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The Battle of the Little Bighorn — also known as '''Custer's Last Stand''' and '''Custer Massacre''' and, in the parlance of the relevant Native American s, 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 action of the Indian Wars and was a remarkable victory for the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne. A U.S. Cavalry detachment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was annihilated. PRELUDE TO BATTLE Thousands of Indians had slipped away from their Reservations through early 1876. Military officials planned a three-pronged expedition to corral them and force them back to the reservations, using both Infantry and cavalry, as well as a small detachment of Gatling Gun s. Brig. Gen. George Crook 's column moved north from Fort Fetterman in the Wyoming Territory toward the Powder River area. Col. John Gibbon 's column of 6 companies of the 7th Infantry and 4 of the 2nd Cavalry marched east from Fort Ellis in western Montana Territory. The third column under Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry (including George Custer's 7th Cavalry; Companies B, D and I, 6th U.S. Infantry ; Companies C & G, 17th U.S. Infantry; and the Gatling gun detachment of the 20th Infantry) departed westward from Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory . They were accompanied by teamsters and packers with 150 wagons and a large contingent of pack mules.See Sarf for a breakdown of the composition of each of these columns. The coordination and planning went awry on June 17 when Crook's column was delayed after the Battle Of The Rosebud and was forced to stop and regroup. Gibbon and Terry proceeded, joining forces in late June near the mouth of the Rosebud River. They formulated a plan that called for Custer's regiment to proceed up the Rosebud River, while Terry and Gibbon's united columns would proceed up the Bighorn and Little Bighorn rivers. The officers hoped to trap the Indian village between these two forces. After discovering a large Indian trail on June 15 , the 7th Cavalry split from the remainder of the Terry column on June 22 and began a pursuit along the trail. Custer was offered the use of the Gatling guns but declined, saying they would slow his command.See Panzeri.. He also declined the offer of two further companies of cavalry on the basis that his regiment could handle anything they found without other assistance. Custer's scouts arrived at an overlook 14 miles (23 km) east of the Little Bighorn River on the night of June 24 , as the Terry/Gibbon column was marching toward the mouth of the Little Bighorn. 7th Cavalry organization and deployment The 7th Cavalry was a veteran organization created just after the American Civil War . Several men were veterans of the war, including many of the leading officers. A significant portion of the regiment had previously served four-and-a-half years at Ft. Riley , Kansas , during which time it fought one major engagement and numerous skirmishes, experiencing casualties of thirty-six killed and twenty-seven wounded. Six other troopers had died of drowning and fifty-one from Cholera epidemics. Half of the 7th Cavalry had just returned from eighteen months of constabulary duty in the Deep South , having been recalled to Fort Abraham Lincoln to reassemble the regiment for the campaign. Approximately 20% of the troopers had been enlisted in the prior seven months (139 of an enlisted roll of 718), were only marginally trained, and had no combat or frontier experience. A sizable number of these recruits were immigrants from Ireland , England , and Prussia , just as many of the veteran troopers had been prior to their enlistments. Of the 44 officers and 718 troopers then assigned to the 7th Cavalry (including a second lieutenant detached from the 20th Infantry and serving in L Troop), 13 officers (including the regimental commander, Col. Samuel D. Sturgis , who was on detached duty) and 152 troopers did not accompany the 7th during the campaign. Among those left behind at Fort Abraham Lincoln was the regimental band. Following a night forced march on June 24 – June 25 , in which Crow Indian scouts reported to Custer the presence of what was judged a very large encampment of Indians, Custer divided the 7th Cavalry into four detachments:
