"Five springs ago I with many Sioux Indians took down and packed up our tipis and moved to the Little Bighorn river and pitched our lodges with the large cap of Sioux. " Red Cloud 1881

   

 Little Bighorn National Monument near Crow Agency Montana, commemorates one of America's most famous battles. The battle of the Little Big Horn. on June 25and26, 1876, two cultures clashed in a life or death battle.   In 1875 Sioux and Cheyenne Indians left their reservations outraged by the continued intrusions of whites onto their sacred lands in the black hills. They gathered in Montana with Sitting Bull to fight for their lands. In 1876 the united states government launched a military campaign upon a portion of the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians who refused to live within the boundaries of the great Sioux reservation. 
    To force the large Indian army onto their reservation the army dispatched three columns to attack in coordinate fashion. one of the columns was commanded by lt. colonel George Armstrong Custer. General Phillip Sheridan ordered the attack from the East, West, South. He anticipated the Indians would in eastern or south central Montana territory.
    Custer  and 647 men of the 7th Calvary were ordered along the rosebud  Creek ahead of the main column. Custer's six crow and 39 Arikara Indian scouts found the massive village of 8000-10,000 people in the valley of the little Bighorn River. Custer found a nearby group of 40 warriors, ignoring orders to wait he attacked before they could alert the main party he did not realize the number of warriors in the village numbered three times his strength.  
Dividing his forces in three he sent troops under captain Frederick Benteen  to prevent their escape through the upper valley of the Little Bighorn river. Major Marcus Reno was to pursue the group across the river, and charge the Indian village with the remaining troops under his command. Reno's soldiers quickly found themselves in a battle with little hope of relief. Reno halted his charging men before they could be trapped. He fought for ten minutes in dismounted formation then withdrew into the timber and brush along the river. When that position proved to be indefensible they retreated up a hill into the bluffs east of the river, pursued by a mix of Cheyenne and Sioux warriors. 

210 of Custer's men were coming toward the other end of the village. That took the pressure of Reno's men. the Indians crossed the river and smashed into the advancing soldiers. They drove Custer's men in confusion. Many of them threw down their guns and raised their hands in the air saying, " Pity us Sioux take us prisoners " the Sioux killed all of them. The Indians chased Custer's men across the Little Bighorn. The banks of the river were high and the Sioux killed allot of the men there while crossing. 
On a hill the soldiers stopped and the Sioux surrounded them. But when they caught word that a different party of soldiers had all the women and children held prisoners they turned around to save them. The soldiers on the hill dug up the ground and made earthworks and the soldiers and the Sioux fought at long range. The fight continued at long range until the Sioux saw the advancing soldiers   and then they became afraid and ran away. Meanwhile Indians under Crazy Horse's command moved downstream and then doubled back in a sweeping arch enveloping Custer and his men. Then they began pouring in gunfire and arrow's. In less than an hour Custer had made the biggest military blunder in the United States history. 
After the battle the Indians stripped the bodies and mutilated all of the uniformed soldiers. On June 25th 1876 one day after the battle 263 7th Calvary men lay dead including Custer. At least sixty known Sioux and Cheyenne warrior's were killed in the battle, but a count was not possible.
Sources:

Archive's of the west 5/9/05

<http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources >

the national parks service 5/9/05

<http://www.nps.gov/libi/indmem.htm>

 Eye winess to history.com 5/8/05

<http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/custer.htm>

The national park service 5/12/05

<http://www.nps.gov/libi/>

 GOOGLE 5/12/05

<http://images.google.com/images?/q=REDCLOUD&hl=en&btng=Search+IMAGES>

 

 

Tyler Pletcher

8th American History

2005 Project