On January 9, a rifle pit was constructed by F Company, Twenty-second infantry at a lookout site atop a rock wall.

[4] Crazy Horse and his Oglala band together with the Lakota and Cheyenne warriors fighting with him had an initial position atop a canyon wall on the east side of the river, and were able to rain rifle fire down upon the soldiers.

The battle and the ensuing freezing temperatures and starvation so weakened the tribal coalition, that by May 6, 1877, Crazy Horse and his men surrendered, ending the conflict.

In spite of the modern intrusion of two unpaved roads, a series of utility wires and poles, the agricultural use of the area, and growth of trees and vegetation, it retains much of the look and feel it would have had at the time of the battle.

[4] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001,[1] The site is potentially threatened by development of coal bed methane production.