Each of the first three detachments was to seek out the Indian encampments, attack them, and hold them in place until the other two detachments arrived to support. Custer had employed similar tactics in 1868 during the Battle Of The Washita . BATTLE > Reno's attack The first detachment to attack was Major Reno's, conducted after receiving orders from Custer issued by Lt. William W. Cooke . The orders, made 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... {Link without Title} 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 advanced rapidly northward, stating that he drove the enemy "with ease". However, he suspected "a trap" and stopped a few hundred yards short of the encampment, dismounting and deploying in a Skirmish Line , as standard army doctrine called for. In deploying in a skirmish line, every fifth trooper handled the horses for four troopers taking firing positions, thus immediately reducing the fighting force by 20%. The troopers on the skirmish line were positioned five to ten yards apart, with officers just to their rear and the troopers with horses behind the officers. After about 20 minutes of long distance firing he had taken only one casualty but the odds against him had become more obvious (Reno estimated five to one) and Custer had not reinforced him. Reno ordered a withdrawal into nearby woods in a loop of the river, then made a disorderly retreat across the river to reach the high ground of the bluffs on the other side. The retreat was confused and immediately disrupted by Cheyenne attacks at close quarters. Reno later reported that 3 officers and 29 troopers were killed during the retreat and the subsequent Fording of the river and another officer and 13-18 men missing, left behind in the woods, although most of these men eventually rejoined the detachment. Atop the bluffs, Reno's shaken troops soon linked up with the detachment of Captain Benteen, arriving from the south. This force had been on its lateral scouting mission when it had been summoned by a messenger from Custer to "Come on...big village, be quick...bring pacs...". (This messenger was John Martin , a trumpeter, who was the last white person to see Custer alive and survive the battle.) Benteen's coincidental arrival on the bluffs was just in time to save Reno's men from possible annihilation. Their detachments were then reinforced by McDougall and the pack train. The 14 officers and 340 troopers on the bluffs organized an all-around defense and dug Rifle Pits . Despite hearing heavy gunfire from the north, Benteen concentrated on reinforcing Reno's badly wounded battalion, rather than continuing on toward Custer. After an hour, nearing five o'clock and the end of the Custer fight, Capt. Thomas Weir and Company D moved out against orders to make contact with Custer. They advanced a mile and could see Lakota shooting in the distance, but were under considerable pressure themselves. The other companies eventually followed by assigned battalions, first Benteen, then Reno, and finally the pack train, but growing Lakota attacks forced all seven companies to return to the bluff before the pack train, with the ammunition, had moved even a quarter mile. Benteen's apparent reluctance prompted later criticism that he had failed to follow orders. Custer's fight The gunfire heard on the bluffs was from Custer's fight. His force of 208 was engaged by the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne approximately 3.5 miles (6 km) to the north. Having driven Reno's force away from the encampment and isolated it, many warriors were free to pursue Custer. The route taken by Custer to his "Last Stand" remains 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. According to this theory, by the time Custer realized he was badly outnumbered by the Indians who came from the Reno fight, it was too late to break back through to the south, where Reno and Benteen could have provided reinforcement. Within less than 30 minutes,Miller, David Humphries, "Custer's Fall", Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1985, pg 158Graham, Benteen letter to Capt. R.E. Thompson, pg 211Graham, Gall's Narrative pg 88 Custer's force was completely annihilated. Only two men from the 7th Cavalry later claimed to have seen Custer engage the Indians—a young Crow whose name translated as and Winchester Rifles , while the 7th Cavalry carried single-shot Springfield carbines, which had a slow rate of fire and tended to jam when overheated. The Springfield Model 1873 carbines were issued with a copper cartridge. Troopers soon discovered that the copper expanded in the breech when heated upon firing and jammed the rifle, by preventing extraction of the fired cartridge case, requiring manual extraction with a knife blade, rendering the carbines useless in combat except as a club. The opposing warriors carried a large variety of weapons, from bows and arrows to Henry Rifle s. Custer was known to have owned a pair of Webley RIC ( Royal Irish Constabulary ) Double Action revolvers, chambered in .442 Webley, which he used at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, instead of the Colt Single Action Army , issued to his troops. John A. Doerner, Chief Historian, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument The terrain of the battlefield gave Lakota and Cheyenne bows an