The Reno Scout: June 10-19, 1876

By editor

Rosebud, Rosebud County, Montana

In the great theater of the American West, where the ambitions of empire and the determination of native peoples converged with fateful consequence, the summer of 1876 presented a crucial moment in the protracted struggle between the United States government and the sovereign tribes of the Northern Plains. The movements of Major Marcus Reno, commanding six companies of the storied Seventh Cavalry, during the ten days from June 10 to June 19, stand as a pivotal episode in the prelude to the calamitous battle that would soon ensue upon the Little Bighorn.

General Alfred Terry, commanding the Dakota Column of the United States Army, upon arriving at the confluence of the Powder and Yellowstone Rivers in early June, sought with measured purpose to ascertain the disposition of the Lakota Sioux and their allies. Reports had circulated that the great village, a vast encampment of warriors and their families, might have withdrawn southward and eastward, thereby eluding the grasp of the advancing columns. Yet, notwithstanding the diligent efforts of Colonel John Gibbon’s Montana Column, whose scouts had a fortnight earlier discovered the immense Indian camp along the Rosebud River, Terry remained resolute in confirming the enemy’s movements before committing his forces to a decisive engagement.

It was within this strategic context that Major Reno received his orders: to lead six companies of cavalry southward from the Powder and Little Powder Rivers, then westward toward the Tongue River, where his command was to rendezvous with Terry’s main body at the junction of the Tongue with the Yellowstone. This directive, clear in its intent, was designed to sweep the country for signs of the hostile encampment and to close a net upon the elusive Native forces.

The march began on June 10, the men of the Seventh Cavalry moving with all the discipline and endurance that the plains demanded. For six days, Reno’s troops traversed the rolling hills and river valleys, their scouts ever vigilant for evidence of the Indian presence. On the sixth day, along the banks of the Tongue River, the scouts discovered what was unmistakably an abandoned campsite. Mitch Bouyer, Reno’s chief scout and a figure of some renown for his knowledge of the Indian country and its inhabitants, estimated the size of the deserted village at roughly four hundred lodges, housing over a thousand warriors. Such a concentration of force was formidable, and the implications grave.

More intriguing to Reno and Bouyer was the presence of a broad trail leading westward from the deserted camp toward the Rosebud River valley. The trail bespoke a recent passage of the hostiles, suggesting that they had shifted their position but remained near enough to warrant immediate reconnaissance. Here lay a critical decision. General Terry's explicit orders prescribed a return to the Tongue River’s confluence with the Yellowstone, yet Reno, confronted with the prospect of tracking the enemy’s movements more closely, elected to follow the trail along the Rosebud. This choice, taken without express sanction from his superior, would draw sharp rebuke in the days to come.

By the night of June 16, Reno’s command had reached a camp along Rosebud Creek, having crossed from the Tongue River. The men bivouacked just before midnight, their weariness tempered by the urgency of their mission. The following day, they pressed further up the valley, advancing to the area known as Greenleaf, and possibly extending as far as the confluence of Lame Deer Creek. It was a reconnaissance that expanded the field of knowledge regarding the enemy’s whereabouts but also extended Reno’s command beyond the bounds of his original orders.

Upon their return to the Yellowstone River, Reno awaited the arrival of the Dakota Column, the larger force under Terry's command. The reports he brought were of immense consequence: the presence of a large Indian village, its numbers confirmed at over a thousand warriors, and its location near the Rosebud. Though Terry and Custer received these reports with differing temperaments, both were deeply affected by the developments.

General Terry, a man of strict military discipline and adherence to command structure, was incensed by Reno’s deviation. The disobedience of orders, particularly in a campaign where timing and coordination were paramount, threatened to unravel the planned convergence of forces. Terry’s frustration was not merely personal but stemmed from a strategic concern that Reno’s unilateral actions might imperil the broader campaign.

Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, commanding the 7th Cavalry in a separate column, expressed his own discontent, not for Reno’s disobedience, but rather for what he perceived as a failure to press the advantage. Custer, known for his aggressive tactics and impatience, chided Reno for not engaging the hostiles more directly upon discovering their trail. Custer’s ambition and eagerness to strike would soon propel him toward the tragic encounter at the Little Bighorn.

Yet, in the sober aftermath, the value of Reno’s reconnaissance was undeniable. The intelligence gathered provided vital information on the enemy’s strength and disposition, shaping the understanding of the opposing forces. As Reno’s scout unfolded the presence of a great village, it became clear that the Native forces were neither scattered nor diminished but gathered in formidable strength, prepared for the confrontation that history would remember.

Tragically, the majority of the officers and troopers who participated in Reno’s scout would not survive the ensuing battle. The Little Bighorn, fought scarcely a week later on June 25-26, 1876, would claim the lives of many, including Major Reno’s men and Custer himself. The reconnaissance along the Rosebud, while offering crucial intelligence, ultimately could not forestall the devastating defeat.

The words of General Terry, reflecting on the campaign, resonate with a somber recognition of the complex interplay of command, courage, and misfortune. In his official report, he remarked, “The campaign we commenced was undertaken with high hopes and great expectations; yet the events that followed proved the difficulty of subduing a people fighting for their homes and their freedom.”

The Reno Scout thus emerges not merely as a military maneuver but as a moment laden with the weight of history--the collision of two worlds, the tests of leadership, and the inexorable unfolding of a tragic chapter in the American West. It was a journey marked by determination and fraught with the tensions of obedience and initiative, culminating on the plains where the destinies of men and nations were irrevocably altered.

See also

• The Reno Scout: June 10-19, 1876 at Rosebud, Rosebud County
• Custer Campsite -- June 22, 1876 at Rosebud, Rosebud County
• Terry and Gibbon at Forsyth, Rosebud County