Editing Red Cloud (section)

===Red Cloud's War===
{{main|Red Cloud's War}}

Red Cloud's War was the name the U.S. Army gave to a series of conflicts fought with Native American Plains tribes in the [[Wyoming Territory|Wyoming]] and [[Montana Territory|Montana]] Territories. The battles were waged between the Northern [[Cheyenne people|Cheyenne]], allied with [[Lakota people|Lakota]] and [[Arapaho people|Arapaho]] bands, against the Army from 1866 to 1868. In December 1866, the Native American allies attacked and defeated a United States unit in what they would call the [[Fetterman Massacre]] (or the Battle of the Hundred Slain), which resulted in the most U.S. casualties of any Plains battle up to that point.<ref>{{cite book| last= Viola| first= Herman J.| title= Trail to Wounded Knee: The Last Stand of the Plains Indians 1860–1890| place= Washington, DC| publisher= National Geographic Society| year= 2004| isbn= 9780792282235}}</ref>
[[File:Red Cloud.JPG|left|thumb|upright|Red Cloud]]

Captain [[William J. Fetterman]] was sent from [[Fort Phil Kearny]] with two civilians and 79 cavalry and infantrymen to chase away a small Native American war party that had attacked a wood-gathering party days before. Captain Frederick Brown accompanied Fetterman; the two were confident in their troops and anxious to go to battle with the Native Americans. They disobeyed orders to stay behind the Lodge Trail Ridge and pursued a small decoy band of warriors led by a Native American on an injured horse. The decoy was the prominent warrior [[Crazy Horse]]. Fetterman and his troops followed the decoy into an ambush by more than 2,000 Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. Combined Native American forces suffered only 14 casualties, while they killed the entire 81-man U.S. detachment.

Following this battle, a U.S. peace commission toured the Plains in 1867 to gather information to help bring about peace among the tribes and with the U.S. Finding that the Native Americans had been provoked by white encroachment and competition for resources, the commission recommended assigning definite territories to the Plains tribes. The Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, Arapaho, and other bands settled for peace with the U.S. under the [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)|Treaty of Fort Laramie]]. The U.S. agreed to abandon its forts and withdraw from Lakota territory.