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Whitestone Hill Battlefield - History

Whitestone Hill Battle veterans

That morning, Major Albert E. House, a Battalion Commander of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry, led a scouting party in search of Indians. In the early afternoon, their Métis guide, Frank LaFrambois, discovered a small encampment of Sioux on a small lake near Whitestone Hill. LaFrambois notified Major House, who moved his battalion toward the village. Upon closer reconnaissance, House discovered that the "small" encampment included 300 to 600 lodges. Frank LaFrambois and two soldiers were dispatched to notify General Sully of the discovery and to request reinforcements. While they were gone, the Indians detected the presence of the troops, and some of the villagers prepared to flee, while others prepared to fight. Major House sent two reconnaissance parties to opposite sides of the tipi encampment to gather tactical information while he waited for the main column to arrive. For nearly three hours, an uneasy standoff continued, during which a delegation of Indian elders approached the soldiers and offered to surrender some of their chiefs. House, however, insisted on total surrender, and negotiations broke down.

Sully's command was less than a mile away when the Indians saw them coming, and departure preparations became frantic. Tipis were stripped, travois were hastily attached to ponies and dogs, and possessions and small children were strapped to the travois. Masses of Indians began streaming east, down a ravine that opened into a shallow mouth at the rear of the village. It was nearly sunset when Sully's troops reached the scouting party.

As Sully's main column advanced toward the village, it became apparent that the Indians were escaping. Sully ordered Colonel Robert W. Furnas, commanding the Second Nebraska Cavalry, forward at full speed to cut off the Indians' retreat. Stopping briefly to instruct Major House to circle around to the left (north and east), Furnas directed his men around to the right (south), hoping to encircle the village. Seeing that Whitestone Hill blocked escape to the south, Sully sent Colonel David S. Wilson, with part of the Sixth Iowa, to the north side of the village.

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