Little Bighorn
The background behind this infamous battle, also known as "Custer's Last Stand," comprises an effort to subdue Native Americans living in the Dakota and Montanaterritories who were fighting for their nomadic way of life.
Discovery of gold in the nearby Black Hills in 1874, triggered an influx of white prospectors intoNative American territory and led to assaults on the prospectors by the Sioux (Lakota), under ChiefSitting Bull, Chief Crazy Horse, and Chief Gall.
In the spring of 1876, the U.S. Army launched an expedition against the Lakota and their allies the Cheyenne. The tribes had not complied with an ultimatum to return to reservations in the Dakotas andNebraska after U.S. negotiations to acquire the Black Hills, held to be sacred by the Indians, had failed in the fall of 1875.
The central figure in the battle was George A. Custer, an army officer who won notoriety as an Indian fighter in the West. On June 25, 1876, Custer and about 225 soldiers under his immediate command were defeated by Indians in "Custer's Last Stand," the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Not one of Custer's men survived.
During the Civil War, Custer had distinguished himself as a cavalry officer and was breveted* one of the youngest generals in the Union Army. In a postwar reorganization, Custer was given the rank of captain, but he joined the Seventh Cavalry Regiment in 1866, and later became a lieutenant colonel. He won greater fame as he fought Indians in the Southwest and in the Dakota and Montana territories.
In early 1876, from his Chicago HQ General Sheridan ordered a concentration of troops along the upper Yellowstone River to capture or disperse the many bands of Dakotas who were hunting in the area. In June, the department commander General Terry, along with Custer with his regiment from Fort Abraham Lincoln, marched overland to the Yellowstone River, where they were met by a steamboat with supplies and ammunition. At the mouth of Rosebud Creek, a tributary of the Yellowstone, Custer received his final orders from Terry to locate and disperse the Indians.
As the soldiers moved into Montana Territory, scouts, seeing campfire smoke and other signs, relayed that an Indian encampment probably lay ahead. Custer decided to assail the encampment before infantry and other support arrived. It is often stated that this was in violation of his orders, but officialrecords strongly suggest that Terry gave Custer a free hand in dealing with the situation, based on Custer's experience in this kind of warfare. Unfortunately for Custer, this led to his Last Stand.
Four days later, on June 25, Custer spied the village about 15 miles off. It lay in a valley along the Little Big Horn River. Ignoring his scouts' higher estimates, Custer believed there would be only about 1,000 Indians who could be rounded up easily by the 647 men in his regiment. Actually, between 2,500 and 5,000 Indians were in the camp. It was the largest assemblage of hostile tribes in Westernhistory.
Custer immediately ordered an attack. He split his regiment into three columns: one under Captain Frederick W. Benteen, one under Major Marcus A. Reno, and one under himself.
Benteen was ordered off to the left to search the valleys for Indians. Custer ordered Reno to charge ahead across the river and attack the Indian village. Custer's column advanced onto high ground to the right, apparently to attack the side or rear of the village.
After bloody fighting in the valley, Reno retreated across the river and went up the bluffs. Benteen's bloodied column joined Reno's men and they took up a defensive position. The soldiers held off the Indians until Terry arrived on June 27.
About five miles away, sometime during the fighting in the valley and the first shooting on the bluffs, the warriors of Crazy Horse and Gall defeated Custer and his column. This ended "Custer's Last Stand."
Retaliation by U.S. Army forces was swift. The Lakota were scattered and Crazy Horse was murdered while under guard.
*To promote a military officer without a pay increase.
After the Battle at Little Big Horn, there were mixed versions as to what happened. Custer and his men were portrayed as heros and the Sioux as villains. John Finerty spent some time researching what probably happened, interviewing both Sioux warriors who fought at the battle and men from the 7th Cavalry.
Between June 22nd and June 24th, Custer and the 7th Cavalry had marched about 140 km. On the 24th, Custer ordered his men to stop and wait for the reports from scouts. That night his scouts informed Custer that the Sioux were camped in the valley of the Little Big Horn River.
To get to the Big Horn River, the cavalry would have to cross the Rosebud Creek, to the east of the Sioux’s camp.Custer's scouts told him that this could only be done during the day despite the fact that Custer wanted a night time crossing to catch the Sioux unawares early on the 25th June.
Custer and his men continued their march at 5 a.m. and crossed the Rosebud Creek at 8.00 a.m. Some Sioux warriors saw the unit and any chance of a surprise attack was lost.
Custer decided that his only option was to attack. Custer divided his men into four sections. He commanded Troops C, E, F, I and L. The other commanding officers were Reno, Benteen and McDougall.
Benteen was originally detailed to hunt out Sioux warriors several miles from where the bulk of the 7th Cavalry were. However, he got an urgent message to return to the main battle zone and assisted Reno’s section. On route, he met up with McDougall who joined him and the besieged Reno. Fighting with the Sioux lasted until the 27th June. However,Custer and his men were now isolated.
No member of the 5 troops under Custer's command survived. Men in Reno’s section claimed that when Custer saw the size of the Sioux camp, he took off his hat and waved it in the air shouting "Hurrah! Custer's luck!"
Horned Horse, an elderly Sioux chief, watched what happened next from a hillside. Horned Horse claimed that the Sioux camp was so large that it stretched for nearly 8 km. As Custer and his men descended to the Big Horn River, they were met with rifle fire from the Sioux. Custer tried to get his men to join Reno, Benteen and McDougall who were onhigher ground above the river.
However, the Sioux had crossed the river by foot and had all but surrounded Custer. The soldiers dismounted andreturned fire. Horned Horse claimed that the firefight went on for some time and that the soldiers put up great resistance. But they were overwhelmed. Horned Horse had seen many massacres but nothing like this. He claimed that the Big Horn River was red with the blood of the dead.
Reno and the men on higher ground lasted out until reinforcements led by General Gibbon arrived on the 27th June. On seeing the arrival of fresh troops, the Sioux withdrew. Gibbon then went to see where Custer had been fighting. He was shocked by what he saw. All the dead soldiers had been stripped naked and many had been mutilated. Custer's body was untouched though, as if out of respect for his courage.