Powder River County, Montana
Powder River County is a county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,694. Its county seat is Broadus.
Powder River Courthouse in Broadus
The Battle of Powder River, also known as the Reynolds Battle, occurred on March 17, 1876, in Montana Territory, United States, as part of the Big Horn Expedition. The attack on a Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Lakota Indian encampment by Colonel Joseph J. Reynolds initiated the Great Sioux War of 1876. Although destroying a large amount of Indian property, the attack was poorly carried out and solidified Northern Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux resistance to the U.S. attempt to force them to sell the Black Hills and live on a reservation.
The Powder River looking north on the battlefield
Brevet Major General, Colonel Joseph Jones Reynolds
The Indian village area is slightly west (left) of the upper left side of the photo. Company I, 2nd Cavalry gathered Indian ponies on both sides of the river, and the surviving soldiers withdrew from the battlefield across the frozen stream from left to right. Photograph taken from hospital bluff looking north, October 16, 2012.
William C. Bryan
