The influx of emigrants and settlers into…

The influx of emigrants and settlers into Wyoming Territory has led to more encounters with the native tribes, resulting in an increase of military presence along the trails.

Military posts such as Fort Laramie had been established to maintain order in the area.

In 1851, the first Treaty of Fort Laramie had been signed between the United States and representatives of American Indian nations to ensure peace and the safety of settlers on the trails.

The 1850s had subsequently been quiet, but increased settler encroachment into lands promised to the tribes in the region has caused tensions to rise again, especially after the Bozeman Trail had been blazed in 1864 through the hunting grounds of the Powder River Country, which had been promised to the tribes in the 1851 treaty.

The Powder River country encompasses the numerous rivers (the Bighorn, Rosebud, Tongue and Powder) that flow northeastward from the Bighorn Mountains to the Yellowstone.

The Cheyenne had been the first tribe in this area, followed by bands of Lakota.

As more of the northern plains become occupied by white settlement, this region becomes the last unspoiled hunting ground of the Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho and several of the seven bands of the Lakota.