The U.S.–Dakota Conflict of 1862 began when Dakota Indians, frustrated by broken treaty promises and efforts to change their traditional way of life, tried to drive out the settlers of southwestern Minnesota. During that conflict, a burial party of 170 U.S. soldiers and a few civilians under Major Joseph R. Brown left Fort Ridgely on August 31, 1862, with Captain Hiram Grant and Captain Joseph Anderson commanding two companies, to bury the dead from earlier battles, search for survivors, and locate hostile Dakota. After burying more than 70 settlers, soldiers, and traders over two days along both sides of the Minnesota River, the party camped at the head of Birch Coulee. Near dawn, Dakota forces led by Zitkahota, Wanmdi'tan'ka, Husasa, and Mankato, who had surrounded the camp during the night, opened fire on the half-awakened camp. Brown's force was badly damaged, with many men wounded and nearly all 90 horses killed, and the soldiers used the dead horses for cover. A relief column of 240 soldiers led by Colonel McPhail was stopped, and only when Colonel Sibley brought out the remaining troops was the battered burial party finally relieved about 11:00 a.m. the next morning. Most accounts say thirteen members of the burial party were killed and 47 severely wounded, while the Dakota are believed to have lost three men.