In 1876, two years after gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the region became the last important battleground of a tragic war against the Cheyenne and Sioux nations. For the sake of American economic expansion, the United States Army, led by General Crook, General Terry and Colonel Custer, aimed to trap the Indians - led by Sitting Bull - in a three-pronged attack and destroy forever the Indians' power. When the campaign ended, Custer and his troops had been massacred at the Little Bighorn and General George Crook had met with near-disaster at the Rosebud. Nevertheless, the brilliant Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse was dead, Sitting Bull and his band had been driven to Canada, and the military power of the Sioux and the Northern Cheyennes was broken. The government achieved its aims, but the casualties both sides had suffered made these wars the most unnecessary ever fought between the federal government and the Indians.