Rosebud Battlefield, Montana, is a primary site in the core area of the Great Sioux War of 1876-77. According to the multiple property documentation form for the “The Great Sioux War of 1876-1877 in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska, in order to be eligible for National Historic Landmark status under Criterion 1, a property must have played a definitive or crucial role in the history of the Great Sioux War and the development of the United States between 1876-1877, as represented by the following: 1) The engagement must represent a turning point in the Great Sioux War; or 2) The engagement must mark the entry or exit of a particularly powerful American Indian tribe associated with the Great Sioux War, including the massive movement of Indians to the agencies toward the end of the war. The Battle of the Rosebud, which occurred on June 17, 1876, and was one of the largest battles of the Indian wars, meets the first of these criteria because it was a significant turning point in the Great Sioux War that affected the course of the entire conflict between the U.S. Army forces and the Lakota-Northern Cheyenne coalition in 1876 and 1877. Specifically, the Battle of the Rosebud ruined the army's strategy of launching a three-pronged attack on the tribes’ village on the Little Bighorn River.

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Information courtesy of the National Park Service.