The Indians struck on 1 and 2 August at both Fort Phil Kearny and Fort C. F. Smith. Some 500 Cheyennes caught 30 civilian hay cutters and soldier-guards two miles from the latter post on 1 August. The soldiers, sheltered in a log corral, shot the first rush of men to pieces. Only one warrior made it to the barricade and he was shot dead. The Cheyennes set the grass afire, but the flames stopped 20 feet short of the logs, 'as thoght arrested by supernatural power', one of the defender said. The smoke blew back on the Indians, who used it to retrieve their 20 dead or wounded warriors. The Indians had been stung badly in the six-hour Hayfield Fight, when a dozen civilians and 20 soldiers fought off odds of at least 20-to-one for six hours. (9)

"Fighting scouts" by Charles Schreyvogel