Wolf Mountain Moon: The Battle of the Butte, 1877
( The Plainsmen - 12 )
Terry C. Johnston
Scout Seamus Donegan is not under the command of Col. Nelson A. Miles, who must lead his war-weary troops up the Tongue River into butte country. There, amidst the snow-covered bluffs, awaits Crazy Horse with a thousand-strong force of Lakota braves. They are ready to engage Col. Miles and the Fifth U.S. Infantry, in the last battle Crazy Horse will ever fight against the white man's army.
Tongue River Cantonment, 1876-1877.
(Courtesy National Archives)
Artillery at Tongue River Cantonment,
December 29, 1876.
(Courtesy National Archives)
First Lt. Frank D. Baldwin.
(Courtesy Library of Congress)
As his mother began to wash the white man’s head and face, the boy turned away.
She used a strip of dirty, stiffened white cloth—one of the dead soldier’s stockings. If only these white men wore moccasins instead of the clumsy black boots that made their feet hot and sticky. With moccasins the white men would not need to wear these silly stockings. He smiled and began to feel better for it.
This was his seventh summer. He was too old to act like a child, the boy decided.
Finally he turned back to watch his mother scrub the last of the black grainy smudges from the edges of the bullet hole in the soldier’s left temple. Little blood had oozed from the wound.
Perhaps this pale man had already been dying from that messy bullet wound in his side. The boy had seen enough deer and elk, antelope and buffalo, brought down with bullets. And he knew no man could live long after suffering a wound in the chest as terrible as this. This soldier had been dying, and he was shot in the head to assure his death.
Someone had wanted to make certain that this soldier was not taken alive. Someone had saved this pale-skinned soldier from the possibility of torture by sending a bullet through his brain.
George Armstrong Custer, in one of
the last portraits made of him in April, 1876.
(courtesy of Custer Battlefield National Monument)
John “Liver-Eating” Johnston.
(Courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Section)
Luther S. “Yellowstone” Kelly.
(Courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Section)
Colonel Nelson A. Miles and officers of the Fifth Infantry, December 29, 1876. From left: Lt. O.F. Long, Surgeon H.R. Tilton, Lt. J.W. Pope, Col. N.A. Miles, Lt. F.D. Baldwin, Lt. C.E. Hargous, and Lt. H.K. Bailey.
(Courtesy Montana Historical Society)
Wooden Leg’s drawing of his rescue of Big Crow.
(Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Fifth Infantry soldiers at Tongue River Cantonment in winter dress.
(Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
BOOKS BY TERRY C. JOHNSTON
Cry of the Hawk
Winter Rain
Dream Catcher
Carry the Wind
Borderlords
One-Eyed Dream
Dance on the Wind
Buffalo Palace
Crack in the Sky
Ride the Moon Down
Death Rattle
Wind Walker
SONS OF THE PLAINS NOVELS
Long Winter Gone
Seize the Sky
Whisper of the Wolf
THE PLAINSMEN NOVELS
Sioux Dawn
Red Cloud’s Revenge
The Stalkers
Black Sun
Devil’s Backbone
Shadow Riders
Dying Thunder
Blood Song
Reap the Whirlwind
Trumpet on the Land
A Cold Day in Hell
Wolf Mountain Moon
Ashes of Heaven
Cries from the Earth
Lay the Mountain Low
for all his enthusiastic assistance
helping me write
the past four Plainsmen novels,
the dedication of this novel to
the widely respected National Park Service historian
and published Indian Wars authority
Jerome A. Greene
is long overdue
Cast of Characters
Seamus Donegan Samantha Donegan
Military
Brigadier General George C. Crook—Department of the Platte
Colonel William B. Hazen—commanding Sixth U.S. Infantry, Fort Buford, M.T.
Colonel Nelson A. Miles—commanding Fifth U.S. Infantry, Tongue River Cantonment, M.T.
Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie—commanding Fourth U.S. Cavalry
Lieutenant Colonel Elwell S. Otis—Twenty-second U.S. Infantry
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Whistler—Fifth U.S. Infantry
Major Alfred L. Hough—Seventeenth U.S. Infantry, commanding at Glendive Cantonment
Major Henry R. Tilton—Surgeon, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Major Edwin F. Townsend—Commanding Officer, Fort Laramie, W.T.
Captain Charles J. Dickey—E Company, Twenty-second Infantry
Captain Ezra P. Ewers—E Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Captain—Randall—Quartermaster, Fifth U.S. Infantry, Tongue River Cantonment, M.T.
