the indians were wary of approaching the fort. a joint camp of southern cheyenne and oglala sioux was established thirty miles away at pawnee fork. a handful of indians entered the fort, including tall bull, leader of the cheyenne dog soldiers. hancock threatened them with war if they did not agree to his terms, but they responded by returning to their camp. angered that many indian leaders had not met him, hancock declared that if the indians would not come to him, he would go to them and prepared to move his whole force to pawnee fork. the indian agents again warned him that this would be seen as aggression and was not a good idea. the indians attempted to stop hancock approaching the camp by setting fire to the prairie but this failed. outside the camp there was a confrontation with the cheyenne leader roman nose. hancock spoke harshly to roman nose who then told his companion, bull bear, to ride away because he intended to kill hancock in front of his soldiers and did not want bull bear to be killed in the inevitable hail of bullets that would follow. instead bull bear led roman nose away. hancock then ordered the camp to be captured, but on entering, it was found to be deserted. the indians, fearing a repeat of the sand creek massacre, had already left and scattered.