Company K, [[2nd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|2nd Cavalry]]: Cpt James R. Egan
|-
| 5th Battalion
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;
Captain [[Alexander Moore (soldier)|Alexander Moore]]
|
* Company E, [[2nd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|2nd Cavalry]]: 1Lt William C. Rawolle ('''w'''), 2Lt [[Frederick W. Sibley]]
* Company F, [[3rd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|3rd Cavalry]]: Cpt [[Alexander Moore (soldier)|Alexander Moore]], 2Lt Bainbridge Reynolds
|-
| Medical detachment
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;
Assistant Surgeon Curtis E. Munn
|
* Assistant Surgeon Curtis E. Munn
* Hospital Steward [[William C. Bryan]]
|-
| Scouts, guides, staff officers, and civilians
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;
Major [[Thaddeus Harlan Stanton|Thaddeus H. Stanton]], Chief of Scouts
|
* 1Lt George A. Drew, Acting Assistant Quartermaster and Acting Chief of Subsistence, 3rd Cavalry
* 2Lt [[John Gregory Bourke|John G. Bourke]], Aide-de-camp to General George Crook, 3rd Cavalry
* 2Lt Charles E. Morton, Acting Regimental Adjutant, 3rd Cavalry
* [[Robert E. Strahorn]], newspaper correspondent for the ''[[Rocky Mountain News]]''
* [[Frank Grouard]], guide/interpreter
* Louis Richard (Reshaw), guide/interpreter
* Jack Russell (Buckskin Jack), scout
* Baptiste Pourier (Big Bat), scout
* Baptiste Garnier (Little Bat), scout
* Charlie Jennesse, scout
* John Shangreau, scout
* Louis Shangreau, scout
* 7 additional scouts
|-
|}

'''United States Army''', Col Joseph J. Reynolds (brevet Major General), 3rd United States Cavalry Regiment, in command. About 384 soldiers and scouts.
* 2nd United States Cavalry Regiment
** Company E, 53 men, First Lieutenant William C. Rawolle (brevet Lieutenant Colonel)
** Company I, 56 men, Captain Henry E. Noyes
** Company K, 47 men, Captain James R. Egan
* 3rd United States Cavalry Regiment
** Staff, 3 men, First Lieutenant George A. Drew, Second Lieutenant Charles E. Morton, Second Lieutenant John G. Bourke
** Company E, 69 men, First Lieutenant John B. Johnson
** Company F, 68 men, Captain Alexander Moore (brevet Colonel)
** Company M, 68 men, Captain Anson Mills.
* Scouts, medical officers, and civilian newspaper reporter, 19 men

==United States officers at the battle==
* [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] [[Joseph J. Reynolds|Joseph Jones Reynolds]], Headquarters, 3rd Cavalry
* [[Major (United States)|Major]] [[Thaddeus Harlan Stanton]], Paymaster, Headquarters, Indian Scouts
* [[Surgeon's assistant|Assistant Surgeon]] Curtis Emerson Munn, Medical Detachment, Department of the Platte
* [[Captain (United States)|Captain]] [[Anson Mills]], Company M, 3rd Cavalry, Headquarters, 1st Battalion
* Captain [[Henry E. Noyes|Henry Erastus Noyes]], Company I, 2nd Cavalry, Headquarters, 3rd Battalion
* Captain [[Alexander Moore (soldier)|Alexander Moore]], Company F, 3rd Cavalry, Headquarters, 5th Battalion
* Captain James Ross "Teddy" Egan, Company K, 2nd Cavalry
* [[First Lieutenant (United States)|First Lieutenant]] George Augustus Drew, Acting Assistant Quartermaster and Acting Chief of Subsistence, 3rd Cavalry
* [[First Lieutenant (United States)|First Lieutenant]] William Charles Rawolle ([[Wounded in action|Wounded]]), Company E, 2nd Cavalry
* First Lieutenant Christopher Tomkins Hall, Company I, 2nd Cavalry
* First Lieutenant John Burgess Johnson, Company E, 3rd Cavalry
* First Lieutenant Augustus Chouteau Paul, Company M, 3rd Cavalry
* [[Second Lieutenant (United States)|Second Lieutenant]] [[Frederick W. Sibley|Frederick William Sibley]], Company E, 2nd Cavalry
* Second Lieutenant Bainbridge Reynolds, Company F, 3rd Cavalry
* Second Lieutenant [[John Gregory Bourke]], [[Aide-de-camp#United States|Aide-de-camp]] to General George Crook, Company D, 3rd Cavalry
* Second Lieutenant Charles E. Morton, Acting Regimental Adjutant and Quartermaster of Cavalry, Co. A, 3rd Cavalry

==In popular culture==
In 1951, [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] produced a fictional movie starring [[Van Heflin]], [[Yvonne De Carlo]], [[Jack Oakie]], and [[Rock Hudson]], released in the United States under the name ''Tomahawk''. In the [[United Kingdom]] and elsewhere, it was given the name ''Battle of Powder River'', although the plot was actually based on events of [[Red Cloud's War]] (also known as the Powder River War) of 1866–8, rather than on the Reynolds battle of 1876.

==Further reading==
* Hedren, Paul L., ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20170627091803/http://www.oupress.com/ECommerce/Book/Detail/2160/powder%20river Powder River: Disastrous Opening of the Great Sioux War]'', University of Oklahoma Press, 2016.
* Vaughn, J. W., ''The Reynolds Campaign On Powder River'', University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.
* Eckroth, David; Kallevig, Rebecca; Penfold, Michael; Held, Jaeger R.; ''The Powder River Fight, March 17, 1876'', American Battlefield Protection Program, National Park Service, 2018.
* Dillon, Richard H., ''North American Indian Wars'' 1983.
* Greene, Jerome A. (editor), ''Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877: The Military View'', University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. {{ISBN|0-8061-2535-7}}.
* Marquis, Thomas, ''[[Wooden Leg: A Warrior Who Fought Custer]]''. 1920.
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~nalakota/wotw/military/reynoldsattackcrazyhorsevillage_wotw043034.html Voices from the Western Frontier]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Montana Indian Battles}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powder River, Battle of}}
[[Category:1876 in the United States]]
[[Category:Battles of the Great Sioux War of 1876]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Cheyenne]]
[[Category:Montana Territory]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Sioux]]
[[Category:1876 in Montana Territory]]
[[Category:March 1876]]