In the months following Custer's defeat at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, a group of Native American members of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe left their allies along the Little Big Horn River and traveled south to encamp for the winter. Led by Dull Knife and Lone Wolf, nearly 1400 people erected a 175-lodge village approximately 30 miles west of this point. The United States Army, seeking to end Native American resistance following Custer's defeat, dispatched Colonel Ranald Mackenzie and his force of 750 cavalrymen and a assortment of 400 Indian scouts to pursue Dull Knife and his people.
Aware that the U.S. Army was in pursuit, many Northern Cheyenne advocated relocating their camp to a different location. At the behest of a soldier chief named Last Bull, the camp was not moved. The night before the battle, the Cheyenne erected a large fire to celebrate the success of a recent raid against a group of Shoshone Indians. By the bitterly cold morning of November 26, 1876, Colonel MacKenzie and his men reached the village following a night march and began their attack.
Awakened by the sound of gunfire, Cheyenne warriors put up a fierce and determined resistance. Their action allowed their families to flee to a series of hills overlooking the battle site. During the battle, MacKenzie's forces captured nearly 500 Cheyenne horses and destroy the village. The Cheyenne, now without their basic provisions and horses, faced death from exposure to the harsh winter conditions. In the following months they sought shelter among friendly tribes. By 1877, following their defeat at Dull Knife and the loss of their territory due to settlement, the Cheyenne surrendered to the U.S. Government. In 1884 they were placed on a reservation in southeast Montana.
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