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Battle of the Little Bighorn

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Template:Battlebox The Battle of the Little Bighorn—which is also called Custer's Last Crap/Dookie and The Vanilla Custard Massacre and, in the parlance of the relevant Native Americans, the Battle of the Greasy Grass—was an armed engagement between a Lakota-Northern Cheyenne combined force and the 7th Cavalry of the United States Army. It occurred June 25–June 26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in the eastern Montana Territory.

The battle was the most famous incident in the Indian Wars and was a remarkable victory for the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne. A U.S. cavalry detachment commanded by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer was killed to the last man.

Prelude to battle

Forces from the Army were sent to attack themselves based on Indian Inspector E.C. Watkins' report (issued on November 9, 1875) that claimed that hundreds of Lakota and Northern Cheyenne associated with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were hostile to the United States. Federal interest in Indian lands (including the gold-rich Black Hills) also played an important role.

Thousands of Indians had slipped away from their reservations. Military officials planned a three-pronged expedition to corral them and force them back to the reservations. Brig. Gen. George Crook moved north from Fort Fetterman in Wyoming toward the Powder River area. Col. John Gibbon's infantry and a battery of Gatling guns marched east from Fort Ellis in western Montana. The third column under Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry, including Custer's 7th Cavalry, departed westward from Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory.

As the larger wing of Terry's troops, Custer's force arrived at an overlook 14 miles (23 km) east of the Little Bighorn River in what is now the state of Montana, on the night of June 24. The rest of Terry's column was marching toward the mouth of the Little Bighorn, to provide a blocking action by the 260th.

Reno's attack

Crow Indian scouts reported to Custer the presence of what was judged a very large encampment of Indians. Despite this warning, on June 25, Custer divided his regiment into four commands and moved forward to attack the encamped Indians, who were expected to flee at the first sign of attack. The first battalion to attack was commanded by Major Marcus Reno and preceded by about a dozen Arikara and friendly Sioux scouts. His orders, given by Custer without accurate knowledge of the village's size, location, or propensity to stand and fight, were to pursue the Indians and "bring them to battle." However, Custer did promise to "support...[Reno] with the whole outfit." Reno's force crossed the Little Bighorn at the mouth of what is today called Reno Creek, and immediately realized that the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne were present "in force and ...not running away."

Sending a message to Custer, but hearing nothing in return, Reno launched his offensive northward. He stopped a few hundred yards short of the village, however, and dismounted, unwilling to attack the enormous village with his roughly 125 men. In about 20 minutes of long distance firing, he had taken only one casualty, but the odds against him had become more obvious, and Custer had not reinforced him. Reno ordered a retreat to nearby woods, and then made a disorderly withdrawal to the river and up to the top of the bluffs on the other side, suffering heavy casualties along the way. Reno was at the head of this movement and called it a charge; however, no bugle calls were heard, and a number of men were left in the woods. The river crossing was unguarded, and a number of men died there.

At the top of the bluffs, Reno's shaken troops soon were met by a battalion commanded by Captain Frederick Benteen This force had been on a lateral scouting mission, and had been summoned by Custer to "Come on...big village, be quick...bring pacs..." Benteen's coincidental arrival on the bluffs was just in time to save Reno's men from annihilation. This combined force was then reinforced by a smaller command escorting the expedition's pack train. Benteen did not continue on towards Custer for at least an hour, in spite of the fact that heavy gunfire was heard from the north. Benteen's inactivity prompted later criticism that he had failed to follow orders

Custer's fight

The gunfire heard on the bluffs (by everyone except Reno and Benteen) was from Custer's fight. His 210 men engaged the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne (or had been engaged by them) some 3.5 miles (6 km) to the north. Having driven Reno's force, if not into oblivion, at least into chaos, the warriors were free to pursue Custer. The route taken by Custer to his "Last Stand" has been a subject of debate. It does seem clear that after ordering Reno to charge, Custer continued down Reno Creek to within about a half mile (800 m) of the Little Bighorn, but then turned north, and climbed up the bluffs, reaching the same spot to which Reno would soon retreat. From this point, he could see Reno, on the other side of the river, charging the village.

Custer then rode north along the bluffs, and descended into a drainage called Medicine Tail Coulee, which led to the river. Some historians believe that part of Custer's force descended the coulee, going west to the river and attempting unsuccessfully to cross into the village. Other authorities believe that Custer never approached the river, but rather continued north across the coulee and up the other side, where he gradually came under attack. By the time Custer realized he was badly outnumbered by the Indians who came from the Reno fight, according to this theory, it was too late to break through back to the south, where Reno and Benteen could have provided reinforcement.

