Battle of Stony Lake The The Battle of Stony Lake was the third and last engagement of Henry Hastings Sibley ' s 1863 campaign against the Santee , Yankton , Yanktonai and Teton Sioux in Dakota Territory . Following the battle , the Indians fought delaying actions against Sibley until their women and children had successfully crossed the Missouri River . Sibley then gave up his chase of them . Background . Sibley fought the Sioux in the Battle of Big Mound on July 24 and at the Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake on July 26 . The Sioux retreated westward after each battle , the warriors covering the flight of their women and children toward the Missouri River . Sibley anticipated that he might trap the Indians between his forces and those of General Alfred Sully , who was ascending the Missouri River with 1 , 200 soldiers . On July 27 , the day after the battle of Dead Buffalo Lake , Sibley marched his 2 , 000 men 23 miles to Stony Lake and camped there for the night . The next morning he broke camp before dawn and continued his march on the trail of the Indians . About two hours later his scouts , mostly mixed blood Sioux , reported a large mounted force advancing on Sibley ’ s column . Battle . The Sioux apparently hoped to surprise Sibley , strike at a weak point , and force him to abandon his pursuit . Warned of their approach , Sibley closed up his stretched - out column of soldiers , sent out skirmishers , and deployed his artillery . The Sioux warriors appeared shortly on hills in a semi - circle with an arc of 5 or 6 miles around Sibley ’ s forces . Sibley estimated their numbers at 2 , 200 to 2 , 500 . The Sioux said their force totaled 1 , 600 warriors . Most of the Indians , however , were armed only with bows and arrows and muskets , thus ineffective fighting at distances of more than 100 yards . Nearly surrounding Sibley ’ s column , but having failed to surprise him , the Sioux probed for weak spots . Colonel James H . Baker ’ s 10th Minnesota Regiment was in Sibley ’ s van and advanced , firing volleys and supported by two mountain howitzers . The Sixth Minnesota and Seventh Minnesota Regiments deployed to the left and right of Sibley ’ s wagon train . Charges by companies of infantry dislodged the Indians from several hills . Shortly , the Sioux gave up the battle and faded away . Sibley was unable to pursue them as his horses and men were tired . Sibley did not suffer any casualties . Sioux casualties are unknown , but probably light . Three Indians were seen to have been knocked off their horses by an artillery round Across the wide Missouri . After the Sioux had departed , Sibley marched his men unmolested for 18 miles and camped on Apple Creek , about 10 miles southeast of present - day Bismarck , North Dakota . He had anticipated meeting Sully , who was supposed to be proceeding up the Missouri River by steamboat , near there but there was no sign of him . The next morning , July 29 , Sibley sent two howitzers and his mounted Rangers forward about 12 miles to attempt to prevent the Sioux from crossing the Missouri River . He was too late ; most had crossed the preceding day , but , in their hasty flight had been forced to abandon many of their belongings . Some of the warriors were still on the eastern side of the Missouri and Sibley shelled them , causing them to swim across the river to the safer western side where they continued to fire at long distance on Sibley ’ s men . Two of Sibley ’ s men , separated from the main body of soldiers were killed . Sibley camped near the river and the next three nights was subjected to constant , small - scale attacks by the Sioux who burned the prairie , fired into the army ' s tents , and stampeded some livestock . With Sully , supplies , and reinforcements nowhere to be found , Sibley decided on July 31 to abandon the operation and march back to Minnesota . His horses and men were worn down . Sibley proclaimed his expedition a success as he had pushed the Sioux westward across the Missouri River , far from the settlements in Minnesota and eastern Dakota territory . He claimed to have killed and wounded 150 Indians in the three battles at a loss to his own forces of six men killed . The Santee chief , Standing Buffalo , however , claimed that only 13 Indians had been killed . It is impossible to reconcile the different estimates of Sioux casualties , as it is to determine with precision how many Indian warriors were actually engaged in the battles . The Sioux took their revenge on August 3 , three days after Sibley had left the banks of the Missouri to return to Minnesota . They attacked a river raft and killed 22 civilians . Nor did raids into Minnesota cease as sixteen whites are known to have been killed by Sioux later in 1863 Later that summer , Sully , tardy in joining forces with Sibley , would meet the Sioux in the Battle of Whitestone Hill .