Record of Engagements with Hostile Indians within the Military Division of Missouri, from 1868 to 1882

The process of western expansion exacerbated the already high tensions with Native Americans as settlers moved west into the newly opened territories. Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath was ordered to the Dakota Territory with his company for the construction of Fort Custer. At Fort Custer, Gilbreath’s Quartermaster duties were extensive. The presence there of many important army officers—Generals Sherman, Sheridan, Terry, Crook and Col. Nelson Miles (soon to be a general)––underscored the gravity of the campaigns against combative Indian tribes.