The slaughter of peaceful Cheyenne at Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado on November 29, 1864, united the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho. Near Julesburg on January 7, 1865, a small band of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers attacked a stagecoach and wagon train. When news reached nearby Camp Rankin, Captain Nicholas J. O'Brien and 37 troopers of Company F, 7th Iowa Cavalry, pursued them, but the war party retreated into the hills southeast of town and the soldiers found themselves nearly surrounded by more than 1,000 warriors. O'Brien and his command fought their way back to the fort and regrouped, using two cannon to keep the raiders at bay, while the Indians moved into Julesburg looting as they went. Five civilians and fifteen soldiers were killed. During the next three weeks, nearly every stage station and ranch along the South Platte was attacked and burned. On February 2, 1865, the warriors returned to Julesburg hoping to lure the soldiers out of the fort, and when that failed, they looted the town and burned its buildings, bringing the first Julesburg to a fiery end.