In the summer of 1823, two of the first battles between Indians and Whites in South Dakota grew out of a desire for revenge after the Arikara blamed whites for the unexplained 1806 death in Washington, D.C., of their revered leader Ankedoucharo, whose death Lewis and Clark did not report to them for more than a year. Formerly considered friendly toward white traders and explorers, the Arikara became hostile over the following years, and in June 1823 an Arikara war party led by Grey Eyes directly attacked a group of traders traveling from St. Louis toward Yellowstone under General William H. Ashley, lieutenant governor of Missouri, causing several casualties and the loss of cargo and boats. Colonel Henry Leavenworth then assembled six companies of the 6th U.S. Infantry, volunteer fur traders, and Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota warriors for a retaliatory expedition against the Arikara. The resulting battle was indecisive, though a number of Arikara were killed, and during a cease-fire negotiation most of the Arikara escaped during the night. Leavenworth's force then burned the Arikara villages, destroyed their grain reserves, and killed their livestock.