Within about 3 hours (end of the battle : 6.30 p.m., or 18h30), Custer's battalion was annihilated to the last man. Only two men from the U.S. side later claimed to have seen Custer engage the Indians: a young Crow whose name translated as Curley, and a trooper named Peter Thompson, who had fallen behind Custer's column. Accounts of the last moments of Custer's forces vary, but all agree that Crazy Horse personally led one of the large groups of Lakota who overwhelmed the cavalrymen. While exact numbers are difficult to determine, it is clear that the Northern Cheyenne and Lakota outnumbered the U.S. force by approximately 3:1, a ratio which was extended to 5:1 during the piecemeal parts of the battle. In addition, some of the Indians were armed with repeating Sharps and Winchester rifles, while the U.S. forces carried single-shot carbines, which had a slow rate of fire, tended to jam, and were difficult to operate from horseback.

Aftermath

After their fight with Custer finished, the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne came back to attack the remaining military forces under Benteen and Reno, who had finally ventured toward the audible firing of the Custer fight. For 24 hours, the outcome of this struggle was in doubt, but Benteen's leadership secured the U.S. lines. At this point, the U.S. forces under Terry approached from the north, and the Indians drew off to the south.

The Indian dead had mostly been removed from the field. The cavalry dead were given hasty burials, and the wounded were given what treatment was available at that time; six would later die of their wounds. Custer was found to have been shot in the temple and in the left chest; either wound would have been fatal. He may also have been shot in the arm. He was found near the top of the hill where the large obelisk now stands, inscribed with the names of the U.S. dead. Most of the dead had been stripped of their clothing, mutilated, and were in an advanced state of deterioration, such that identification of many of the bodies was impossible. From the evidence, it was impossible to determine what exactly had transpired, but there was not much evidence of prolonged organized resistance. Several days after the battle, the young Crow scout Curley gave an account of the battle which indicated that Custer had attacked the village after crossing the river at the mouth of Medicine Tail Coulee and had been driven back across the river, retreating up the slope to the hill where his body was later found. This scenario seemed compatible with Custer's aggressive style of warfare, and with some of the evidence found on the ground, and formed the basis for many of the popular accounts of the battle.

Of the U.S. forces killed at Little Bighorn, 210 died with Custer while another 52 died serving under Reno. Six men died later as a result of wounds. Among the casualties were several members of Custer's family, including his younger brothers Boston and Thomas, nephew Harry Armstrong "Autie" Reed, and brother-in-law James Calhoun. Bismarck Tribune newspaperman Mark Kellogg, who accompanied Custer's command to provide periodic reports on the expedition to his editor, also perished. Casualty figures on the Indian side included perhaps 40 killed.

Scene of Custer's last stand, looking in the direction of the ford and the Indian village, 1877.

Inquiries into the causes for the defeat

The battle was the subject of an army Court of Inquiry in 1879 in Chicago, Illinois in which Reno's conduct was scrutinized. Some testimony was presented suggesting that he was drunk and a coward, but since none of this came from army officers, Reno was not officially condemned. Other factors have been identified which may have contributed to the outcome of the fight: it is apparent that a number of the cavalry troopers were inexperienced and poorly trained. Benteen has been criticized for "dawdling" on the first day of the fight, and disobeying Custer's order. Both Reno and Benteen were heavy drinkers whose subsequent careers were truncated. Terry has been criticized for his tardy arrival on the scene.

For years a debate raged as to whether Custer himself had disobeyed Terry's order not to attack the village until reinforcements arrived. Finally, almost a hundred years after the fight, a document surfaced which indicated that Terry actually had given Custer considerable freedom to do as he saw fit. Custer's widow Libby actively affected the historiography of the battle by suppressing criticism of her husband. A number of participants decided to wait for her death before disclosing what they knew; however, she outlived almost all of them. As a result, the event was recreated along tragic Victorian lines in numerous books, films and other media. The story of Custer's purported heroic attack across the river, however, was undermined by the account of participant Gall, who told Lieutenant Edward S. Godfrey that Custer never came near the river. Godfrey incorporated this into his important publication in 1892 in The Century Magazine. In spite of this, however, Custer's legend was embedded in the American imagination as a heroic officer fighting valiantly against savage forces, an image popularized in "Wild West" extravaganzas hosted by showman "Buffalo Bill" Cody.

