Britannica Sources used in this answer

What was the Great Sioux War?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Plains Wars View of the army camp at Hidden Wood Creek during Lieut. Col. George Armstrong Custer's Black Hills expedition, 1874; photograph by W.H. Illingworth.

The Great Sioux War, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of conflicts fought between the United States and a coalition of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne tribes from 1876 to 1877.1

The war was precipitated by the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1874. Despite the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), which guaranteed the region to the Sioux, thousands of prospectors swarmed the area. When the tribes refused to sell the land or return to reservations by a government-imposed deadline, the U.S. authorized military force.12

Key events included:
* Battle of the Rosebud (June 17, 1876): Lakota and Cheyenne forces led by Crazy Horse forced Gen. George Crook to withdraw.13
* Battle of the Little Bighorn (June 25, 1876): A coalition led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse annihilated a battalion under George A. Custer.12

Following these defeats, the U.S. military intensified its campaign, utilizing relentless pressure and economic destruction to shatter Native American resistance. By 1877, most tribes were forced onto reservations.13