The Battle of Tongue River

The panel tells Connor's column; the expedition's other two columns fared worse. Colonel Nelson Cole marched from Omaha and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Walker from Fort Laramie, to meet Connor's supplies on the Rosebud, and missed them. Lakota and Cheyenne warriors harried them down the Powder River in early September, and between September 3 and 9 Cole lost 639 horses and mules to exhaustion and cold. His men stretched sixty days of rations over eighty-two. Connor's Pawnee scouts found them, and they reached Fort Connor on September 20, barely fit for service.

What the plaque says

The Battle of Tongue River On this site during the early morning hours of August 29, 1865, General Patrick Edward Connor led over 200 troops in an attack on Chief Black Bear's Arapaho village. Connor had departed from Fort Laramie on July 30th with 184 wagons, a contingent of Pawnee scouts, nearly 500 cavalrymen and the aging Jim Bridger as guide. His column was one of three comprising the Powder River Indian Expedition sent to secure the Bozeman and other emigrant trails leading to the Montana mining fields. During the Battle of Tongue River, Connor was able to inflict serious damage on the Arapahos, but an aggressive counter attack forced him to retreat back to the newly established Fort Connor (later renamed Reno) on the banks of the Powder River. There he received word that he had been reassigned to his old command in the District of Utah. The Powder River Expedition, one of the most comprehensive campaigns against the Plains Indians, never completely succeeded. Connor had planned a complex operation only to be defeated by bad weather, inhospitable terrain and hostile Indians. Long term effects of the Expedition proved detrimental to the interests of the Powder River tribes. The Army, with the establishment of Fort Connor (Reno), increased public awareness of this area which in turn caused more emigrants to use the Bozeman Trail. This led to public demand for government protection of travelers on their way to Montana gold fields.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Connor Battlefield State Historic Site — 0.3 mi
  In 1865 General Connor's troops attacked Black Bear's Arapaho village here while many of its men were away; women and children died with the warriors.
• Trail End State Historic Site — 12 mi
  A Texas trail hand's Flemish Revival mansion, five years in the building, that he barely lived in once Wyoming sent him to the governor's office and the Senate.
• Sheridan Inn — 12 mi
  A hunting-lodge hotel with sixty-nine gables, where Buffalo Bill is said to have auditioned Wild West acts from the porch.
• Rosebud Battlefield State Park — 24 mi
  The ridges where Crook's column was stopped eight days before the Little Bighorn, remembered by the Cheyenne for one woman's ride.

More markers nearby

• Connor Battlefield State Park — steps away
• Bozeman Trail — 3.3 mi
• Tongue River Crossing — 3.3 mi
• The Black Diamonds of Wyoming — 5.1 mi