Captain Wyllys Lyman—I Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Captain James S. Casey—A Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Captain Andrew S. Bennett—B Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Captain Edmond Butler—C Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Captain Simon Snyder—F Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Captain Edwin Pollock—Ninth U.S. Infantry, commander of Reno Cantonment
First Lieutenant Frank D. Baldwin—Fifth U.S. Infantry
First Lieutenant Cornelius C. Cusick—F Company, Twenty-second Infantry
First Lieutenant Mason Carter—K Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
First Lieutenant George W. Baird—regimental adjutant, Fifth U.S. Infantry
First Lieutenant Robert McDonald—D Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Second Lieutenant Russell H. Day—Sixth U.S. Infantry, commanding garrison at Fort Peck
Second Lieutenant David Q. Rousseau—G Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Second Lieutenant William H. Wheeler—Eleventh U.S. Infantry
Second Lieutenant Frank S. Hinkle—H Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Second Lieutenant Charles E. Hargous—Fifth U.S. Infantry, commanding mounted infantry to Wolf Mountain
Second Lieutenant Hobart K. Bailey—Fifth U.S. Infantry, aide-de-camp to Miles
Second Lieutenant James Worden Pope—E Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry, commanding Rodman gun
Second Lieutenant Edward W. Casey—Twenty-second U.S. Infantry, assisting Pope’s artillery detail: in charge of Napoleon gun
Second Lieutenant Oscar F. Long—Fifth U.S. Infantry, acting engineering officer
Second Lieutenant William H. C. Bowen—Fifth U.S. Infantry, in charge of supply wagons
Second Lieutenant James H. Whitten—I Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry, in charge of pack animals
Trumpeter Edwin M. Brown
Private Thomas Kelly—I Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Private Richard Bellows—E Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Private Philip Kennedy—C Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry Private
Patton G. Whited—C Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
Assistant Surgeon Louis S. Tesson
Civilians
Thomas J. Mitchell—agent at Fort Peck
Elizab
eth Burt
Martha Luhn
Nettie Capron
Army Scouts
Johnny Bruguier / “Big Leggings”
Luther S. (Sage) “Yellowstone” Kelly
Robert Jackson
William Jackson
Victor Smith
John Johnston
George Johnson
James Parker
William Cross
Jim Woods
Tom Leforge
Joe Culbertson
Edward Lambert
Left Hand—Yanktonai scout for Baldwin on Fort Peck expedition
Buffalo Horn—Bannock scout for Miles on Wolf Mountain Campaign
Lakota
Sitting Bull
Gall
Three Bears
Little Big Man
Pretty Bear
Foolish Thunder
White Bull
Bull Eagle
Small Bear
Touch-the-Clouds
Roman Nose
Spotted Elk
Red Horse
Tall Bull
Packs the Drum / “Sitting Bull the Good”
Yellow Eagle
Foolish Bear
Important Man
Long Dog
Black Moon
Little Knife
Crow
Spotted Blackbird
Iron Dog
Yellow Liver
Four Horns
Red Horn
Drag
Hollow Horns
White Horse
Red Horses
Fat Hide / Fat on the Beef
The Yearling
Lame Red Skirt / Red Cloth
Lone Horn
Bad Leg
No Neck
Long Feather
Rising Sun
Jumping Bull
Black Shawl
Crazy Horse
Runs-the-Bear
He Dog
Hump
Long Hair
Cheyenne
“Tse-tsehese-staeste”
“Those Who Are Hearted Alike”
White Bull
Wooden Leg
Black Moccasin (Limber Lance)
Yellow Weasel
Black Hawk
Yellow Hair
Big Crow
Crow Split Nose
Sits in the Night
Morning Star
Little Wolf
Old Bear
Young Two Moon
Beaver Claws
Beaver Dam
Big Horse
Crow Necklace
Gypsum
Brave Wolf
High Wolf
Box Elder
Coal Bear
Long Jaw
Medicine Bear
Cheyenne Party Captured by Miles’s Scouts
Old Wool Woman / Sweet Taste Woman
Crooked Nose Woman
Fingers Woman
Twin Woman
Crane Woman
Red Hood
Black Horse
Crow
Half Yellow Face
Old Bear
Assiniboine
White Dog
Casualties:
* Private William H. Batty—C Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
* Corporal Augustus Rothman—A Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
* / † Private Bernard McCann—F Company, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry
† Sergeant Hiram Spangenberg—F Company, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry
† Corporal Thomas Roehm—F Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
† Private Henry Rodenburgh—A Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
† Private George Danha—H Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
† Private William H. Daily—D Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
† Private —— McHugh—H Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
† Private —— Simond—D Company, Fifth U.S. Infantry
* —killed in action
† partial listing of wounded in action
During the Indian Wars, the [Regular Army] soldier, isolated from his own people and faced by a skilled enemy, lived under conditions that would have broken the spirit of most groups. Badly armed and clothed, underfed and plopped into holes on the prairie, the soldier made do and “re-upped,” left the army after a single hitch, or deserted. It is most remarkable that they did not all desert.
