In December 1866, a small band of Sioux and Cheyenne led an ambush now known as the Fetterman Fight or Fetterman Massacre.
Much like the skirmish at Peno Creek earlier in the month, a small band of Sioux and Cheyenne were once again harassing troops who were out on wood-cutting detail on December 21, 1866. As the troops were returning to Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming about ten warriors attacked. Colonel Henry B. Carrington sent Captain William J. Fetterman with 80 men, which included two more officers, 76 soldiers, and two civilians — a total of 81 men to relieve the troops hauling back the wood wagons.
However, it was an elaborate decoy maneuver to draw soldiers out of the fort. As the small group of Natives was making their attack on the woodcutters, a group of as many as 1,000 Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors were waiting about two miles to the north. Before the troops left the fort, Colonel Henry B. Carrington warned Fetterman that he was not to cross Lodge Trail Ridge, where he would be out of sight of the fort, under any circumstances. However, just as the Indians had planned, Fetterman allowed a small party of warriors ‘decoy’ him northward well beyond the ridge and into a carefully rehearsed ambush prepared by Chief Red Cloud and Minneconjou Sioux Chief High Back Bone.
