The 1868 Laramie Treaty guaranteed the Lakota half of present-day South Dakota and designated an additional 60 million acres in present-day Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana as “unceded hunting grounds.” After discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874, the United States tried to renegotiate the treaty. When Lakota leaders refused to sell the Black Hills, President Grant authorized an illegal war against the Lakota and their allies. In 1875, the Secretary of the Interior ordered Sitting Bull and other chiefs living in the unceded hunting grounds to the reservation. When they didn’t comply by the January 31, 1876, deadline, Brigadier Generals Alfred Terry and George Crook began the military campaign that became known as the Great Sioux War. In March 1876, Crook mistakenly attacked a village of Northern Cheyennes on the Powder River, and the band joined the fight. On June 17, 1876, Crook’s troops, along with 276¬ Crow and Shoshone allies, were heading to attack a large Lakota village on the Little Bighorn when Lakota and Northern Cheyenne warriors intercepted them here. The Northern Cheyenne named the battlefield “Where the Girl Saved Her Brother. The name commemorates Buffalo Calf Road Woman, who charged into the fray to rescue her brother, Chief Comes-In-Sight, after his horse was shot from under him. The six-hour battle left dead and wounded on both sides. Eight days later, while Crook’s troops were still recovering, the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne defeated the Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

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