The battle could have its roots four years earlier with the Sand Creek Battle. From that point a series of retaliation from one side or the other kept fueling conflict. More recent to this particular battle could be traced to May 13, 1869 when this same band under Tall Bull got hit hard by the same Major Carr and the 5th Cavlary from Ft. Lyon, Colorado at the Battle of Elephant Rock in Kansas.
After that fight the 5th continued on its mission to another fort low on provisions. Tall Bull raided and killed near the Saline river in Kansas. Near what is now Lincoln, Kansas Susanna Alderdice and Mrs. Weichel were taken captive. Susanna Alderdice was captured with her seven month old daughter. The daughter was strangled after three days. Mrs. Alderdice was also pregnant at the time of her capture.
It would be six weeks before the 5th Cavlary would be able to catch up with the raiders. At the time of the battle Mrs. Weichel was in Tall Bull's lodge where she was found wounded.
This link provides a very detailed enrichment of the events:
http://www.historynet.com/culture/womens_history/3030791.html
It was ironic to me that Susanna's brother and husband were both involved with parts of this group of Cheyenne at the Beecher Island fight the previous year as part of scouts.
