On June 25, 1876, the Seventh U.S. Cavalry rode along the Little
Bighorn River in southeastern Montana in pursuit of the Sioux and
Cheyenne Indians that had left their reservation. With a regiment numbering about six hundred men, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong
Custer (1839–1876) attacked an Indian settlement of nearly two thousand warriors from two sides. The Battle on the Little Bighorn River became known as “Custer’s Last Stand” because Custer and the two
hundred men directly under his personal command were killed within
the first hour of battle. It was a significant event in the Great Sioux War
of 1876 and a major Indian victory.
Conflict
By 1875, many Indian tribes had been forced to live on reservation lands
defined by treaties with the U.S. government. The Sioux and Cheyenne
tribes were among those that had been settled in the Dakota Territory,
present-day South Dakota. Conditions on the Indian reservations
were failing, due mostly to maladministration by the federal government’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, so the people faced starvation. As a result, members of both tribes left the reservation to engage in their annual
buffalo hunt.
Leaving the reservation was a bold move that contradicted the federal government orders, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs directed all
Indians to return to the reservation by January 31. If they failed, they
would likely be attacked as rebels and forced to return by the U.S. Army.
The improbability of getting word to the hunters, even if they were willing to return, made confrontation probable.
The true cause of the federal government’s aggressive tactics
stemmed from the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, part of the Great
Sioux Reservation. The lands had been guaranteed to the Indians by
treaty, but white miners were ignoring the boundaries and settling in to prospect for gold. The government was doing little to discourage the invasion onto Indian lands, but angry tribes were unwilling to sell their
land. Using the notion that occasional Indian attacks on white settlements released them from the treaty, the government wanted to reclaim
the mineral rich land from the reservation and sell it for profit to white
miners. In hopes of destroying the Indians’ independence and weakening their ability to resist the sale of the Black Hills, the government chose
to force the Sioux and Cheyenne hunters back onto the reservation.
Early in 1876, General Philip Sheridan (1831–1888) ordered troops
on the upper Yellowstone River to capture or disperse numerous bands
of Dakota who were hunting there. The army organized an offensive
from three directions, one of which was led by General Alfred Terry
(1827–1890) and included Colonel Custer. Custer was eventually detached to lead twelve companies of men against the Indians while the rest
of the regiment would prevent flight of the Indians as he attacked.
On June 25, Custer located the Indian village. He divided his regiment into three battalions. Though Custer’s approach was successful in
the beginning, it quickly turned in favor of the Indians when one of the
battalions retreated, leaving Custer and his men to bear the brunt of the
Indian’s counterattack. Within an hour, Custer and all of his men were
slain. Over the course of the next day, the rest of the troops arrived and
forced the Indians to retreat to the south.
The Battle of Little Bighorn was an empty victory for the Sioux and
Cheyenne. News of the death of Custer and his men stunned the
American people and led to greatly intensified military efforts. By the
spring of 1877, most of the Sioux and Cheyenne had surrendered and
resettled on the reservation. The federal government forced them to give
up the Black Hills. The Great Sioux War marked the end to major
Indian fighting in the American West.