Lying along the Oregon Trail Ft Sedgwick, located Southeast of Cheyenne Wyoming,  played a pivotal role in the history of the area throughout the later half of the nineteenth century.

Two battles impact our story, one occurring in 1865 and the second in 1866. The text of telegraph news dispatch below was transmitted live as the battle was being fought by a reporter for Western Union inside the fort.

Salt Lake Telegraph February 2 1865
Indians were on the bluffs at daybreak. The Indians attacked the fort at two locations, they held several points commanding the station, and they crept within 75 yards. Most of our men were wounded contending for this point.
 “The Indians were armed with Enfield rifles, some had revolvers. They generally fired too high or we would have had many more losses. They were on all sides and when they came within shot they were riding at full speed, or they shot from ambush. The battle raged until nightfall. All of Julesburg is on fire. So far as we can judge they are Cheyenne, Sioux and Comanche and there are white men among them. There are at least 1,500 in all. No definite information, but it is believed that Valley Station and Mud Springs telegraph and Overland stations have all burned this same day.”

Historians point to this encounter as the start in a significant shift in the battle tactics of the Native American warriors. History records it was the leadership of Chief Red Cloud. Some argue they were coached by disgruntled confederate soldiers, an argument supported by the eye witnesses who reported whites among the Indians on the battlefield. Others argue that battle tactics simply had to change as rapid fire weapons became available in the 1860s.

Regardless of the reason, the Lakota Warriors won a series of significant battles for a period of ten years. The U.S. military was actually forced to pull back after the Fetterman massacre which forced the Treaty of Ft Laramie in 1868. The Lakota fought successfully in raids and organized battles culminating in their defeat of Custer in 1876.