When gold was discovered on the Sioux Reservation in the Black Hills area in 1874 this caused a rush of miners into the Black Hills to Deadwood, Lead and other sites. The United States demanded that the Sioux cede back the Black Hills area, and the refusal by the Sioux resulted in the Great Sioux War of 1876, during which the Sioux defeated General George A. Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876.