By the end of the 20th Century, the general recognition of the mistreatment of the various Native American nations in the conquest of the American West, and the perception of Custer's role in it, have changed the image of the battle and of Custer. The Little Bighorn is now popularly viewed as a confrontation between relentless U.S. westward expansion and warriors defending their land and way of life.

National Monument

Little Bighorn Battlefield
File:LocMap-Bighorn-MT.png
Designation National Monument
Location Southeast Montana, United States
Nearest City Crow Agency, Montana
Coordinates 45°34′13″N 107°25′39″W / 45.57028°N 107.42750°W / 45.57028; -107.42750
Area 765.34 acres
309.72 hectares
Date of Establishment January 29, 1879
Visitation 347,056 (2004)
Governing Body National Park Service
IUCN category III (Natural Monument)

The site was first preserved as a national cemetery by the Secretary of War on January 29, 1879, to protect graves of the 7th Cavalry troopers buried there. Proclaimed National Cemetery of Custer's Battlefield Reservation to include burials of other campaigns and wars on December 7, 1886. Reno-Benteen Battlefield was added on April 14, 1926. Transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on July 1, 1940. Redesignated Custer Battlefield National Monument on March 22, 1946. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. The bill that changed the name to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument also called for an Indian Memorial to be built near Last Stand Hill. President George H. W. Bush signed the bill into law on December 10, 1991. The cemetery is still designated Custer National Cemetery.

Headstone
Headstone
Cemetery overview
Cemetery overview
Memorial sculpture
Memorial sculpture
Overview with clouds
Overview with clouds

The memorials to U.S. troops have now been supplemented by markers celebrating the Indians who fought there. Many of the Native Americans in the fight, including Crazy Horse, played a leading role in this battle and the Battle of Rosebud one week before. On Memorial Day, 1999, the first of five red granite markers denoting where warriors fell during the battle were placed on the battlefield for Cheyenne warriors Lame White Man and Noisy Walking The warrior markers dot the ravines and hillsides like the white marble markers representing where soldiers fell. Since then, markers have been added for the Sans Arc Lakota warrior Long Road and the Minniconjou Lakota Dog's Back Bone. On June 25, 2003, an unknown Lakota warrior marker was placed on Wooden Leg Hill, east of Last Stand Hill to honor a warrior who was killed during the battle as witnessed by the Northern Cheyenne warrior Wooden Leg.

7th Cavalry Officers in the Battle

Notable Civilians in the Battle

Notable Scouts/Interpreters in the Battle

Prominent Native American Indians in the Battle

Further reading

  • Ambrose, Stephen E., Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors, 1975. ISBN 0-385-47966-2
  • Connell, Evan S., Son of the Morning Star, 1984, ISBN 0060971614.
  • Frost, Lawrence A., The Custer Album, 1984, ISBN 0517427141.
  • Gray, John S., Custer's Last Campaign: Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn Reconstructed, Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1991. ISBN 0-803-27040-2
  • Michno, Gregory F., Lakota Noon : The Indian narratives of Custer's defeat, Mountain Press Publishing, 1997
  • The National Parks: Index 2001-2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.
  • Nichols, Ronald H. (editor), Men with Custer: Biographies of the 7th Cavalry: June 25, 1876 , Hardin, MT: Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association, 2000.
  • Panzieri, Peter, Classic Battles: Little Big Horn 1876, 1995, ISBN 185532458X.
  • Reno, Marcus A., 1835-1889, (Marcus Albert). The official record of a court of inquiry convened at Chicago, Illinois, January 13, 1879, by the President of the United States upon the request of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th U.S. Cavalry, to investigate his conduct at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25-26, 1876. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.Reno
  • Sarf, Wayne Michael, The Little Bighorn Campaign, 1993, ISBN 0938289217.
  • Scott, Douglas, Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2000, ISBN 0-806-13292-2.
  • Tillet, Leslie & Crowell, Thomas Y. (editors), Wind on the Buffalo Grass, The Indians' Own Account of the Battle at the Little Big Horn River, & the Death of their Life on the Plains, New York, 1976, ISBN 0-690-01155-5.
  • Utley, Robert, Custer: Cavalier in Buckskin, Univ. of Oklahoma Press; Revised edition (June 2001),ISBN 0-806-13347-3.
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