County of site: Harding County
Location of site: SD 20, ¼ mile W. of SD 79, W. of Reva
Monument erected: 1920
Monument Text:
On this spot stood the village of 37 lodges captured at daybreak by Capt. Anson Mills with 150 men and held until the arrival of Gen. Crook's Army at 11:30 A.M. Twenty Sioux took refuge in the wash coulee faced by this tablet, and five were killed. In the afternoon there was an attack by 2000 Indians.
Marker at the Hwy (SD 20), beginning of short drive to site [seen in background of marker photo in gallery].
Marker erected by: The Citizens of Harding County & The State Highway Commission
Date marker erected: 1956
Marker Text:
"Following the disastrous battles of the Rosebud and the Little Big Horn (Custer) in Montana in June 1876, the Sioux save Call and Sitting Bull with 400 lodges who went to Canada and Crazy Horse and his band, in the main, started to drift back to the agencies on the White and Missouri Rivers burning grass as they went. Crook, Terry and Miles started to hunt Indians and by September 7th Crook's destitute and weary column detached Capt. Anson Mills with 150 men on the best horses to go to Deadwood for supplies. On the 8th he discovered a village on the east slope of Slim Buttes and at dawn on the 9th attacked the teepees, tightly buttoned up against the rain, by a cavalry charge, scattering the Indians.
"The Oglala Chief, American Horse with his family and six warriors fled to a ravine. After a six hour siege, where most of the white causalities occurred, with four warriors dead and the Chief fatally wounded, they surrendered. That afternoon Crazy Horse made a show of force, but the balance of Crook's command came up and there was no battle but a constant harassment. A great supply of valuable dried meat was captured, the village destroyed and on the 10th the command moved on to Deadwood, on a diet of horse meat marking the end of the summer campaign.
Killed: Winzel, 3rd, and Kennedy, 5th cavalry. Jonathon White, civilian scout. Wounded: Lt. Von Luettwitz, 3rd cavalry and 12 EM of the 2nd, 3rd and 5th cavalry.
Wikipedia's version is definitely a good read and worth the effort
Don’t believe everything you read. The monument here is actually a half mile northwest of where the village and battle was. The site was searched for in 1914 and couldn’t be located, but another search in 1917 was successful in locating it. They discovered a large number of expended 45-70 cartridges, some burned lodge poles, broken cooking equipment, and human skeletal remains. This marker was financed by Capt. Mills. The were going to place it at the actual site of the village but decided to put it here, close to SD Hwy 20, so people could see it. It was dedicated in August of 1920 before an assemblage of local residents.
Historical Marker in Buffalo, SD
Marker Text:
After the Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876, General Terry and General Crook joined forces for the purpose of trying to locate and crush the Indian forces. They separated when they reached the mouth of Powder River in Montana and General Crook moved eastward toward the Little Missouri River where he expected to find the Indians. General Crook crossed the Little Missouri in western North Dakota and found that all the Indian trails seemed to lead toward the Black Hills. Although his command was practically out of provisions, his decision was to start the 200 mile trip south. The command, numbering 1,260 men, later became known as "Crook's Starvation March". It had been raining for several days, the prairie had been burned off, and consequently there was little feed for the horses. It was a hardship on the horses and especially the 200 men in the infantry. Approximately 25 to 35 miles a day were made in spite of the hardships. Many of the horses and mules were exhausted and would go down, then were killed and butchered to feed the men, who had almost no provisions
On September 7, 1876, they reached the Grand River and Gen. Crook decided to send 150 men under the command of Captain Anson Mills of the 3rd Cavalry to leave immediately for the Black Hills and bring back food and provisions for the remaining soldiers. He ordered them to attack any body of Indians they encountered that they could defeat.
About 3:00 p.m. the following day, Frank Girard, the chief scout, returned to announce the discovery of an Indian village located in the Slim Buttes on both banks of a small stream called Rabbit Creek. The command hid in a ravine, planning to attack the Indians the next morning.
The pack train was left with 25 men, and the rest of the command under Lt. Bubb, came within 100 yards of the village when a small herd of ponies stampeded and ran through the village. The soldiers then charged, firing as they went. The Indians cut their way out of the back of some of their rawhide lodges, and after firing two volleys into the soldiers, took to the brush and ravines, carrying their dead and wounded with them. Two men of Company E were wounded, Lt. Von Ludwick, in the knee cap and Pvt. Currin in the thigh.
As soon as the Indians had taken care of their women and children, they returned and surrounded the soldiers. Under the constant firing many Indians, including women and children, were killed and wounded. When the firing subsided, Capt. Crawford ordered J.A. Kirkwood to take 5 men and go into all the lodges to see whether there wee any Indians left, but they were gone.
Meanwhile in a ravine nearby, Indians were firing at the troops on the skirmish line. John Wenzel, of Company E, was shot through the forehead and killed instantly. Pvt. Kirkwood and Pvt. Clevensky tried to get to the Indians from the west side but failed. Pvt. Kirkwood received a flesh wound in the side. Sgt. Glass had his arm shattered. Capt. Mills sent 3 soldiers back to Gen Crook with the message, "to come as he had captured an Indian village." Gen. Crook arrived about 11:30 a.m. the next day after which Scout White was shot in the forehead by the Indians.
That evening Chief Crazy Horse and his band came to take on the soldiers, but upon finding the entire force there, withdrew after a small skirmish during which 5 men were wounded, Pvt. Kennedy so badly he died during an amputation. The Indian Chief, American Horse, was shot in the stomach and died. The entire Indian loss was not known as their dead were carried away. The soldiers found where the squaws had dug a hole in the ravine with knives and here they found buried 4 braves, 6 squaws and 13 children.
The loss of men under Capt. Mills' command included 3 dead and 14 wounded. The next morning the three soldiers were buried and also Lieut. Von Ludwick's leg. The men made a large fire over the burial place to conceal it from the Indians. Then the command started on with Lt. Von Ludwick being carried on a stretcher. He kept insisting as they carried him that the Indians were cutting up his leg, and such proved to be the case. The next day Major Mason was sent back with 5 companies of the 5th Cavalry to investigate and the found that the soldiers had been dug up, cut to pieces and their bones crushed.
The soldiers confiscated a vast amount of provisions from the Indians including over 5,500 pounds of dried meat, large amounts of dried fruits, robes, ammunition, arms and 175 ponies.
In the summer on 1876, the Battle of Slim Buttes was the only skirmish between the Plains Indians and the United States Army in which the Army was victorious.
On August 15, 1920 the Slim Buttes Battlefield Monument was dedicated. A roadside historical marker was erected on the spot, which is located next to Hwy 20 in the Slim Buttes, and dedicated on August 19, 1956.
By the side of this monument stand three grave markers for the three military men who lost their lives:
Edward D. Kennedy, Co. C, 5th U.S. Cavalry
Jonathan White, U.S. Scout
John Wenzel, Co. A, 3rd U.S. Cavalry