The Cheyenne wanted and expected to live on the reservation with the Sioux in accordance to an April 29, 1868 treaty of Fort Laramie, which Dull Knife, Little Wolf and also Little Shield had signed.
Those that wished to stop running, including Little Shield, Wild Hog and Left Hand, planned to go with Dull Knife to the Red Cloud Agency.
On October 23, 1878 Dull Knife's band of Cheyenne, in a blinding snowstorm, discovered that they were surrounded by the army; the encounter was accidental, neither party having seen the other due to the snow.
The army offered some food and a few blankets to the Cheyenne and suggested a move to a better camp nearby at Fort Robinson in northwestern Nebraska.
[4] After hearing that Red Cloud and Spotted Tail had been relocated to Pine Ridge, Dull Knife decided, due to the weather and his people's condition, to go to Fort Robinson.