The United States and many Lakota bands signed the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, creating the Great Sioux Reservation. The treaty recognized the Black Hills as part of that reservation and reserved it for Lakota use, setting the legal and political baseline for later conflict over gold and settlement.
In 1874, Lt. Col. George A. Custer led a U.S. Army expedition into the Black Hills. Reports of gold helped attract miners, and illegal settlement pressure grew on land the 1868 treaty had set aside, sharpening disputes over who controlled the region.
As miners and the U.S. Army moved deeper into contested territory, federal officials demanded that Lakota and Northern Cheyenne groups living off-reservation report to their agencies. Groups that did not comply were increasingly treated as “hostile,” leading to a major military campaign in 1876.
One of the campaign’s early actions was an attack on a Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Lakota village along the Powder River. The raid failed to force surrender and instead became an early battlefield success for Native defenders, showing that the 1876 campaign would be costly and uncertain.
U.S. forces under Gen. George Crook fought Lakota and Northern Cheyenne warriors near Rosebud Creek. The fight ended Crook’s immediate advance and prevented his force from joining other U.S. columns in time, shaping the conditions that led to the next major battle.
Lt. Col. George A. Custer split the 7th Cavalry into several battalions and attacked a large Lakota and Cheyenne encampment along the Little Bighorn River. Custer’s immediate command was overwhelmed and killed, turning the Great Sioux War into a national crisis and prompting intensified U.S. operations.
After a failed charge in the valley, Maj. Marcus Reno’s men retreated to bluffs where Capt. Frederick Benteen and the pack train joined them. They held a perimeter through a two-day siege until relieved, ensuring survivors could report the battle and adding urgency to the U.S. response.
In September, Crook’s hungry column sent a detachment to find supplies and it attacked a village at Slim Buttes. The U.S. Army captured supplies and inflicted losses, marking a shift toward sustained pressure on food and winter resources rather than one decisive battle.
Col. Nelson A. Miles’s command met Lakota forces during talks that broke down into fighting at Cedar Creek. The action was part of Miles’s broader strategy of constant campaigning from new posts along the Yellowstone and Tongue rivers, aiming to force surrenders before winter ended.
In late November, Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie attacked the Northern Cheyenne winter village led by Dull Knife and Little Wolf. The raid destroyed lodges and winter supplies, a major blow that reduced the Cheyenne ability to continue fighting through the winter.
In deep winter conditions, Miles fought Lakota and Cheyenne forces led by leaders including Crazy Horse. The battle did not destroy Native resistance in one blow, but it demonstrated the Army’s ability to operate in winter and increased pressure on bands facing scarce food and shelter.
Congress passed the 1877 agreement into law, formally removing Lakota control of the Black Hills after the 1868 treaty had recognized them as reservation land. This legal change tied battlefield defeat to permanent land loss and became central to later court disputes over the taking.
With food shortages and constant pursuit worsening conditions, Crazy Horse and his followers surrendered at Camp/Fort Robinson. The surrender signaled the collapse of large-scale armed resistance by many northern bands, even as some groups continued to avoid U.S. control.
Rather than surrender, Sitting Bull led followers north across the U.S. border into Canada. This move reduced the number of fighters remaining in U.S. territory and turned part of the conflict into a cross-border refugee and diplomacy problem.
After months of tension and rumors about his intentions, Crazy Horse was arrested and fatally wounded during a struggle at Fort Robinson. His death removed one of the most influential Lakota war leaders from the postwar landscape and became a symbol of the war’s violent endgame.
Great Sioux War and the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876–1877)