Reports from the burial party sent to collect the remains said the soldiers had died in three groups. The most advanced, and probably most effective, were the two civilians, armed with 16-shot Henry repeating rifles, and a small number of cavalrymen who had dismounted and taken cover in the rocks. Up the slope behind them were the bodies of most of the retreating cavalrymen, armed with new 7-shot Spencer carbines, but encumbered by their horses and lacking cover. Further up the slope were Fetterman, Brown, and the infantrymen. They had nearly obsolete Civil War muzzle-loading muskets; the Indians were armed with equally obsolete weaponry. These foot soldiers fought from cover for a short while, until their ammunition ran out and they were overrun.