May 6
Crazy Horse surrenders to the U.S. Army.
The vigorous military campaign against the La-
kota Sioux of the previous winter compels band
after band to give up the battlefield and return to
the reservation. The last band to capitulate is Crazy
Horse’s. His followers, numbering more than 1,000,
finally surrender to soldiers at Camp Robinson in
Nebraska, an event that marks the end of the Sioux
War. (See also entry for SEPTEMBER 5, 1877.)
May 7
Lame Deer is killed in the Battle of Muddy
Creek.
Along the Muddy Creek in Montana, troops led
by General Nelson A. Miles discover the village of
Lame Deer, the leader of the Miniconjou band of
the Lakota Sioux and a veteran of Red Cloud’s War
(see entry for JULY 1866) and the Battle of Little
Bighorn (see entry for JUNE 24 TO 25, 1876).
Without giving Lame Deer a chance to negotiate,
Miles and his men rush the camp. As they ap-
proach, Lame Deer sets his rifle down to show his
willingness to surrender, but the troops ignore the
gesture and shoot at the unarmed warrior. Lame
Deer grabs his rifle and begins returning fire, but
along with about 10 other Lakota, he is killed in
the ensuing battle. Their village set ablaze by the
soldiers, the survivors will surrender to Miles sev-
eral months later.
June 15
The Nez Perce War breaks out.
The day after Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph and his
band are due to relocate to the tribe’s reservation
(see entry for MAY 3, 1877), a group of Nez Perce
warriors kill four white settlers in Idaho. Troops are
immediately sent out to counterattack. Although
Chief Joseph tries to resolve the conflict peacefully,
the soldiers open fire on the renegade band. In the
ensuring battle, the Nez Perce kill nearly one-third
of the troops and send the remainder fleeing.
When many more soldiers are dispatched to
subdue the Indians, Chief Joseph and about 400
Nez Perce men, women, and children flee east-
ward. With hundreds of troops in pursuit, Chief
Joseph’s band begins an extraordinary four-month,
1,400-mile retreat over the Rocky Mountains and
northward toward Canada, where they hope to find
sanctuary in the camp of the Lakota leader Sitting
Bull (see entry for OCTOBER 5, 1877).September 2Apache leader Victorio leads a mass escape
from San Carlos.
Unable to endure the horrendous living conditions
at the San Carlos Reservation (see entry for 1876),
Mimbreno Apache leader Victorio escapes with more
than 300 followers. For most, freedom is short-lived.
Within a month, all but about 80 warriors, includ-
ing Victorio, surrender at Fort Wingate in what is
now New Mexico. Victorio and his men hide in the
mountains as they try to negotiate for their return to
their old reservation at Ojo Caliente.September 5Crazy Horse is killed.
Crazy Horse, after surrendering to the army (see
entry for MAY 6, 1877), was compelled to live at
Fort Robinson in Nebraska. With growing unrest
at the fort, the commanding general orders the ar-
rest of the great Lakota war leader, who resists being
taken into custody. In the resulting scuffle, a guard
stabs Crazy Horse with a bayonet. He dies of the
wound later that day, at the age of 36.September 9Hundreds of Northern Cheyenne flee
Indian Territory.
After surrendering to U.S. soldiers in the spring,
Northern Cheyenne led by Dull Knife and Little
Wolf (see entry for NOVEMBER 25, 1876) were sent
to live on an Indian Territory reservation occupied
by the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho. By the