The Battle of the Little Bighorn, aka "Custer's Last Stand," was fought between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the US Army, led by Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The fight, which occurred on June 25 and 26, 1876 near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, was an overwhelming victory for the Native Americans. Five of the Seventh Cavalry's companies were annihilated; Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, a nephew, and a brother-in-law. The total U.S. casualty count, including scouts, was 268 dead and 55 injured.
The battle, and Custer's actions in particular, have been studied extensively by historians. Custer's field strategy was to capture native women, children, elderly and disabled hostages to use as human shields. But the natives got wise to his plan.
A treaty had given the Sioux exclusive rights to the Black Hills, but when gold was later discovered in the area, white miners flocked to the territory. Despite the treaty, the U.S. government ordered the Indians away from the invading settlers, and Custer's job was to force the Indians back to their reservations. Some refused to leave their sacred land, and other hunters were camped in remote places and never learned of the order. The U.S. Army prepared for battle anyway.
On the morning of June 25, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and the 7th Cavalry charged into battle against Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Indians. Custer's orders were to wait for reinforcements at the mouth of the Little Big Horn River before attacking, but Chief Sitting Bull had been spotted nearby, and Custer was impatient to attack.
Custer planned to attack the Indian camp from three sides, but Chief Sitting Bull was ready for them. The first two groups, led by Captain Benteen and Major Reno, were immediately forced to retreat to one side of the river, where they continued to fight as best they could. Custer was not so lucky.
Custer's troops charged the Indians from the north. Quickly encircled by their enemy, Custer and 265 of his soldiers were slain in less than an hour. The Indians retreated two days later when the troops Custer had been ordered to wait for arrived.
The battlefield is dotted with individual graves where each soldier and Native American fell.
This was some kind of wire sculpture thing that I was too lazy to get out and look at.
See what I mean? Pointless for everyone.
But I discovered something interesting. Old Custer had an adorable wife, Elizabeth Bacon Custer.
Isn't she just the cutest? Not only that, but the lady had gumption. "Libbie" was the adored daughter of a judge, and graduated at the top of her seminary class. She and George had a loving but tumultuous relationship; both were stubborn, opinionated, and ambitious. Libbie always followed him on his assignments, even during the Civil War, in spite of the hardships of frontier life, and the fact that Custer’s career was plagued by problems, including a court martial (brought about by his leaving the field to be with Libbie.)
After the Battle of the Little Big Horn, many in the press, Army, and government criticized Custer for blundering into a massacre. President Ulysses S. Grant publicly blamed Custer for the disaster. Fearing that her husband was to be made a scapegoat by history, Libbie launched a one-woman campaign to rehabilitate her husband's image. She began writing articles and books and making speaking engagements praising the glory of her martyred husband. After an initial period of being in debt after Custer's death, Libbie lived the rest of her life in comfort as a result of her literary career. Largely as a result of her endless campaigning on his behalf, Custer's iconic portrayal as the gallant fallen hero amid the glory of 'Custer's Last Stand was a canon of American history for almost a century after his death.
Blasting home! Note the sweatshirt - back in the Pacific Northwest.
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