ON June 25, 1876, native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the US Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River.

 Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, leaders of the Sioux tribe on the Great Plains, strongly resisted the mid-19th-century efforts of the US government to confine their people to reservations.

In 1875, after gold was discovered in South Dakota’s Black Hills, the US Army ignored previous treaty agreements and invaded the region.

This betrayal led many Sioux and Cheyenne tribesmen to leave their reservations and join Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in Montana. By the late spring of 1876, more than 10 000 Native Americans had gathered in a camp along the Little Bighorn River – which they called the Greasy Grass – in defiance of a US War Department order to return to their reservations or risk being attacked.

In mid-June, three columns of US soldiers lined up against the camp and prepared to march.

A force of 1 200 Native Americans turned back the first column on June 17. Five days later, General Alfred Terry ordered Custer’s 7th Cavalry to scout ahead for enemy troops. On the morning of June 25, Custer drew near the camp and decided to press on ahead rather than wait for reinforcements.

At midday, Custer’s 600 men entered the Little Bighorn Valley. Among the Native Americans, word quickly spread of the impending attack. The older Sitting Bull rallied the warriors and saw to the safety of the women and children, while Crazy Horse set off with a large force to meet the attackers head on.

Despite Custer’s desperate attempts to regroup his men, they were quickly overwhelmed. Within an hour, Custer and every last one of his soldiers were dead.

Responses to "June 25: It was a great day for Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull"

  1. Anonymous says:

    Actually, according to the Crow scouts, the battle lasted less than 20 minutes, and every soldier was KIA. Custer was one of the first to fall.

  2. Unknown says:

    I stopped there to look around one year. Wow some wild energy still around there.

  3. Unknown says:

    Custer throught he was just it but found out he wasn't

  4. Anonymous says:

    American Indians had some really shitty immigration laws.

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