The Cheyenne called it the Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother because of an incident during the fight involving Buffalo Calf Road Woman.

[3] General George Crook's offensive was stymied by the Indians, led by Crazy Horse, and he awaited reinforcements before resuming the campaign in August.

Crook's force, called the Bighorn and Yellowstone Expedition, consisted of 993 cavalry and mule-mounted infantry, 197 civilian packers and teamsters, 65 Montana miners, three scouts, and five journalists.

[6] Crook left Fort Fetterman on the abandoned Bozeman Trail past the scene of many battles during Red Cloud's War ten years earlier.

Crazy Horse warned that he would fight if "Three Stars" [Crook] crossed the Tongue and on June 9 the Indians launched a long-distance attack, firing into the soldier's camp and wounding two men.

[8] On June 16, leaving his wagon and pack train behind with most of the civilians as a guard, Crook and the soldiers, with the Crow and Shoshoni in the lead, advanced northward beyond the Tongue to the headwaters of Rosebud Creek to search for and engage the Lakota and Cheyenne.

Heavily outnumbered, the Crow and Shoshoni fell back toward the camp, but their fighting withdrawal gave Crook time to deploy his forces.

[13] The battle which ensued would last for six hours and consist of disconnected actions and charges and counter-charges by Crook and Crazy Horse, the two forces spread out over a fluid front three miles wide.

He ordered Captain Van Vliet with two troops of the 3rd Cavalry to occupy the high bluffs south of the Creek to guard against an Indian attack from the direction.

[citation needed] To accelerate the advance, Crook ordered Captain Anson Mills, commanding six troops of the 3rd Cavalry, to charge the Lakota.

While fleeing on foot from Mills' advancing soldiers, his sister Buffalo Calf Road Woman (Mutsimiuna) rode to his rescue.

[citation needed] Crook believed incorrectly that the unusual tenacity of the Lakota and Cheyenne was based on defense of their families in a nearby village.

He ordered Captains Mills and Noyes to withdraw their cavalry from the high ground on Crook's Hill and swing eastward to follow the Rosebud north to find the suspected village.

Royall advanced rapidly along the ridge line to the northwest to a point about one mile away from Crook and separated by the valley of Kolmarr Creek.

A large group of Sioux and Cheyenne broke off from the fight against Crook's main forces and charged boldly down the valley of Kollmar Creek, advancing all the way to the Rosebud.

When Captain Guy V. Henry was wounded, his soldiers began to panic, but the Crow and Shoshoni arrived and drove the Lakota and Cheyenne back.

Crook also sent two infantry companies to occupy a nearby hill to aid Royall with long-range rifle fire, which kept the Lakota and Cheyenne at a distance.

The Lakota and Cheyenne did not attempt any serious attacks on the infantry, respecting the longer range of their rifles as compared to the carbines the cavalry carried.

As the US cavalry began their dash, the Crow and Shoshoni scouts counter-charged the pursuing Lakota and Cheyenne and relieved much of the pressure on Royall's men.

How he came up with such a precise number is unknown, as it seems unlikely that the Indians compiled a statistical record of the casualties among the eight or so Sioux and Lakota bands plus the Cheyenne and a few Arapaho who participated in the battle.

The delaying action by Crook's Indian allies during the early stages of the battle saved his command from a devastating surprise attack.

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.

[24] One suggested reason for the high expenditure of ammunition and the low enemy casualty rate was when Army Scout Bat Pourier reported to Gen. Crook that "he had watched men leave great numbers of cartridges on the ground.

Infantrymen on the initial skirmish line would lie down or kneel and fire and in doing so would draw handfuls of cartridges from their belts and place them on the ground beside them, handy for use.