Battle of the Rosebud: Prelude to the Little Big Horn

by Neil C. Mangum

Illus dj, 206p, 10 b&w photos, frontis, 8 pen & ink line drawings. 7 two-color maps, app's, notes, biblio, index. El Segundo 1996 edition. Prelude to the Little Big Horn, "THE BATTLE OF THE ROSEBUD," is an in-depth study by the Superintendent of the Little Bighorn National Monument of a little-known but important battle that took place a few days before the Battle of the Little Big Horn. VOLUME 5 of MONTANA AND THE WEST SERIES. Cover art/line drawings by Montana artist Hank Maynard. BRAND NEW PRINTING WITH CORRECTIONS!! Talented Neil Mangum has hit the jack-pot with this comprehensive account of the ROSEBUD BATTLE.

Genres: History

180 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1988

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Military history writing at its best. Excellent, lean narrative of the little-known battle that was the run up to Custer’s defeat and demise at the Little Big Horn. Mangum skillfully lays out unit movements, historical context, political implications, and potential impact of action on the Custer fiasco. Indian and U.S. Army characterizations are both balanced and humanizing.

[Schoppie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Battle of the Rosebud was one of the largest battles of the Plains Indian Wars, in terms of numbers of troops and Native-American Warriors involved, but it has long been over-shadowed by the more famous Battle of the Little Bighorn. Mangum's book rescues this vital battle from the shadows of history and helps to restore it to its rightful place as a significant battle of the Great Sioux War.

Impeccably researched and detailed, Mangum's book provides in-depth tactical details of the battle and highlights the importance of terrain and the strategic mistakes made by the U.S. Army and its leaders. Mangum's book is considered the standard book on the battle and, while it is well written overall, there are a number of grammatical mistakes and problems with sentence structure throughout the book. While these are distracting (and they are the only reason for the four star rating instead of five), they are not numerous enough to ruin the overall work.

This book provides context for the disastrous results (at least for the U.S. Army) of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which happened only 8 days after the Battle of the Rosebud. Those interested in the Battle of the Little Bighorn or the Great Sioux War would do well to read Mangum's fine book on this subject.