After flunking out of West Point in his second year, the humiliation was too much. Instead of returning to his father, he headed straight for Texas. But life has a funny way of circling back. Mills served through the war’s western theater, stayed in uniform afterwards, and by June of 1876, he was one of the most seasoned captains in the Third US Cavalry.
That’s a real disservice to the fight itself. For the warriors on both sides who clashed there that day, it was anything but an opening act. In truth, the Rose Bud was a brutal six-hour chess match between experts at the peak of their skill. The first attempt came in March when General Crook led a force into the Powder River country and attacked a Cheyenne village.
That mess deserves its own story someday. Fighting along the California Oregon border where a Pit River arrowhead lodged itself two inches into his hip and stayed there for life. After serving in the Civil War, he returned west and by 1875 was considered one of the army’s top Indian fighters. On campaign, he usually wore a civilian coat and hat with his beard parted into two braids.
By late May, Crook was moving north with a formidable force. He understood that the best way to fight native warriors was with other native warriors, the true experts of the land, who also had their own grievances with the Lakota and Cheyenne. What happened next would set the stage for one of the most intense overlooked battles of the Great Sue War. After days of hard riding, the scouts returned with allies, but immediately faced a new problem.
Scout Frank Gerard had to ride out and painstakingly reassure them before they finally agreed to return. The Shosonyi were led by the famed Chief Wiki, then in his 70s, but no less a formidable and ruthless tactician. While Crooks guides were recruiting these allies, the main columns marched north had been arduous. All I know is she cooks for one of the officers.
I of course denied any knowledge of her or her calling, but nobody believed me then, and I doubt very much whether they all do yet. Crook was eager for action, and on June 9th, his men got a first taste. A band of Lakota fired into the outskirts before scattering. After linking with the Crow and Shosonyi on June 14th, Crook finalized his plan.
Intelligence suggested the hostile village was on a water source roughly 50 mi north. Each man would carry his weapon, 100 rounds of ammunition, a blanket, 4 days rations, and nothing else. Frank Gerard remarked, “I never saw so much fun in all my life. ” Crook organized his force into five battalions.
The sole wheeled vehicle was a two-wheeled cart equipped with engineering instruments. They passed through a massive buffalo herd and despite orders, Crook’s native allies broke ranks to hunt. Someone else had been hunting there. After a few hours exhausted sleep, the column moved again at sunrise, following the creek’s lush banks to the big bend of the rose bud, where the stream turned sharply north.
Behind Henry came Van Vlatt’s two troop battalion, followed by the infantry and the civilian packers. The men snatched what rest they could, letting their horses graze while General Crook himself started a casual card game with members of his staff. Then gunshots echoed from the north beyond a high ridge. Some soldiers brushed it off, thinking their scouts had simply found more buffalo, but Captain Mills servant drew his attention to the skyline.
They had been watching the Blue Coats every move, and now intending to stop the column before it reached their village, they took the initiative. Overnight, a force of perhaps 1,500 to 2,000 warriors had moved into position. While some rode back to warn Crook, others turned to meet their traditional enemies. Take the bluffs and hold them, and charge for the first ridge.
During this advance, his bugler, Elmer Snow, took a bullet that shattered both his forearms. He gave me one look that I will never forget. The horse vanished into the warrior lines, but the bugler stumbled back to safety. While company A held the horses, companies D, E, B, and I rushed toward the crest, Crook also dispatched Van Vleet’s two troops to the south, where they drove off warriors attempting to flank the camp.
His sister, Buffalo Calf Roadwoman, rode directly into the fire, swooped him up onto her horse, and carried him to safety. Years earlier, caught in a brutal snowstorm, he had lost a finger to frostbite, and his left hand never fully recovered. But he never stopped serving. After the initial warning, Henry had taken troops DNF onto high ground to the west.
He believed that under these circumstances, no fight would be decisive unless they could capture the village, which he suspected was nearby. He orders Captain Mills to take his battalion and ride down the Rosebud Creek, the nearest water source. Crook reasons the Indians are fighting so fiercely precisely because their village is close. To make this move, Crook first has to consolidate his scattered units.
If they give it up, the Lakota and Cheyenne will immediately reclaim it and rainfire down on the soldiers as they cross the open terrain below. It tears into his face below his left eye, carves across the roof of his mouth, and exits beneath his right eye. According to interpreter Frank Gerard, a warrior named Ute John saved Henry’s life. I used that pistol later at the little big horn, but once the ammunition was gone, I could never find more that would fit it.
The effort to extract Royal’s men multiplies the army’s casualties, and every single soldier killed in action dies in this part of the field. Luckily, on the west side of Krooks Hill, two infantry companies armed with longer range Springfield rifles are positioned. They lay down covering fire while Royals cavalry makes a frantic rush eastward to safety. For those troopers dashing across open ground under fire from three sides, speed is their only defense.
Years before, the crow had been trapped and slaughtered by the Lakota in this very spot. Mills leads all eight companies westward through a ravine, out of the Rosebud Valley, and back toward the sound of the battle. When they return around 2:30 p. m.
, the fighting is over. The surgeons had refused to stay with the wounded unless he left the infantry and a squadron behind as a guard. When Mills asks how he is, Henry responds, “The doctors have told me I must die, but I will not. ” Crook is then informed that on top of the casualties, his men have nearly exhausted their ammunition.
Whatever the cause, the command is now low on bullets down to just a couple days worth of rations and burdened with dozens of wounded who must be evacuated. During the grim march back, Captain Henry is carried in a litter slung between two mules, a situation that presented an impossible choice. Would he rather be carried feet first, risking the mule behind biting his injured face, or head first, risking a kick to the skull? He survived, and after a year of recovery, returned to active duty.
Days later, while climbing one of the slopes, Mills spotted smoke from a large fire roughly 40 m to the north. They came from General Alfred Terry’s column and delivered the first shocking news to Crook of Kuster’s defeat at the Little Bigghorn. The Battle of the Rosebud was something of a mixed bag for the army. It was a haymaker that never quite landed.
Moreover, Crook himself would later face criticism for spending weeks hunting and fishing in the area while Kuster’s command was destroyed. Crook saving his reputation would become a task for the autumn campaigns, but that’s a story for another time.