Great Sioux War of 1876 Col. George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry were ordered out from the main Dakota Column to scout the Rosebud and Big Horn river valleys. On June 25, 1876, they encountered a large village on the west bank of the Little Bighorn. The US troops were seriously beaten in the Battle of the Little Bighorn and nearly 270 men were killed, including Custer. Custer split his forces just prior to the battle and his immediate command of five cavalry companies was annihilated without any survivors. Two days later, a combined force consisting of Colonel Gibbon's column, along with Terry's headquarters
9th Cavalry Regiment (United States) scouting for hostile natives, escorting the mail, surveying uncharted land, and constructing roads. That service also included the Battle of Tularosa with Chiricahua Apache warriors led by Victorio in May 1880. The 9th Cavalry was transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1881, and to Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in 1885. On 5 November 1887, Company H, of the 9th Cavalry fought at the Battle of Crow Agency during the Crow War, at Crow Agency, Montana. The regiment was also patrolled during the Ghost Dance War with the Sioux around the time of the Wounded Knee Massacre and were the last regiment