On January 8, 1877 US troops under the command of Captain Edumund Butler, 5th US infantry defeated a a force of 500 Sioux and Cheyenne. The battle took place at Wolf Mountain in Montana, and the Indians were led by Chief Crazy Horse.
After Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the army sent large number troops into the Montana territory to bring the territory under control. Many native Americans began to return to the reservations. General Nelson Miles led a force of soldiers to defeat Sitting Bull. Sitting Bull was ready to surrender but when his delegation was killed by US army Crow scouts, his men demanded revenge. Crazy Horse drew attempted to draw Miles forces up the Tongue River called. Miles camped out just south of today Birney Montana. Over night heavy snow fell, and the temperatures dropped. Crazy Horse and his men began an assault the next morning on Miles forces but failed to dislodge Miles. Miles troops counterattacked and while they did not defeat the Indians, they dislodged them. While tactically this was not a complete victory for the army strategically the fact that in the middle of the winter in deep snow the army could successfully pursue the Indians convinced Crazy Horse that his plight was hopeless and he soon surrendered.