What happened at Custer's last stand?
"What happened at Custer's last stand?," asked soon-to-be Viking Middle School sixth-grader Noah Schuetter, from Gurnee.
On June 25, 1876, General George Armstrong Custer defied orders from his commanding officer and led 264 men from the 7th Cavalry into a poorly planned fight against the Sioux at the Little Bighorn River in Montana. The entire group was killed.
While the Sioux won the battle, the event marked a turning point that brought more U.S. government might to the region, allowing citizens to claim what was once Native American land.
Custer was born in Ohio in 1839. After graduating from West Point in 1861 he became a valuable asset to the North when he fought with bravery, ingenuity and success against the southern forces. Custer received the Confederate flag of truce from General Robert E. Lee when Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, ending the Civil War. Custer continued his military service as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 7th U.S. Cavalry and was sent to Texas to hold back Plains Indians from U.S. territories.
The Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868 gave the Sioux rights to South Dakota's Black Hills and the surrounding area. Located in western South Dakota, the Black Hills are a sacred site for the Sioux and are called "black" because of the thick covering of dark Ponderosa pines. The Bighorn and Little Bighorn rivers, west of the Black Hills, became a Sioux gathering place when tensions began to rise between the U.S. government and the Native Americans. Prospectors had discovered gold in the Black Hills, ignored the treaty and rushed to the area to stake claims and make their fortunes.
In 1873, Custer's cavalry was sent to the region to protect the new arrivals. Three years later, the U.S. government ordered the Lakota Sioux to remain on their reservations.
Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Sioux chief, called on the Lakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne to protect the land and push back the soldiers. Crazy Horse, a Lakota chief, gathered 1,200 warriors and began the journey to meet Sitting Bull. Along the way, they spied and attacked one of the federal columns that was sent to intimidate Sitting Bull just one week before the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Custer's orders were to face Sitting Bull with two additional columns of Federal troops. Custer's group of 600 men reached Little Bighorn first. They had no idea that the Native Americans had gathered more than 2,000 warriors to face the U.S. soldiers. Custer became impatient and began his approach. He split his troop into three smaller groups that would attack the Indian encampment from three different positions.
The first group approached and realized quickly that it was outnumbered. They retreated into the woods. The second group could see that the plan wouldn't work and decided to bolster the first group, which was already pulling back. Custer's group advanced and was so overwhelmed that Custer ordered the men to slaughter their horses to construct a barrier. Custer and his band of 264 soldiers, including his brother Thomas, were struck down in less than an hour.
You can visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Crow Agency, Montana, where memorials stand to honor the U.S. Army soldiers and Native American warriors present at Custer's last stand. The Custer Battlefield Museum, located nearby in Garryowen, Montana, features artifacts from the two groups and provides perspective on the events surrounding the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Check these out
The Warren Newport Public Library suggests these titles on the people and events surrounding the Battle of Little Bighorn:
• "Custer's Last Stand," by Dennis Brindell Fradin
• "It's a Good Day to Die: Indian Eyewitnesses Tell the Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn," by Herman J. Viola
• "The Life and Death of Crazy Horse," by Russell Freedman
• "George Armstrong Custer: Civil War General and Western Legend," by Zachary Kent
• "Sitting Bull and His World," by Albert Marrin