After the expulsion of the Dakota, some refugees and warriors made their way to Lakota lands. Battles continued between Minnesota regiments and combined Lakota and Dakota forces through 1864. Col. Henry Sibley pursued the Sioux into Dakota Territory. Sibley’s army defeated the Lakota and Dakota in three major battles in 1863: the Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake on July 26, 1863; the Battle of Stony Lake on July 28, 1863; and the Battle of Whitestone Hill on September 3, 1863. The Sioux retreated further, but faced a United States army again in 1864. Gen. Alfred Sully led a force from near Fort Pierre, South Dakota, and decisively defeated the Sioux at the Battle of Killdeer Mountain on July 28, 1864.
Conflicts continued. Within two years settlers’ encroachment on Lakota land sparked Red Cloud’s War; the US desire for control of the Black Hills in South Dakota prompted the government to authorize an offensive in 1876 in what would be called the Black Hills War. By 1881 the majority of the Sioux had surrendered to American military forces. In 1890 the Wounded Knee Massacre ended all effective Sioux resistance. It was the last major armed engagement between the United States and the Sioux.