The Great Sioux War had become a desperate affair by late summer 1876. Generals Terry and Crook led their men on an unsuccessful chase through mud, rain, and exhaustion. By August 18, Terry's force had given up and returned to base. Crook pressed on, but his supplies ran out. He ordered half rations, then less. Men butchered their mules for sustenance. The proud cavalry ate horseflesh to survive. When Crook dispatched Mills toward Deadwood with 150 troopers from the 3rd Cavalry, the mission was pure necessity. The army was too hungry to fight. They needed food or they would starve in the wilderness. The village Mills discovered changed everything.

Mills surrounded the village overnight. At dawn on September 9, his troopers attacked, shooting anyone who resisted. The Miniconjou fled in panic. Their leader, American Horse, was mortally wounded. He retreated to a nearby ravine with fifteen women and children, holding out until he could fight no more. When American Horse surrendered, he refused treatment from army surgeons. He died from his wounds, as did two women and one child. In a detail that captures the chaos of the assault, one Indian boy was discovered alive in the village, having slept through the entire attack. The survivors who escaped spread word to neighboring Sans Arc, Brule, and Cheyenne villages. Crazy Horse was coming.

The survivors had reported encountering perhaps 150 soldiers. When Crazy Horse and six to eight hundred warriors rode ten miles northward to counterattack, they discovered something far worse. Crook's main column of infantry, artillery, and additional cavalry had arrived. From the bluffs overlooking American Horse's village, the warriors saw a much larger force than expected, well-armed and forming defensive positions. They opened fire anyway. Crook immediately ordered a defensive perimeter around his horses and mules, then set the village ablaze. Four companies of infantry led the counterattack, followed by dismounted cavalry from three regiments. After forty-five minutes of steady fighting, the soldiers drove the warriors from the high ground. A few Sioux charged the 3rd Cavalry's perimeter in a final, futile assault before retreating.

Among the 110 ponies and supplies of dried meat the soldiers captured, they found something that stopped them cold: relics from the Battle of Little Bighorn. A 7th Cavalry guidon from Company I. The bloody gauntlets of Captain Myles Keogh, killed alongside Custer. Government-issued weapons and ammunition that had belonged to men now three months dead. For cavalrymen who had been eating their horses while pursuing an enemy who seemed invincible, these artifacts carried profound emotional weight. The Sioux had been carrying pieces of Custer's command with them. Now the army had won them back. The battle cost two cavalrymen and one civilian scout, Charles White, known as Buffalo Chips. At least ten Sioux died in the fighting.

Crook led his famished soldiers away from the smoldering village on September 10, headed for the Black Hills. The Sioux harassed them for days, keeping up a running fight until September 15, when the column finally reached a supply train. The war would continue through winter. Dull Knife and Wild Hog fought the army on the Red Fork of the Powder River in November. Crazy Horse battled soldiers at Wolf Mountain in January. But the tide had turned. By May 1877, Crazy Horse surrendered at Fort Robinson. Sitting Bull led his remaining followers into Canada. Today, the Slim Buttes battle site lies on private land. A monument nearby marks where hungry men searching for food found the first American victory of a brutal war.