advantage, since Custer's troops were pinned in a depression on higher ground from which they could not use Direct Fire at the Indians in Defilade . On the other hand, the Lakota and Cheyenne were able to shoot their arrows into the depression by launching them on a high arching Indirect Fire , with the volume of arrows ensuring severe casualties. U.S. Small Arms might have been more accurate over open distances, but the fighting on this occasion was Close Combat where rate of fire and reliability of a weapon were more important attributes. Custer's resistance Recent archaeological work at the battlefield site indicates that Custer initially deployed his troops in skirmish lines per Army doctrine. This deployment would have resulted in only approximately 150 troopers providing defensive fire over several long skirmish lines. As individual troopers were killed, wounded or their carbines jammed, the skirmish lines became untenable.Fox, pp. 295-318. The History Channel series ''Battlefield Detectives'' suggested in 2003 that there may not have been a 'last stand' as it has come down to us through history. Instead, archaeologists suggested that Custer's troops weren't surrounded and picked off but rather simply swamped by a single charge. The Sioux Chief Red Horse, who fought in the fight, informed Col. W. H. Wood, that the indians suffered 136 dead, and 160 wounded during the entire battle of the greasy grass.Graham, Col. W. A. "The Custer Myth", NY, Bonanza Books, 1953, pg 60. David Humphries Miller, who between 1935 and 1955 interviewed the last Indian survivors of the battle, wrote that the Custer fight, lasted less than one-half hour.Miller, David Humphreys, "Custer's Fall, the Indian Side of the Story", Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1985, (reprint of 1957 edition) pg 158 While many of Custer's troops were recruits who did not possess an adequate level of military training and skill, archaeological evidence also suggests that they were undernourished and in poor physical condition, but that it was usual in the army at this time.Barnard, pp. 121-136. The aftermath After the Custer force was annihilated, the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne regrouped to attack Reno and Benteen. The fight continued until dark (approximately 9:00 p.m. by local timekeeping) and for much of the next day, with the outcome in doubt. Reno credited Benteen's leadership with repulsing a severe attack on the portion of the perimeter held by Companies H and M.Reno Court of Inquiry On June 26 the column under Terry approached from the north, and the Indians drew off in the opposite direction. The wounded were given what treatment was available at that time; five later died of their wounds. Two of the regiment's three surgeons had been with Custer's column; the remaining doctor was assisted by interpreter Fred Gerard . An examination was made of the Custer battle site. The Indian dead had mostly been removed from the field. The 7th's dead were identified as best as possible and hastily buried where they fell. Custer was found to have been shot in the left temple and in the left chest; either wound would have been fatal. He also suffered a wound to the arm. Some Lakota oral histories assert that Custer committed suicide to avoid capture and subsequent torture or death—as Custer believed—but he was right-handed. His body was found near the top of "Last Stand Hill" where a large obelisk inscribed with the names of the 7th's dead now stands. Most of the dead had been stripped of their clothing, mutilated, and were in an advanced state of decomposition, such that identification of many of the bodies was impossible.Brininstool, 60-62. From the evidence, it was impossible to determine what exactly had transpired, but there was evidence of prolonged organized resistance (according to Indian and federal testimonies Michno, "Lakota Noon", Mountain Press Publishing. ). 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.Fox, pp. 10-13. 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. Custer then released the Crow Scouts, including Curley and White Man Runs Him, from their duty. (White Man Runs Him was the first to tell General Terry's officers that Custer's force had "been wiped out".) Estimates of Lakota and Cheyenne casualties widely vary, from as few as 36 dead (from Indian listings of the dead by name) to as many as 300. The 7th Cavalry suffered 52% casualties: 16 officers and 242 troopers killed or died of wounds, 1 officer and 51 troopers wounded. Every soldier in Custer's detachment was killed, although for years rumors persisted of survivors.Graham, 146. Lt. Edward Godfrey reported finding a dead 7th Cavalry horse (shot in the head), a grain sack, and a carbine at the mouth of the Rosebud; he conjectured that a soldier had escaped Custer's fight and rafted