Battle of Little Muddy Creek Battle of Little Muddy Creek The Battle of Little Muddy Creek, also known as the Lame Deer Fight, was fought on May 7, 1877 by United States soldiers and scouts, against a village of Miniconjou Lakota and Northern Cheyenne. The Battle occurred near Little Muddy Creek in Montana Territory, near present-day Lame Deer, Montana, United States. On May 1, 1877, Colonel Nelson A. Miles led a mixed force of his own 5th United States Infantry, the 22nd United States Infantry, and the 2nd United States Cavalry out of Cantonment Tongue River in search of Miniconjou Lakota under Lame Deer. On
Battle of the Little Bighorn engage noncombatants at the encampments on the Little Bighorn so as to capture women, children, and the elderly or disabled to serve as hostages to convince the warriors to surrender and comply with federal orders to relocate. Custer's battalions were poised to "ride into the camp and secure noncombatant hostages" and "forc[e] the warriors to surrender". Author Evan S. Connell observed that if Custer could occupy the village before widespread resistance developed, the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors "would be obliged to surrender, because if they started to fight, they would be shooting their own families." In Custer's book "My Life