The Lakota Leader Who Forced The U.S. Army To Abandon Its Forts — And Won A War Most Americans Never Learned About

Many bands did not receive the order.

Many who received it could not comply in the given timeframe even if they had wanted to.

The Great Sioux War of 1876–77 followed.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876 — which killed Custer and nearly 270 of his men — was its most famous engagement.

Red Cloud did not participate in that battle; he had by this point largely withdrawn from active armed resistance and was engaged in the political arena.

After the Little Bighorn, the U.S.