across the river, abandoning his played out horse. The sole survivor that was found by General Terry's troops was Captain Keogh's horse Comanche .Comanche, badly wounded, had been overlooked or left behind by the Native Americans, who had taken the other surviving horses. Comanche was taken back to the steamer ''Far West'' and returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln to be nursed back to health. By July, the 7th cavalry had been restocked with officers and new recruiting efforts were underway. It would again take the field in pursuit of its adversaries, but its legacy remains the Little Bighorn. ''For further details on participants and casualties, see below.'' AFTER THE BATTLE In 1878, the army awarded 24 Medals Of Honor to participants in the fight on the bluffs for bravery, most for risking their lives to carry water from the river up the hill to the wounded. U.S. Army Medal of Honor website. Few questioned the conduct of the enlisted men, but many questioned the tactics, strategy, and conduct of the officers. THE RENO COURT OF INQUIRY, AND THE ACCUSATIONS OF BETRAYAL AND COWARDICE The battle was the subject of an army Court of Inquiry, made at Reno's request, in 1879 in Chicago , 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's conduct was found to be without fault. However, Lieutenant Jesse Lee, Reno Court of Inquiry transcriber, wrote the following letter to General Miles, who was accusing Reno and Benteen of betrayal: Benteen has been criticized for "dawdling" on the first day of the fight, and disobeying Custer's order. Many books and documentaries have gathered strong evidences against both Benteen and Reno, for military betrayal, an accusation shared by such figures as US Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles or Reno Court of Inquiry transcriber Jesse Lee. Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles , the US highest military commander in 1895 and one of the most successful Indian fighters of all times, wrote in 1877 while studying the battlefield: ''"The more I study the moves here the Little Big Horn , the more I have admiration for Custer."'' Sklenar, page 341. 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 (Maria Adam's controversy, which eventually stated that the story was true Researcher William Graham doubted the story, which stated that Custer's black servant Mary Adams had heard a conversation between Custer and Terry, the latter saying that the former had complete freedom. Graham found that Mary Sadams wasn't with the 7th cavalry in 1876. However, recent studies have shown that Maria Adams, Mary's sister, was Custer's servant.). 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 Lt. Edward 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 , Pawnee Bill , and others. By the end of the 20th century, the general recognition of the mistreatment of the various Indian tribes 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 viewed by some as a confrontation between relentless U.S. westward expansion and warriors defending their land and way of life. BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION See Also: Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument The site was first preserved as a National Cemetery in 1879, to protect graves of the 7th Cavalry troopers buried there. It was redesignated ''Custer Battlefield National Monument '' in 1946, and later renamed ''Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument'' in 1991. Memorialization on the battlefield began in 1879 with a temporary monument to U.S. dead. This was replaced with the current marble obelisk in 1881. In 1890 the marble blocks that dot the field were added to mark the place where the U.S. cavalry soldiers fell. The bill that changed the name of the national monument also called for an Indian Memorial to be built near Last Stand Hill. On Memorial Day 1999, two red granite markers were added to the battlefield where Native American warriors fell. As of December 2006, there are now a total of ten warrior markers (three at the Reno-Benteen Defense Site, seven on the Custer Battlefield).National Park Service website for the Little Bighorn Battlefield 7TH CAVALRY OFFICERS AT THE LITTLE BIGHORN
''Crittenden was on loan to the 7th Cavalry from the 20th U.S. Infantry, since the cavalry regiment was short on officers.'' on Battle Ridge looking toward Last Stand Hill top center. Wooden Leg Hill can be seen at the far top right.]] CIVILIANS KILLED
NOTABLE SCOUTS/INTERPRETERS IN THE BATTLE
PROMINENT NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE BATTLE
BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIG HORN IN POPULAR CULTURE
''See also Cultural Depictions Of George Armstrong Custer ''. REFERENCES
NOTES FURTHER READING
EXTERNAL LINKS
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