The Battle of Honsinger Bluff was a conflict between the United States Army and the Lakota people on August 4, 1873 along the Yellowstone River near present-day Miles City, Montana.

Early on the morning of August 4, the column moved up the northwest side of the hill along the south fork of Sunday Creek.

George W. Yates with a troop of cavalry accompanied the surveyors along the southeast side of the hill along the Yellowstone River.

[12] Custer's troops traveled along the top of Yellowstone Hill and then descended a steep buffalo trail on its northwesterly end on to the broad, grass covered flood plain.

Custer spotted a wooded area along the Yellowstone, about 2 miles (3.2 km) to the West that would be a suitable location for the Stanley column to camp that evening.

Reinforcements were obtained from Sitting Bull's village and by noon somewhere between 100 and 300 Indians were hiding in the second wooded area 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Custer's location.

This was a similar tactic used by Native American forces in the Fetterman Massacre near Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming in December 1866.

[17] After reaching the wooded area, the cavalry troops dismounted, forming a semicircular perimeter along a former channel of the Yellowstone.

[19] The flanking tactic having failed, the Lakota set fire to the grass hoping to use the smoke as a screen to approach the cavalry perimeter.

However, Custer's troops likewise used the smoke as a screen to move closer to the Lakota forces and the tactic did not favor either side.

[21] The 7th Cavalry's senior veterinary surgeon, Dr. John Honsinger, rode with Stanley's column, along with the suttler,[spelling?]

[22] New York Tribune correspondent Samuel J. Barrows, with the Stanley column, had ridden with Dr. Honsinger earlier in the day and described him as "a fine-looking, portly man, about 55 years of age, dressed in a blue coat and buckskin pantaloons, mounted on his fine blooded horse.... No man of the regiment took more care of his horse than he.

[26] At the same time, Rain in the Face and five of his warriors headed to the westerly base of Yellowstone Hill, now called Honsinger Bluff, to serve as an early warning against any approaching cavalry forces.

The prolonged siege by the Lakota forces, lasting nearly three hours, was remarkably unusual, as clashes normally were much briefer and rarely involved sustained, in-place fighting.

Toward the end of the battle, due to heat exhaustion of both the cavalry troops and Lakota warriors, the shooting had become very sporadic.

[28] Fearing a repeat of the Fetterman Massacre, Stanley ordered the entire remaining 7th Cavalry forward, the advance unit being led by 2nd Lt. Charles Braden.

Arriving at the brow of Honsinger Bluff, Braden's troop had to dismount and lead their horses down the steep slope.

[32] Although no bodies were recovered on the battlefield, Lakota casualties were estimated to number 5 dead, with numerous other warriors and horses wounded.

[34] Custer learned of Rain in the Face's claims and dispatched his brother, Tom, to the Standing Rock Reservation to arrest him for the murder of Honsinger and Balitran.

[35] Lt. Braden was critically wounded a week later, on August 11, 1873, in another clash with Sitting Bull's forces upriver near the mouth of the Big Horn River.

Moylan, four years later, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery at the September 30, 1877, Battle of Bear Paw where Lt. Col. Nelson A.

Miles forces captured the Nez Perce band of Chief Joseph at Snake Creek near Havre, Montana.

The Montana column, consisting of the 2nd Cavalry and 7th Infantry under the command of Col. John Gibbon, camped in "a beautiful cottonwood grove on splendid sod" a few miles west of Honsinger Bluff.