The Battle of Little Bighorn

The Battle of the Little Bighorn is one of the most famous battles in American History. Here in the valley of the Little Bighorn River on June 25 and 26 1876, more than 260 soldiers and attached personnel of the U.S. 7th Cavalry met defeat and death at the hands of Lakota and Cheyenne.

In 1868 representatives of the U.S.government signed a treaty at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, with the Lakota, Cheyenne, and other tribes of the great plains, by which a large area in South Dakota was designated the Great Sioux reservation. The government promised to protect the Indians "against the commission of all dependent by people of the United States". 

Peace, however, was not to last. In 1874 gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the heart of the new Indian reservation. News of the strike spread quickly, and soon thousands of eager gold seekers swarmed into the region in violation of the Fort Laramie treaty. The army tried to keep them out, but to no avail. Efforts to buy the Black Hills from the Indians, and thus avoid another confrontation, also proved unsuccessful. In growing defiance, the Lakota and Cheyenne left the reservation and resumed raids on settlements and travelers along the fringes of Indian domain. 

In December 1875, the commissioner of Indian Affairs ordered the tribes to return before January 31, 1876, or be treated as hostiles "by the military force." When the Indians did not comply, the army was called in to enforce the order.

The Campaign of 1876

The army's campaign against the Lakota and Cheyenne called for three separate expeditions - one under Gen. George Crook from Fort Fetterman in Wyoming Territory, another under Col. John Gibbon from Fort Ellis in Montana Territory, and the third under Gen. Alfred H. Terry from Fort Abraham Lincoln in Dakota Territory.

Crooks troops were knocked out of the campaign in mid-June when they clashed with a large Lakota-Cheyenne force along Rosebud Creek and were forced to withdraw. Meanwhile, Terry and Gibbon met on the Yellowstone River near the mouth of the Rosebud. Hoping to find the Indians in the Little Bighorn Valley, Terry ordered Custer and the 7th Cavalry up the Rosebud to approach the Little Bighorn from the south. Terry would accompany Gibbon's force back up the Yellowstone and Bighorn rivers to approach from the North.

On the Early Morning of June 25th 1876

Around 4-5 a.m. Lt. Col. G.A. Custer and his 12 companies of the 7th Cavalry approached the Wolf mountains from the East. Custers Crow and Arikara scouts and Lt. Varnum ascended to a high point now known as "Crows Nest". The Crow scouts spotted the unmistakable signs of a large Indian pony herd in the Little Bighorn Valley, some fifteen miles to the west. Although Custer could not see the massive pony herd nor the smoke of the enemy encampments, he accepted his scouts information. Concern that his regiments had been spotted by out riding warrior parties and more importantly that the Sioux and Cheyenne would escape, Custer decided to attack them.

 

Custer divided his regiment into three battalions. He retained five companies under his command and assigned three companies each to his immediate Officers Maj. Marcus A. Reno and Capt. Frederick Benteen. One company was assigned to guard the slow-moving pack train.

Benteen was ordered to scout the bluffs to the south, while Custer and Reno headed toward the Indian camp in the valley of the Little Bighorn. When near the river, Custer turned north toward the lower end of the encampment. Reno, ordered to cross the river and attack, advanced down the valley to strike the southern end of the camp. As he neared the camp a large force of Lakota warriors rode out from the southern edge of the encampment to intercept him. Forming his men into a line of battle, Reno would soon be overwhelmed. Outflanked and forced in the timber. Eventually they cross the river and take up defensive positions on the bluffs beyond. Here he was joined by Benteen, who had hurried forward under orders from Custer to " come on; Big village, be quik, bring packs". Reno and Benteen's command are held down for another two days by the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. On the afternoon of the 26th, to their surprise the warriors broke off attacking. The Indians had learned that a large force of soldiers were coming down from the north. The Indian people packed up and left the valley heading south. 

In the meantime, Custer had ridden into history and legend. His Movements after separating from Reno have never been determined, but vivid accounts of the battle by Indians who participated in it tell how his command was surrounded and destroyed in fierce fighting. Northern Cheyenne, Chief Two Moons, recalled that "the shooting was quick, quick. Pop-pop-pop very fast. We circled all around him-swirling like water around a stone. We shoot, we ride fast, we shoot again. Soldiers drop, by rapping clapping of his his hands and says "in a matter of minutes it was over". 

In the battle, the 7th Cavalry lost five companies (C, E, F, I, and L) under Custer, about 210 men. Of the other companies of the regiment under Reno and Benteen, 53 men were killed and 52 wounded. The Indians lost at least 60 or more.

The Sioux and Cheyenne scattered, some going north, some going south. Although the Sioux and Cheyennes won the battle that day but subsequently they lost the war against the military's effort to end their independent, nomadic way of life. Most of them returned to the reservation and surrendered in the next few years.