The 5th Infantry had traveled more than a thousand miles to reach this moment. Colonel Miles led his men from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, up the Missouri River by paddlewheel boat, then overland to join the pursuit of the Sioux and Cheyenne who had annihilated Custer's command at Little Bighorn. By autumn, the soldiers had established a temporary base at the mouth of the Tongue River, preparing for a winter campaign in hostile territory. Supply trains faced constant danger. Sioux warriors ambushed a 100-wagon train near Spring Creek on October 11, killing mules and scattering the wagons. Four days later, the same train came under attack again but fought through. It was during this tension that two Indian emissaries approached Colonel Elwell Otis with an unexpected offer: Sitting Bull wanted to talk.

The parley took place in the open, between the lines of soldiers and warriors, at Sitting Bull's request. The legendary medicine man made a practical proposal: let his people trade for ammunition so they could hunt buffalo. The army would stay out of Sioux territory, and his people would leave the soldiers alone. Miles delivered Washington's response: unconditional surrender. Neither man was satisfied, but both agreed to meet again the next day after consulting with their people. That night, Sitting Bull's camp split. Some chiefs wanted peace and a return to the reservations. Others prepared for war. When talks resumed on October 21, Sitting Bull demanded the soldiers leave and threatened to kill any chief who led his band back to surrender. The conference collapsed. Both leaders returned to their forces. Minutes later, the shooting began.

What followed was less a pitched battle than a relentless pursuit. After a sharp skirmish, Sitting Bull withdrew his warriors. Miles and his infantry gave chase across the Montana plains, covering miles of rough terrain. The army collected large quantities of dried meat, lodge poles, ponies, and abandoned weapons as evidence of the Lakota retreat. The soldiers had entered the campaign exhausted and sometimes starving, reduced to eating horseflesh during the worst stretches. Now they found themselves on the winning side of a war that had seemed unwinnable just months before. On October 27, six days after the failed peace talks, over four hundred lodges surrendered to Miles. The approximately two thousand Lakota who came in represented a significant portion of the hostile forces still at large.

The Cedar Creek campaign produced an extraordinary number of Medal of Honor recipients. Men from nearly every company of the 5th Infantry received the nation's highest military honor for actions between October 1876 and January 1877. Sergeant Michael McLoughlin, born in Ireland, was recognized for gallantry. Private Henry Rodenburg, a German immigrant serving in Company A, personally helped secure settlers throughout the region. First Sergeant Henry Hogan of Company G earned his second Medal of Honor here, one of only nineteen men ever to achieve that distinction twice. Private Joseph Cable of Company I received his medal for gallantry in action at Cedar Creek, but would die less than a year later fighting the Nez Perce under Chief Joseph at the Battle of Bear Paw Mountain.

Not everyone surrendered. Sitting Bull's most devoted followers refused to accept defeat. They turned north toward Canada, beginning an exile that would last years. Miles prepared to pursue them through the brutal Montana winter, establishing the pattern of relentless pressure that would eventually end the Great Sioux War. The battle site along Cedar Creek, also known as Big Dry Creek, remains remote Montana rangeland today. The plains look much as they did when two leaders sat down to negotiate and walked away to war. The soldiers who fought here are scattered across national cemeteries from Leavenworth to Cypress Hills, Brooklyn to Columbia Falls. The conflict they waged shaped the map of the American West.