The Horsemeat March
Residents of Deadwood were shocked to learn of the disaster which befell Custer and his command at the Little Big Horn in the summer of 1876. General George Crook chased the withdrawing Sioux into the Black Hills in the immediate aftermath of the battle. The troops were poorly equipped and with inadequate rations, struggling through often muddy conditions as the summer wore on. This led them to butcher horses and mules which grew lame on the march for their meat. The expedition became known as the Horsemeat March in the lore of the troopers who endured it. Many troopers were lost to disease and starvation as the march went on.
On September 8, Crook dispatched troops to Deadwood to pick up additional supplies which he had requested to be transported there. The following day this command attacked an Oglala village it encountered near Slim Buttes. Reinforced by additional troops, the troops drove the Oglala from the village, and discovered a cache of dried meat which the Indians had been preparing to provide food through the coming winter. Following the battle at Slim Buttes troops from Crook’s command entered Deadwood and were resupplied, ending the Horsemeat March, but not the continuing war with the Sioux.