The Plains tribes did not go quietly to their reservation.  They still chased the buffalo.  They still raided remote white villages in Kansas and Texas. The settlers were scared and angry.  The U.S. Army was told to do something.  A major campaign was put in place.  The Army was told to force the tribes to settle down.  The native people were supposed to live like the white men. 
 

A new post was constructed.  (It was later named Fort Supply.) The 7th Cavalry operated out of this fort.  Lt. Col. George A. Custer led the cavalry.  Reveille sounded well before the sun rose.  The date was November 23rd, 1868.  The 7th Cavalry trotted off in the dark.  The Army band played an Irish song called"Garryowen" This was the regiment's theme song.

Six days passed.  Then the 7th Cavalry found a village full of native people. The village was in a bend of the Washita River.  It was snowing.  The soldiers surrounded the village. They gave no warning.  Then the buglers sounded the charge.  And the band began playing Garryowen.

Custer ordered his men to charge into a village full of sleeping people. (He had done the same thing four years before.)  Against his 800 men, the camp had no chance.  The “battle” was termed a victory for the Army.  Custer claimed to have killed 103 Cheyenne warriors. 
 

In truth, Custer and his men killed only 11 warriors.  The rest of the dead were 92 women, children, and old men.  They included a great peacemaker. Black Kettle and his wife were both killed.  After this, most Comanche kept roaming the Texas plains.  But some tribes moved on their assigned lands.  These were the Cheyennes, Arapahos, and Kiowas.  The U.S. Army was ordered to make sure the natives stayed where they were put.  So the military build two major army posts.  The posts were named Fort Sill and Fort Reno.  The Buffalo Soldiers built much of Fort Sill and kept the peace.  The Army also built a smaller encampment named Cantonment.