Lieutenant Colonel Custer's Battalion

• Custer seperated his command into three battalions. Captain Benteen with three companies (H, D, K-approximately 125 men) was ordered to veer off towards the south to scout the area. Major Reno was given three companies (A, M, G-approximately 140 men) to cross the river, then turn north towards the village. An enlarged company B (approximately 130 men) remained with the pack train. Custer took the remaining five companies (C, E, F, I, L-210 men) and turned north. The plan was to come in from three directions, surround the Lakota-Cheyenne village, force them to surrender and take them back to the reservation.
• Moving along the ridgeline, Custer further divided his force, sending companies C, I, and L down Medicine Tail Coulee while he continued along the ridgeline towards the village which he hoped to catch in a flanking movement.
• Custer's troops met heavy resistance. Custer sent a desperate message to Benteen to come quickly to his aid and to bring plenty of ammunition packs.
• On Calhoun Hill and in the coulee, companies C, I, and L are overrun and killed to the last man.
• Custer and the remaining three companies were turned back from their movement towards the village and headed towards Last Stand Hill. In a series of desperate encounters, Custer's troops are routed, surrounded, and forced to make a stand. Custer and his three companies are annihilated.
• The bodies of close to 200 of Custer's companies will be found on June 27, after General Alfred Terry's column had relieved Reno and Benteen's forces. Due to summer heat and putrefaction of the bodies, the majority of men are buried in less than one foot of dirt.