Shortly after opening fire on the village, soldiers of the 1st Regiment moved along both sides of it. Capt. Silas S. Soule and Lt. Cramer led their men west around the fighting and purposely did not engage, and many of their men were reluctant to attack people they knew were peaceful. On the opposite side of the valley, a small group of mounted Cheyenne warriors, including Howling Wolf, moved northeast of the village in hopes of flanking the soldiers and gaining time for fleeing women and children. They encountered Company C of the 1st Regiment under Lt. Kennedy, and Howling Wolf and the other warriors inflicted the heaviest casualties the regiment suffered during the attack. As artillery continued to shell Cheyenne and Arapaho people escaping north along the creek bed, many Cheyenne and Arapaho men, including Standing Elk, fought back with the weapons they had, and Lone Bear returned to join the fight after seeing his people being killed and eventually lost his own life.