Editing Battle of the Little Bighorn (section)

===1876 Sun Dance ceremony===
{{Wide image|Cheyenne dance4.jpg|985px|align-cap=center|A [[Cheyenne]] [[Sun Dance]] gathering, circa 1909}}

Among the [[Plains Indians]], the long-standing ceremonial tradition known as the [[Sun Dance]] was the most important religious event of the year. It is a time for prayer and personal sacrifice for the community, as well as for making personal vows and resolutions. Towards the end of spring in 1876, the Lakota and the Cheyenne held a Sun Dance that was also attended by some "agency Indians" who had slipped away from their reservations.<ref>Hutton, Paul Andrew, ''The Custer Reader'', 1992, University of Nebraska Press</ref> During a Sun Dance around June 5, 1876, on [[Rosebud Creek (Montana)|Rosebud Creek]] in [[Montana]], [[Sitting Bull]], the spiritual leader of the [[Hunkpapa Lakota]], reportedly had a vision of "soldiers falling into his camp like grasshoppers from the sky."<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/546854/Sitting-Bull "Sitting Bull"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327021927/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/546854/Sitting-Bull |date=March 27, 2010 }}, ''Encyclopædia Britannica''</ref> At the same time US military officials were conducting a summer campaign to force the Lakota and the Cheyenne back to their [[Indian reservation|reservations]], using [[infantry]] and [[cavalry]] in a so-called "three-pronged approach".