U.S. Reissues Medal of Honor to Battle of Slim Buttes Participant

This month the United States reissued a Medal of Honor to a long-dead soldier of America’s colonialist invasion of Lakota territory. Private Robert Smith fought in the Battle of Slim Buttes in northwestern South Dakota on September 9, 1876:

Then-President Rutherford B. Hayes approved the Medal of Honor for Smith in 1877 for showing “special bravery in endeavoring to dislodge Indians secreted in a ravine,” according to Army records.

The battle was located near present day Reva [“Battle of Slim Buttes Veteran Lauded with US Medal of Honor,” AP via Black Hills Pioneer, 2016.12.20].

“Smith” was a pseudonym for Harry Reynolds, who never received the medal and moved to Nevada after fighting in the Indian Wars.

The Battle of Slim Buttes was the U.S. Army’s first victory against the Lakota warriors in South Dakota. General George Crook, who failed to link up with the forces of Generals Terry and Custer after being driven back south by Crazy Horse at the Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, was marching his hungry troops back to the Black Hills for supplies when they found an Indian village by accident. In the village, U.S. troops found 7th Cavalry artifacts from the Indian victory over Custer at Little Big Horn just ten weeks earlier. This contemporary account of the end of the Battle of Slim Buttes by reporter and future Congressman John F. Finerty makes no mention of Robert Smith or fellow Medal of Honor honoree Sergeant John A. Kirkwood. It picks up following the Army’s pause to allow eleven women and six children to leave the Lakota warriors’ last position:

Then our troops re-opened with a very “rain of hell” upon the infatuated braves, who, nevertheless, fought it out with Spartan courage, against such desperate odds, for nearly two hours. Such matchless bravery, electrified even our enraged soldier into the spirit of chivalry, and General Crook, recognizing the fact that the unfortunate savages had fought like fiends, in defense of wives and children, ordered another suspension of hostilities and called upon the ducky heroes to surrender.  

After a few minutes’ deliberation, the chief, American Horse – a fine looking, broad-chested Sioux, with a handsome face and a neck like a bull – showed himself at the mouth of the cave, presenting the butt end of his rifle toward the General. He had just been shot in the abdomen, and said, in his native language, that he would yield, if the lives of the warriors who fought with him were spared. Some of the soldiers, who lost comrades in the skirmish, shouted, “No quarter!” but not a man was base enough to attempt shooting down the disabled chief. Crook hesitated for a minute and then said – “Two or three Sioux more or less can make no difference. I can yet use them to good advantage. Tell the chief,” he said, turning to Gruard, “that neither he nor his young men will be harmed further.”

This message having been interpreted to American Horse, he beckoned to his surviving followers, and two strapping Indians, with their long, but quick and graceful stride, followed him out of the gully. The chieftan’s intestines protruded from his wound, but a squaw – his wife perhaps – tied her shawl around the injured part, and then the poor, fearless savage, never uttering a complaint, walked slowly to a little camp fire, occupied by his people, about 20 yards away, and sat down among the women and children. The surgeons examined the wound, pronounced it mortal, and during the night American Horse, one of the bravest and ablest of the Sioux chiefs, fell back suddenly, and expired without uttering a groan [attributed to John F. Finerty, in “War Correspondence from the Front Lines: Slim Buttes,” The First Scout, 2011.05.26].

The Battle of Slim Buttes historical marker and cemetery stand just west of Reva on Highway 20.