Battle of Washita River

The Battle of Washita River (also called Battle of the Washita or the Washita Massacre) occurred on November 27, 1868 when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's 7th U.S. Cavalry attacked Black Kettle's Southern Cheyenne camp on the Washita River (near present-day Cheyenne, Oklahoma), part of a major winter encampment of numerous Native American tribal bands. Background After the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho signed the Medicine Lodge Treaty, they were required to move south from present-day Kansas and Colorado to a new reservation in Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma).