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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.
General Sully, with one company of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry, two companies of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry, and the artillery battery, charged toward the center of the village. As they passed through the village, they captured a number of prisoners, who were left behind under guard. Sully and his troops climbed to the top of Whitestone Hill to direct the rest of the battle and to offer artillery support, if needed by the soldiers on the flats below.
Although the Indians scattered in as many directions as possible, most tried to escape down the ravine. As the Indians came to a saucer-like broadening of the ravine about one-half mile from the village, they began to gather in a large throng. There they were surrounded by Colonel Furna's cavalry, Major House's battalion, and Colonel Wilson's Sixth Iowa troops.
Fearing that the Indians might escape in the impending darkness, Furnas ordered his men to dismount and advance toward the ravine on foot. When his men were within a few hundred yards, he ordered them to begin firing. The other troops followed his lead, dismounted, and closed in on the Indians. Only Wilson's men remained mounted, and, as the attack continued, their horses became wild and unmanageable. The Indians, noticing this weakness in the north firing line, suddenly charged in that direction. Many were able to escape the deadly ravine.
As darkness deepened, Colonel Furnas supsected that bullets from the other units were hitting his lines. He withdrew his troops to higher ground surrounding the ravine. As Furnas and his men withdrew, the other units also broke off the engagement and spent the night on the hilltops overlooking the battlefield. (go to battlefield map)
The light of the following day revealed a field of carnage. Dead and wounded men, women, and children lay in the campsite and in the ravine. Tipis stood vacant, or drooped in various stages of destruction. Camp equipment and personal items, tools, utensils, weapons, toys, and injured or dying horses and dogs littered the ground. Injured women protected babies and the little children. As the soldiers looked after the wounded and gathered the dead, Sully moved his camp to the battlefield. While some squads of soldiers patrolled the region searching for escapees, other men were put to work digging graves and destroying the village and Indian possessions.