Fort Smith Big Horn Montana United States

Twenty-one soldiers and nine civilians are working in the hayfield three miles from Fort Smith on the morning of August 1, 1867, when several hundred mounted native warriors appear and charge the soldiers and civilians, who take cover behind logs in a makeshift fort and in rifle pits.

During the course of the day, the soldiers and civilians repulse several attacks with their fast-firing new rifles.

The native forces break off the attack in the afternoon.

Two soldiers and one civilian are killed and three wounded

The natives claim they have lost eight dead; the soldiers estimate they have killed eighteen to twenty-three.

The Lakota and Cheyenne seem to have disagreed on military strategy in late July.

As a consequence, a force, composed primarily of Cheyenne and Arapaho, had gathered for an attack at Fort C. F. Smith on the Bighorn River in Montana while another, mostly Lakota, had decided to attack Fort Phil Kearny, ninety miles southwest.

Crow people who live near Fort Smith had provided intelligence to the soldiers at the fort, warning of upcoming attacks.

The fort had been reinforced on July 23 by two companies of infantry under Lieutenant Colonel Luther P. Bradley, bringing the complement of the fort up to three hundred and fifty soldiers

Most importantly, the reinforcements are armed with breech-loading Springfield Model 1866 rifles, replacing the muskets the soldiers had previously been issued

The new rifles have a rate of fire of eight to ten shots per minute compared to three to four for the muzzle-loading muskets and can be easily reloaded in a prone position.

The appearance of the new Springfields is perhaps the biggest change in the conflict since the Fetterman Fight.

The breech-loading rifles of the soldiers at the Hayfield and the subsequent Wagon Box Fight negates the native tactic of drawing the fire of soldiers, then charging the defenses before the soldiers can reload.

With the new rifles, the soldiers can also remain behind cover while reloading.

One of the duties of the soldiers at Fort Smith is to protect civilians cutting hay as winter food for the fort's horses.

The next day's Wagon Box Fight is very similar to the Hayfield Fight.

Twenty-six soldiers and six civilians are escorting a wood cutting detail near Fort Kearny.

The heavy wooden boxes of fourteen wagons had been placed on the ground in an oval corral near the main cutting site, and most of the soldiers and civilians take refuge there when hundreds of native warriors on horseback suddenly appear.

Armed with the new breech-loading rifles, the soldiers and civilians hold off the attackers for six hours before being rescued by a relief force from Fort Kearny.

Three men are killed and two wounded in the corral and four woodcutters are killed about a mile away.

The Wagon Box Fight is hailed at the time as the "greatest Indian battle in the world" with native casualties fancifully estimated at up to fifteen hundred.

Historian George E. Hyde says the natives had six killed and six wounded and did not regard the fight as a defeat, as they had captured a large number of mules and horses.

Many years later, Red Cloud will claim not to remember the Wagon Box Fight, although that seems unlikely, given the large number of native warriors engaged.