Battle of the Tongue River The Battle of the Tongue River , sometimes referred to as the Connor Battle , was an engagement of the Powder River Expedition of 1865 , directed against the Cheyenne , Arapaho and Lakota Sioux . Soldiers and Indian scouts attacked and destroyed an Arapaho village . Background . Major General Grenville M . Dodge assumed command of the Department of the Missouri in 1865 . Dodge ordered a punitive campaign to suppress the Cheyenne , Sioux , and Arapaho Indians who had been raiding overland mail routes , wagon trains , and military posts along the Oregon and Overland trails . He gave tactical command of the Powder River Expedition , as it was called , to Brigadier General Patrick Edward Connor , commander of the District of Utah . The expedition was a multi - pronged affair involving 2 , 600 soldiers , civilians , and Indian scouts . Three columns of soldiers were to descend upon the Powder River Country of Wyoming and Montana , unite , and " make vigorous war upon the Indians and punish them so that they will be forced to keep the peace . " Connor was in overall command and led the westernmost prong of the expedition . The force under his direct command consisted of 380 soldiers , including civilian guides headed by mountain man Jim Bridger , 95 Pawnee scouts under Frank North , 84 Omaha and Winnebago scouts under Capt . E . W . Nash , and 195 civilian teamsters . Connor left Fort Laramie on July 30 , 1865 , marching north . He established a fort on the upper Powder River which he named Fort Connor ( later Fort Reno ) and left some of his men there to staff the fort . The battle . Jim Bridger saw the smoke of an Indian village and Connor sent out Frank North and two Pawnee to find the village . On August 28 , the scouts reported back that they had found the village about 35 miles west of Connor ' s force . Connor quickly collected his most mobile soldiers , consisting of about 200 soldiers with two howitzers and 40 Omaha and Winnebago and 30 Pawnee scouts , and marched that night toward the village . With Bridger leading them , they reached the village about eight a . m . the next morning . The soldiers charged the village , having achieved complete surprise . The howitzers pounded the village while the soldiers rushed in , catching the Indians unprepared . In the melee , there was a great deal of indiscriminate firing and women and children were killed as well as warriors . The village , led by Black Bear and Medicine Man , had about 500 inhabitants . Many of the men were absent for a raid on the Crow along the Big Horn River , leaving mostly old men , women , and children in the village . After the initial attack the few able warriors in the village put up an effective defense , retreating about twelve miles up Wolf Creek while covering the flight of the women and children . Most of the soldiers remained in the village to loot and burn the tipi s , but Connor and about 30 men , including 15 Pawnee , pursued the retreating Arapaho . The Arapaho counterattacked and Connor , his horses spent , was forced to retreat back to the village . The soldiers there completed their work of destruction as the Indians harassed them from a distance , attempting to re - capture their horse herd . The soldiers abandoned the destroyed village about 2 : 30 that afternoon , North and the Pawnee leading and driving before them more than 500 captured horses . The Arapaho persisted in their attacks but were unable to re - capture the horses , eventually giving up the effort . At 3 a . m . the next morning , the soldiers reached their starting point , having covered more than 70 miles and fought a battle in less than 36 hours . Casualties and aftermath . Connor claimed to have killed 63 Arapaho , including 35 warriors , with a loss to himself of five dead and two seriously wounded . He singled out four Winnebago , including the chief , Little Priest , plus North and 15 Pawnee for bravery . Connor strictly forbade looting and burned all the loot collected during the occupation of the village . He released the women and children he had captured . The battle was hailed as a great victory on the frontier . The Arapaho were apparently not cowed by the destruction of one of their villages . Two days later , on September 1 , 100 or more of them attacked a well - armed train of 60 ox wagons along the Tongue River . They killed two men , stole livestock , and kept the wagon train under siege for two weeks until Connor ' s army rescued it . The effectiveness of the Arapaho attack was limited by their shortage of powder for their musket s . Many of the bullets they fired failed to penetrate the skin of either men or oxen . ( See Sawyers Fight ) No physical evidence of the battle remains . The battleground is preserved by the Connor Battlefield State Historic Site in Ranchester , Wyoming . It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places .