In September 1863 Iowa Cavalry under General Alfred Sully fought the Battle of Whitestone Hill in what is now Dicky County, North Dakota. Yanktonai, Dakota, Hunkpapa Lakota, & Sihasapa Lakota (Blackfeet) had gathered together on a traditional winter campground. The expedition was intended to punish individuals who had participated in the Dakota Conflict of 1862.
Trooper Corwin Lee, a twenty eight year old member of Company M, 7th Iowa wrote a letter describing the Battle of Whitestone His in a letter published in the Iowa City Republican.
"... we came across a drove of some forty or fifty [buffalo]. The hunters that are detailed from each regiment every day, & the only ones besides scouts that are permitted outside of the lines, were soon among them scattering them in every direction, & during the whole day were chasing them, killing some fifteen or twenty altogether. These hunters are all green hands at the business, being just detailed for the day, & of course, were nearly crazy with excitement. One man of Co. C, 6th Iowa, shot his own horse in the shoulder, while Lieut. Brown, of Co. M, being out to see the fun, got his horse shot in the neck, which threw him sprawling upon the ground. The ball, however, was cut out on the opposite side of the neck & did his horse very little injury. In the midst of the excitement, the command was halted to give the hunters a fair show, & they were just in advance of us; whereupon, the men broke ranks in every direction to get a good view of the chase, & some even joined it without & regardless of orders. The General say the men are d---d sight wilder than the buffalo. The Indian guide says to-morrow we will see heap of buffalo."
"On the morning of the 26th of August, we had been marching but a short time when we came in sight of a very large drove of buffalo. The hunters, as usual were soon in their midst, scattering death & destruction among them. A single rider would select his victim & give him a shot, when Mr. Buffalo, frightened & smarting with pain, would start off across the prairie at full speed, which is but a slow, rolling, lumbering ox like gait, with mouth wide open, eyes glaring, tail distended & hair erect. As each succeeding shot took effect in his body, he would wheel & sheer, in vain endeavor to escape from his pursuing & determined foe, until a shot take effect in some vital spot, would cause him to stop, reel & fall, while the round conqueror of the monarch of the plaines would stand a moment contemplating the work of his hands with no little degree of satisfaction, conscious of having accomplished something of which to boast in the future to wondering friends, when he shall have returned to the land of civilization."
"When the firing began, their horses, for a time, became unmanageable. Some of the men, however, fired their guns & revolvers among the indians who lined the ravine as thick as they could stand & among whom our minnie balls told with fearful effect & the Nebraska boys were pitching into them from the opposite side with nearly their whole line, until got to be so dark that they could not tell whether they were firing upon friends or foes."
"Colonel Wilson had his horse shot under him; also the Adjtant, who was wounded & lay on the field, covering himself with his robe. During the night he was discovered but an Indiana & stabbed with a butcher knife three or four times, the knife being left in the wound. He still lived the next day. In this ravine the Indian's plunder lay thickest, literally covering the ground showing unmistakable evidence of the confusion & blood scattered on all sides.'
"During the next day there was considerable running around over the battle field. One wounded Indian was discovered in the grass & with his bow & arrows he succeeded in wounding two of our men before they could kill him. He would shoot two arrows at a time, & dodged down in the tall grass before they could get a sight of him."
"The second bugler & the sergeant of the battery brought him down with their revolvers & bugler scalped him before he ceased kicking."
"Early in the morning, while a party of our men were crossing the ground, an Indian jumped in front of them without any arms, but savage to the last, he shook his clinched fist at them while they shot him down. We saw a little Indian boy on the field naked & crying; no one paid away attention to him. There were eight or ten little children scattered around. They were collected together & put with the prisoners. At one place there lay two papooses; one of them for or five years old, the other only a few months. A dead squaw, probably their mother, lay by them; the elder would insist on keeping covered, saying, "shoot shoot" whenever uncovered. Another one was crying, "Mamma, mamma!" as pitifully as any white child could. Two or three dead squaws & one with her thigh broken by a shot lay on the field"
This is an example of how Civil War arms were used to Tame the West while the war was going on.