After the Sand Creek Massacre of the Cheyenne and Arapaho on November 29, 1864, a number of Colorado and Kansas tribes began to intensify hostilities against the U.S. Army and White settlers. During the massacre as many as 150 Indians, most of which were old men, women, and children, were killed.
Afterward, many of the Cheyenne survivors fled north to the Republican River where the main body of their tribe, including a large contingent of “Dog Soldiers” were camped.
They soon sent a messenger to the Sioux and Arapaho inviting them to join them in a war on the whites. On January 1, 1865, the tribes met on Cherry Creek, near present-day St. Francis, Kansas to plan revenge. In the meeting were the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, the Northern Arapaho, and two bands of Lakota Sioux including the Brule, under Chief Spotted Tail, and the Oglala, under war leader Pawnee Killer.
In early January 1865, as many as 2000 Cheyenne, Sioux and Arapaho warriors shifted their camps closer to the South Platte River where it cut through the northeast corner of Colorado. In the midst of this area stood the rough and tumble town of Julesburg, which was home to the Overland Trail stagecoach station and the site of Fort Rankin (later Fort Sedgwick).
