Yellowstone Command: Colonel Nelson A. Miles and the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877

The continuing popular fascination with Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn has obscured the role played by Colonel Nelson A. Miles in the Great Sioux War. "Yellowstone Command" provides a detailed account of the campaign of Colonel Miles in the winter of 1876-77 as he moved against the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in the aftermath of the Custer debacle. Drawing on previously unpublished materials and providing troop-movement maps, the author fills in a little-studied chapter in US military history. During the campaign, Miles's 5th Infantry engaged in five major battles with the Indians, as well as an almost constant series of skirmishes intended to restore American military power and morale. The text describes Miles' revitalization of army strategy and reconstructs battles - at Wolf Mountain and at Clear, Spring, Cedar, Bark, Ash and Muddy Creeks - that were decisive in closing the conflict in 1877.