The Battle of the Little Bighorn was a major battle of the Black Hills War conflict of the Plains Indian Wars which occurred in 1876 when a large Native American army led by chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse surrounded and annihilated five of the twelve companies of George Armstrong Custer's US 7th Cavalry Regiment along the Little Bighorn River in Montana.
History[]
In 1876, at the start of the Black Hills War, the US Army generals George Crook and Alfred Terry planned a three-pronged offensive against the resistant Native American tribes of the Black Hills to force them back onto their reservations and make the Black Hills safe for white mining and settlement. Following the inconclusive Battle of the Rosebud, Terry ordered George Armstrong Custer's US 7th Cavalry Regiment to pursue the Sioux warriors, and, after reaching an overlook of the Little Bighorn River, the regiment's Indian scouts sighted Native American encampments nearby, along with reports of Indians examining a cracker box that fell off of one of the pack mules. Custer decided to attack, sending forth Frederick Benteen with 117 men to scout the valley to the south, in order to prevent any Indians from escaping, and Marcus Reno with 153 men to attack across the river and destroy the Native encampments. However, Reno found his force outnumbered five-to-one, and, after his scout Bloody Knife's brains were shot onto Reno's face, Reno decided to call a retreat. His column was soon joined by Benteen's men, who chose to reinforce Reno's depleted force rather than Custer's command, and this force tightly defended Weir Ridge against the Indians, ensuring its survival, despite have nearly 2-1/2-3 hours that they could've reached Custer's command, who was heard fighting by everyone, even the half deaf Lt. Edward Godfrey, except for Reno, Benteen, and Lt. George Daniel Wallace. Meanwhile, Custer's force, which was originally composed of 225 men, was reduced down to 210 troops due to several soldiers either being sent to the rear as messengers, left with extra horses, or had their horses bolt or give out, was attacked 3.5 miles north of Reno and Benteen's position, and his command formed breastworks from the carcasses of dead horses and soon became surrounded. Custer's men held out on Custer Hill until the last of them was dead; Custer was fatally shot in the chest and head. All of Custer's men were killed in "Custer's Last Stand", which became a world-renowned military "final stand". Custer, two of his brothers (including Thomas Custer), a nephew, and a brother-in-law (James Calhoun) were among the dead, as was his subordinates Myles Keogh, four Crow scouts, and two Arikara scouts. The Battle of the Little Bighorn was the most famous Native American victory over their white American foes, but the US Army would defeat the Sioux within a year and permanently establish Indian reservations for the defeated natives. The Custer portion of the battle lasted just under 3 hours, while the overrunning of "Last Stand Hill" lasted about 20-30 minutes in total, with the last soldier in Custer's command being killed by 5:45pm.