The Yanktonai Sioux came to Whitestone Hill to hun. Herds of buffalo moved up into the Missouri Coteau in late summer in search of grass and water. The Indians had killed up to 1,000 buffalo in September 1863 and were drying the meat for winter. The U.S. Army came to Whitestone Hill looking for Indians. These soldiers expected a fight. When they departed, they left behind the graves of their comrades as well as dead Indians and the ashes of a destroyed Indian camp. Whitestone Hill is the true story of the Yanktonai and Hunkpatina Sioux who traditionally lived and hunted in the eastern Dakotas, of the Army soldiers who volunteered for military service to protect their homes on the frontier, and of the resulting encounter: the bloodiest battle ever fought in the eastern Dakota Territory.