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After the defeat of Custer at the
Little Bighorn, the large army of Indian warriors that had won the
Custer battle broke up into smaller tribal groups.
The Cheyenne warriors, led by their great war chief Dull Knife,
traveled south along the east side of the Bighorn Mountains with
their women and children. They intended to go into winter camps and fight no more
that year. At the same time, an army of 1,000 U.S. troops
and Pawnee scouts led by General Ranald Mackenzie was coming north along
the Bozeman Trail, under orders to find the Cheyenne and force them to
surrender. |
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It was
Mackenzie's plan to accomplish this by destroying the camps of the
Cheyenne and their winter food supply, making it impossible for them to
continue fighting. On a cold and snowy November day, Mackenzie's Pawnee scouts found
a large camp of Cheyenne on the Red Fork of Powder River, at the south
end of the Bighorn Mountains. Mackenzie
attacked, and even though the Cheyenne fought gallantly, they were
ultimately forced to flee into the mountains without their possessions
and without much food. Many
Cheyenne, mostly women and children, froze to death in the snow.
Shortly after, Dull Knife surrendered and Cheyenne resistance was
ended forever. |