—Neil Baird Thompson
Crazy Horse Called Them
Walk-a-Heaps
The Sioux campaigns of 1876 were marked with few engagements, but those that did take place were conspicuous for the desperateness with which they were fought and the severe losses sustained. Nearly four hundred and fifty officers and men of the army were killed and wounded during the year…. The enemy’s loss is now known to have been severe at the Rosebud, Little Big Horn, Slim Buttes and Bates Creek. But the far-reaching results of the campaigns extended beyond the consideration of how many were killed and wounded. They led to the disintegration of many of the hostile bands of savages, who gladly sought safety upon the reservations and who have not since attempted any warlike demonstrations.
—George F. Price
Across the Continent with
the Fifth Cavalry
Desperate, hungry, and weary of fighting, the rapidly weakening Indian coalition rallied one last time at Wolf Mountains, when the soldiers threatened the sanctity of their homes. But for the Sioux and Cheyennes, offensive warfare was over. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse never again united. Instead, the disintegration of the massive Indian resistance was finally at hand. As Miles averred, “We … had taught the destroyers of Custer that there was one small command that could whip them as long as they dared face it.”
—Jerome Greene
Yellowstone Command
It is the opinion of some who had had years of experience in Indian fighting, that there has rarely, if ever, been a fight before in which the Sioux and Cheyennes showed such determination and persistency, where they were finally defeated.
—Captain Edmond Butler
“Army and Navy Journal”
March 31, 1877
If a Crazy Horse camp could be struck, where would the people be safe?
—Man Sandoz
Crazy Horse—Strange Man of
the Oglala
Foreword
While Seamus Donegan pushes north by west away from Crook and Mackenzie’s camp on the Belle Fourche River, you and I are going to have to step back in time a few weeks so that we can catch up with all that’s been happening in the Yellowstone country, where Miles’s Fifth Infantry are scrambling about trying to find out where Sitting Bull scampered off to after the fight at Cedar Creek.
To write with continuity the final half of A Cold Day in Hell our previous volume, I was faced with a dilemma. I could chop up the action in the Mackenzie / Fourth Cavalry / Morning Star story line by yanking the reader back and forth from the Bighorn country to the northern plains patrolled by the Fifth Infantry … or I could charge straight ahead with one story line instead of dealing with two simultaneously. I chose this second option.
Since this present novel deals with the tale of Nelson A. Miles’s efforts in the rugged country north of the Yellowstone, we are free now to drop back a few weeks in time before the conclusion of A Cold Day in Hell so that we might learn how the colonel’s men were faring in their hunt for Sitting Bull’s Hunkpapa at the same moment Crook and Mackenzie were crushing the last of Northern Cheyenne resistance.
This means that after we get Seamus riding off to the north into Crazy Horse country, we’re going to leave him for a few days as we leap on north to catch up with all the action we’ve missed while we’ve been busy with the Fourth Cavalry and their Battle of the Red Fork.
And because we are going back on the calendar, we won’t be starting out right away with the newspaper headlines as we normally do. Once we bring all our characters closer to mid-Decemb
er, when the Irishman reaches the Tongue River Cantonment, those news reports will continue.
At the beginning of some chapters and some scenes you’re going to read the very same news stories devoured by the officers’ wives and those civilians employed at army posts or those living in adjacent frontier settlements, taken from the front page of the daily newspapers just as Samantha Donegan herself would read them—newspapers that arrived as much as a week or more late, due to the wilderness distances to be traveled by freight carriers.
Copied verbatim from the headlines and graphic accounts of the day, these reports and stories were the only news available for those people who had a most personal interest in the frontier army’s last great campaign—those families who had tearfully watched a loved one march off to war that winter of the Great Sioux War of 1876.
My hope is that you will be struck with the immediacy of each day’s front page as you finish reading that day’s news—just as Samantha Donegan would have read the sometimes reassuring, ofttimes terrifying, news from her relative safety at Fort Laramie. But unlike her and the rest of those left behind at the posts and frontier settlements, you will be thrust back into the footsteps of those cold, frightened infantrymen and the harried villages of hungry people the army is searching for here in the maw of that most terrible winter.