Plains Indian Wars

    Date Event
    Union Volunteer troops attack and kill hundreds of Shoshone at Bear River, in present-day Idaho
    Young volunteer officer killed in clash with Sioux Indian raiders in central Minnesota
    Warriors of the Southern Ute tribe ambush mail coach in Utah, kill two
    In Minnesota, General H.H. Sibley and more than three thousand troops march against the Santee Sioux
    In Minnesota, General H.H. Sibley and his men finally closes the pursuit of the Santee Sioux
    In Dakota Territory, General H.H. Sibley and his men finally meet the Santee Sioux in the Battle of Big Mound
    In Dakota Territory, near Dead Buffalo Lake, Lakota Sioux strike at the pursuing U.S. Army but are driven off
    In Dakota Territory, at Stony Lake, Lakota and Santee Sioux fight covering action to protect retreat of their families
    Near present-day Bismarck, North Dakota, Sioux Indians intercept and kill General Sibley's aide as he delivers messages
    In Dakota Territory, General Sibley declines to cross the Missouri and ends his campaign to punish the Sioux
    At Plum Creek in Nebraska, Cheyenne Indians attack and wipe out a sizable wagon train carrying freight, killing eleven
    At Sand Creek in Colorado, territorial volunteers attack encamped Cheyenne and Arapaho, killing hundreds
    - In Wyoming, a thousand Cheyenne warriors attack the immigrant transport link at Platte Bridge
    In Wyoming, U.S. troops scatter a large Arapaho village on the Tongue River
    In western Oregon, U.S. infantry storm a Shoshone village near present day Jordan Creek
    The United States Army begins its incursion into Native-American territory along the Bozeman Trail.
    In Kansas, a new U.S. cavalry regiment, the Seventh, begins its formation at Fort Riley.
    Sioux and Cheyenne warriors wipe out 81 U.S. Army soldiers near Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming.
    At the White House, President Johnson meets with a delegation representing Sioux tribes.
    General W.S. Hancock arrives in force at Fort Larned to negotiate with Kansas native American tribes.
    General W.S. Hancock negotiates with Cheyenne and Sioux leaders near Fort Larned, Kansas
    General W.S. Hancock burns the large abandoned Cheyenne and Sioux village near Fort Larned, Kansas
    General Hancock meets with Kiowa tribal leaders near Fort Dodge, Kansas.
    On campaign in western Kansas, the Seventh Cavalry's second in command commits suicide.
    Hostile Cheyenne attack settlers in Kansas, killing one.
    Hostile Kiowa warriors attack a wagon train at Cimarron Crossing, Kansas, killing three.
    George Armstrong Custer has his first encounter with Plains Indians in eastern Nebraska.
    The Seventh Cavalry fight a heavy skirmish near Fort Wallace, Kansas with Cheyenne and Sioux warriors.
    Sioux and Cheyenne warriors attack a railroad camp in western Kansas, killing one.
    In Kansas, Cheyenne and Lakota warriors wipe out a U.S. Army detail of twelve men.
    On campaign in western Kansas, Custer's Seventh Cavalry suffers a rash of desertions.
    In Kansas, Seventh Cavalry scouts find the bodies of Lieutenant Kidder's patrol killed two weeks before.
    The U.S. Congress authorizes an Indian Peace Commission to negotiate with hostile Plains Indian tribes.
    The Indian Peace Commission, newly appointed to negotiate with hostile Plains Indian tribes, organizes in St. Louis, Missouri.
    The Indian Peace Commission meets with Sioux tribal leaders near Fort Thompson in South Dakota.
    In Kansas, negotiations at Medicine Lodge River result in two peace treaties Plains tribes.
    At Medicine Lodge River in Kansas, a third peace treaty is signed, this with the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
    At Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, George Custer is suspended from the Army for absence without leave.
    How to Cite This Page: "Plains Indian Wars," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/36573.