The Hayfield Fight on August 1, 1867, is an engagement of Red Cloud's War near Fort C. F. Smith, Montana, between twenty-one soldiers of the U.S. Army, a hay-cutting crew of nine civilians, and several hundred Native Americans, mostly Cheyenne and Arapaho, with some Lakota Sioux.
Armed with newly issued breechloading Springfield Model 1866 rifles, the heavily outnumbered soldiers hold off the native warriors and inflict casualties.
While similar in circumstance and casualties to the Wagon Box Fight, which takes place the next day near Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming, this engagement has not received as much attention by historians
In both cases, the soldiers' defensive positions and new arms are considered critical to their holding off the larger forces of the Powder River warriors.
The Wagon Box Fight is the last major engagement of the war, but native raids continue against travelers and soldiers, the telegraph, and Union Pacific Railway, which is under construction
It is brought to an end the next year under treaty.
