Hayfield Fight
The Hayfield Fight on August 1, 1867 was an engagement of Red Cloud's War near Fort C. F. Smith, Montana, between 21 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 held off the native warriors and inflicted casualties.
While similar in circumstance and casualties to the Wagon Box Fight, which took 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 was the last major engagement of the war, but native raids continued against travelers and soldiers, the telegraph, and Union Pacific Railway, which was under construction.
Historian Jerome Green believes that the Hayfield Fight "dramatized overall ineffectiveness of military policy in the region prior to its temporary abandonment by the federal government.
In Red Cloud's War, the Lakota and allies responded to these intrusions by repeatedly attacking the soldiers and civilians traversing the trail, and parties associated with the forts.
On July 12, Crow scouts told the US soldiers that numerous Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors were gathering in the Rosebud Valley, 50 miles east of the fort.
A major activity at Fort Smith was cutting and drying grass for hay to feed livestock during the long, cold winters.
Two and one-half miles from the fort, the garrison had built a fortified corral for defense of the civilian hay cutters.
Unable to agree which site to attack first, the bands split into two large groups, with several hundred moving against Fort C.F.
[3] On the morning of August 1, 1867, pickets on a hilltop warned the soldiers and civilians in the hayfield of the approach of a large number of Indians.
The Indians broke off the attack, which gave the defenders time to improve their defenses by digging trenches and filling wagon boxes with dirt to stop bullets.
About one p.m., a Lt. Palmer guarding a train of wagons loaded with wood saw the fight from a hilltop and took the news to Colonel Murray inside Fort Smith.
But it is very similar in size and outcome to the Wagon Box Fight, which took place the next day near Fort Phil Kearny.
[2]: 40 The fights at Hayfield and the Wagon Box may have discouraged the Indians from undertaking any further large-scale attacks along the Bozeman Trail during the year remaining in Red Cloud's War.
