Custer's Last Stand: The Battle of the Little Bighorn

Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer leads his 600-man 7th Cavalry through the Black Hills of Montana along the Little Bighorn River. The War Department’s tensions with the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyanne, and Arapahoe tribes have come to a boiling point, and they’ve sent Custer to apprehend the remaining tribes that refuse to move onto a reservation. By the morning of June 25, 1876, Custer knows where the Indians’ village is located and plans his attack.

Custer splits his 600-man regiment, taking just 210 men for himself, and heads north along the bluffs to attack the village from the rear. Another segment of Custer’s now split command (140 men), led by Major Marcus Reno, makes its way toward the village to attack head-on. None of the soldiers realize the true size of this village. It’s believed there were over 8,000 Sioux, Cheyanne, and Arapahoe in total, with 1,000 to 1,500 warriors. They were led by the legendary HunkpapaLakota Chief Sitting Bull. The soldiers would be riding straight into a slaughter.

Reno’s command at the village’s front immediately runs into stiff resistance. He orders his men to dismount and form a skirmish line to engage, but they soon prove no match for the overwhelming number of warriors. Reno has his men retreat to a nearby timberline for better cover. Again overwhelmed, he is forced to order a second retreat. Much of his command will be wiped out by the pursuing warriors. The men regroup on what will become known as Reno Hill. Here they hold off a continued siege from the warriors until the evening of the 26th.

While Reno’s command may have been decimated, Custer’s will be completely wiped out. Custer and his men rode north until they reached Medicine Trail Coulee, a natural decline in the bluffs leading toward the village. Custer will soon realize that he is in way over his head. He will quickly be surrounded, and the fighting will become more and more intense. He has no chance of winning this battle. Custer’s five companies are so vastly outnumbered by the relentless warriors. Custer will make an attempted retreat but lose many men in the process. The survivors, by this point only about 40, will make their final stand and what will become known as Custer or Battle Ridge. Custer and the entirety of his remaining men will be wiped out. There wasn’t a single survivor from his original 210 men.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn was a major victory for the Plains Indian tribes resisting the reservations. However, their victory would only tighten the noose closing around their way of life. American resolve to crush the resisting Indians would skyrocket after Custer’s massacre. It was only a matter of time before their was nowhere left for them to go.