December 21, 1866 · Northern Plains Theater
December 21, 1866
Near Fort Phil Kearny in present-day Wyoming, Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors under the strategic leadership of Red Cloud executed a brilliant decoy ambush. Crazy Horse and a small party lured Captain William Fetterman's detachment of 81 soldiers over Lodge Trail Ridge and into a devastating trap where roughly 1,500 to 2,000 warriors waited. The entire U.S. force was wiped out in less than 30 minutes.
Commanders