Battle of the Tongue River

For 1820 battle, see Tongue River Massacre (1820).

Battle of the Tongue River
Part of the Indian Wars
Portrait of Jim Bridger
Date August 29, 1865 Location northern Dakota Territory, present-day Sheridan County, Wyoming Result U.S. victory
Belligerents
United States	Arapaho Indians
Commanders and leaders
Patrick E. Connor Jim Bridger Frank North	Medicine Man
Strength
200 soldiers, 70 Indian scouts two artillery pieces	500, including women and children
Casualties and losses
2 killed 6 wounded	~ 35-63 killed, including women and children 18 women and children captured

Connor Battlefield
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	City park on the Tongue River, Ranchester, Wyoming
Area	1.2 acres (0.49 ha)
Built	1865 (1865)
NRHP reference No.	71000891
Added to NRHP	August 12, 1971

The Battle of the Tongue River, sometimes referred to as the Connor Battle, was an engagement of the Powder River Expedition that occurred on August 29, 1865. In the battle, U.S. soldiers and Indian scouts attacked and destroyed an Arapaho village.

Background

Major General Grenville M. Dodge assumed command of the Department of the Missouri in 1865. Dodge ordered a punitive campaign to suppress the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho Indians who had been raiding overland mail routes, wagon trains, and military posts along the Oregon and Overland trails. He gave tactical command of the Powder River Expedition, as it was called, to Brigadier General Patrick Edward Connor, commander of the District of Utah.

The expedition was a multi-pronged affair involving 2,600 soldiers, civilians, and Indian scouts. Three columns of soldiers were to descend upon the Powder River Country of Wyoming and Montana, unite, and "make vigorous war upon the Indians and punish them so that they will be forced to keep the peace." Connor was in overall command and led the westernmost or left prong of the expedition. The forces under his direct command consisted of 380 soldiers: 6 companies of the 6th Michigan Cavalry, Company F of the 7th Iowa Cavalry, and Companies E and K of the 11th Ohio Cavalry. Also included were civilian guides headed by mountain man Jim Bridger, 95 Pawnee scouts under Captain Frank J. North, 84 Omaha and Winnebago scouts under Captain E. W. Nash, and 195 civilian teamsters. Connor left Fort Laramie on July 30, 1865, marching north. He established a fort on the upper Powder River which he named Fort Connor (later renamed Fort Reno) and left some of his men there to staff the fort.

The battle

Jim Bridger saw the smoke of an Indian village and Connor sent out Frank North and two Pawnees to find the village. On August 28, the scouts reported back that they had found the village about 35 miles west of Connor's force. Connor quickly collected his most mobile soldiers, consisting of about 200 soldiers with two mountain howitzer cannon and 40 Omaha and Winnebago and 30 Pawnee scouts, and marched that night toward the village. With Bridger leading them, they reached the village about eight a.m. the next morning.

The soldiers charged the village, having achieved complete surprise. The howitzers pounded the village while the soldiers rushed in, catching the Indians unprepared. In the melee, there was a great deal of indiscriminate firing and women and children were killed as well as warriors. The village, led by Black Bear and Medicine Man, had about 500 inhabitants. Many of the men were absent for a raid on the Crow along the Big Horn River, leaving mostly old men, women, and children in the village. After the initial attack the few able warriors in the village put up an effective defense, retreating about twelve miles up Wolf Creek while covering the flight of the women and children.

Most of the soldiers remained in the village to loot and burn the tipis, but Connor and about 30 men, including 15 Pawnee, pursued the retreating Arapaho. The Arapaho counterattacked and Connor, his horses spent, was forced to retreat back to the village. The soldiers there completed their work of destruction as the Indians harassed them from a distance, attempting to re-capture their horse herd. The soldiers abandoned the destroyed village about 2:30 that afternoon, North and the Pawnee leading and driving before them more than 500 captured horses. The Arapaho persisted in their attacks but were unable to re-capture the horses, eventually giving up the effort. At 3 a.m. the next morning, the soldiers reached their starting point, having covered more than 70 miles and fought a battle in less than 36 hours.

Casualties

Connor claimed to have killed 63 Arapaho warriors and wounded many more, although a large number of casualties occurred among the Arapaho women and children. Private Little Bird of the Omaha Scouts was killed, and Acting Sergeant Charles M. Latham of the Signal Corps was mortally wounded, while six men, including Second Lieutenant Oscar Jewett, were wounded. Connor singled out four Winnebago, including the chief, Little Priest, along with North and 15 Pawnee for bravery. He strictly forbade looting, and the next day ordered all the property collected during the occupation of the village burned, and had the captured women and children released.

Aftermath

The Arapaho were apparently not cowed by the destruction of one of their villages. Two days later, they killed Captain Osmer F. Cole of the 6th Michigan Cavalry, commander of the military escort for the Sawyers Expedition. The next day, on September 1, 1865, 100 or more Arapaho attacked the well-armed Sawyers train of 60 ox wagons along the Tongue River under the command of James A. Sawyers. They killed two men, wounded several more, stole livestock, and kept the wagon train under siege for two weeks until General Connor's soldiers rescued it. The effectiveness of the Arapaho attack was limited by their shortage of powder for their muskets, and many of the bullets they fired failed to penetrate the skin of either men or oxen. (See Sawyers Fight)

Officers in the Engagement

• Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor
• Captain Nicholas J. O'Brien, Company F, 7th Iowa Cavalry
• Captain Jacob L. Humphreyville, Company K, 11th Ohio Cavalry
• Captain Edwin R. Nash, Omaha and Winnebago Scouts
• Captain Frank J. North, Pawnee Scouts
• Second Lieutenant Oscar Jewett, Company D, 1st Nevada Cavalry (wounded)

Order of battle

United States Army, Powder River Expedition, August 29, 1865.

Expedition	Column	Regiments and Others
Powder River Expedition, Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor, commanding.	Left, Western Column    Colonel James H. Kidd (not present, at Fort Connor)	7th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, (Detachment of Company F, several men): Captain Nicholas J. O'Brien 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, (Detachment of Company K, 40 men): Captain Jacob L. Humphreyville Pawnee Scouts (30 men): Captain Frank J. North Omaha and Winnebago Scouts (40 men): Captain Edwin R. Nash United States Signal Corps, (Detachment, several men): Acting Sergeant Charles M. Latham (mortally wounded) Mountain Howitzer Section, (2 Cannon): Captain Nicholas J. O'Brien Civilians and Guides: Jim Bridger
	Central, Middle Column    Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Walker	not present, on Powder River
	Right, Eastern Column    Colonel Nelson D. Cole	not present, on Powder River

Native Americans

Native Americans	Tribe	Leaders
Native Americans	Arapaho	Black Bear, not present Medicine Man

The Battlefield today

A portion of the battlefield is preserved by the Connor Battlefield State Historic Site in Ranchester, Wyoming. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

See also

• Powder River Expedition
• Battle of Platte Bridge
• Red Cloud's War

Further reading

• Cullimore, Lee. The Boys of Company K: Ohio Cavalry Soldiers in the West During the Civil War. High Plains Press, 2012. ISBN 9781937147013

External links

• Connor Battlefield, Wyoming Division of State Parks and Historic Sites
• John Dishon McDermott, Circle of fire: the Indian war of 1865