Some two hundred others started after the daring little band of soldiers, which fought its way back with a loss of two men. The Indians then gave up the attack for the day. The following morning they renewed the fight, but not with the same heart as the day before, and soon gave it up and retired into the hills on the north side of the- river. The whole cavalcade of the savage hordes, containing about 1,000 lodges, went towards the Powder river.

Collins then distributed his soldiers along the route to protect it from further molestation, the larger detachments being at Camp Mitchell and Fort Laramie.

This successful battle against an overwhelm^ ing foe, which was well armed and with plenty of horses, seems almost as miraculous as the famous battle on the big Piney in 1867, in which twenty-two plainsmen armed with Henry rifles, behind a barricade of iron armored wagon boxes, whipped Red Cloud and three thousand braves to a standstill, killing or disabling over 1,100 Indians with their "bad medicine guns."

One of the disheartening things about Indian fighting was the lack of knowledge displayed by those in charge higher up. For instance, long after hostilities were commenced and the Indians were congregating to resist establishment of posts along the Bozeman road in the Powder river country. General Dodge wired to General Mitchell, who was about to leave i imaha fur Fort Laramie, to keep him posted as he progressed up the Platte. In his telegram was the query, "Where is Powder river?