The battle of Little Bighorn: what happened at 'Custer's last stand'?

The government troops only had a sketchy idea of where their enemies were and had also underestimated their strength, which they reckoned to be no more than 1,000 warriors. But they had failed to take into account the fact that large numbers of warriors had left the reservations and joined Sitting Bull and his supporters. In fact, their main concern was that their enemies would scatter before they could be dealt with. But, encouraged by one of Sitting Bull’s visions that foretold the defeat of the white man, the Lakota were ready for a fight. On 17 June, Crook’s men were resting on the banks of Rosebud Creek on the present-day border between Wyoming and Montana when they were suddenly attacked by the Oglala Sioux leader Crazy Horse with nearly 1,000 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. The fighting went on for some six hours and both sides suffered around 100 casualties before the natives drew off. Crook claimed a victory but he fell back and took no further part.

Meanwhile Terry and Gibbon’s forces had linked up at the mouth of Rosebud Creek. On 22 June, believing that Crook was still on the move, Terry ordered Custer to take the 7th Cavalry south and west so that the Lakota could be caught between three converging columns. Significantly, Terry wasn’t too detailed in the instructions he gave to Custer, saying he had no wish “to impose precise orders which might hamper your action when nearly in contact with the enemy.” This was music to the ears of the impetuous Custer, who galloped away waving his hat excitedly.

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Two days after leaving the main column, Custer’s scouts gave him the news that he’d been itching to hear – they’d found evidence of large-scale movement to the west. Custer immediately set off in pursuit. It appears that his plan was to find where the Native Americans were camped, spend the 25th giving his saddle-sore troopers some rest, and then attack on 26 June, which was the day that Terry and Gibbon were expected to arrive in the area. At dawn on the following day, Custer’s Native American scouts climbed some high ground near the Bighorn River and looked down into the valley below. The encampment was there all right, but it was much larger than anyone had anticipated. Custer was unimpressed by his scouts’ claims that “there are more Sioux than you have bullets,” but what did worry Custer was the fact that it seemed his force had been spotted by a group of natives who had been riding outside the camp. In Custer’s eyes there was no time to be lost. If the news got back to the camp, his enemies would scatter and any chance of rounding them up would be lost.

So Custer changed his plan. Abandoning the idea of a day’s rest, he resolved to attack as quickly as possible. After sending one group of men south under Captain Benteen to cut off any retreat in that direction, Custer ordered Major Reno to move up the valley along the Little Bighorn River to attack the lower end of the encampment. Custer himself took the rest of his command and moved north of the river to attack the other end.

Reno’s troops crossed the river about two miles south of the camp and began advancing towards its southern end. Those inside the village were taken completely by surprise (it was a scorching hot day and many had been bathing in the river), but soon hundreds of warriors were pouring out to confront Reno’s men who had dismounted and formed up in a skirmish line. Heavily outnumbered and in danger of being outflanked and surrounded, Reno pulled his men back to a line of trees on the river bank that offered better protection. Even so they were taking casualties.

One of those killed was Reno’s scout, Bloody Knife. He was hit in the head by a bullet and his brains splattered all over Reno’s face and uniform. Before long the warriors were in the trees and Reno ordered his men to retreat again, this time to the bluffs across the river. The retreat turned into a rout as Lakota and Cheyenne warriors rode after the fleeing troopers, shooting them at close range or pulling them to the ground to be finished off by club, knife or lance. Those that made it across the river scraped out holes in the dusty ground for cover and opened fire to hold off their pursuers, but 38 men had been killed outright.

Meanwhile Custer was in sight of the encampment. It appears that his plan had been to attack the rear of the camp where he deduced that the women and children would be gathered. He must have concluded that if the warriors thought that their families were under attack, there was a good chance that they would give up fighting in order to rescue their children or even lay down their arms. But Custer had reckoned without the sheer size of the camp and the numbers of warriors in it. Joined by some of those who had driven back Reno a little earlier, hundreds and hundreds of warriors swarmed out of the camp, intent on wiping out the men who were threatening not only their way of life but also their families. Had they been in a prepared defensive position, the soldiers would probably have had a chance of seeing them off, but caught in the open and hugely outnumbered, their fate was sealed.

Custer's last stand: how did the colonel die?

More words have been written about what happened next than possibly any other American military action in history, but we can only guess at the actual chain of events. None of Custer’s party survived to tell their story, but Native American accounts and archaeological finds do give us some clues. It appears that the five companies of Custer’s force were driven uphill away from the river and annihilated in a running fight that lasted for less than an hour. Eventually Custer and 40-50 of his men, the survivors of the original force of 210, were cornered on the hill where the US Cavalry monument now stands. This was Custer’s famous ‘Last Stand’. Many accounts suggest that their retreat had been blocked by warriors sweeping the battlefield. Some seem to have made a desperate attempt to break out and escape but all were killed in minutes.

As the men under Custer’s immediate command fought and died, the rest of the 7th Cavalry held out on a hill two miles or so to the east. Reinforced by Benteen’s soldiers, Reno and his men dug in and for two days they repelled every attempt to dislodge them. The battle turned into a long-range sniping contest, and the Lakota were forced to abandon their ponies and rely on their bows and rifles. Finally, as the sun set on 26 June, the fighting petered out. With their supplies running out and little grass left for their ponies to eat, the Lakota and their allies began to disperse, scattering across the Plains in small groups. When Terry and Gibbon arrived on the battlefield a day later, the victors of the Little Bighorn were nowhere to be seen.

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What happened after the battle of Little Bighorn?

Custer’s Last Stand was in many ways the last stand of the Lakota Sioux as well. His defeat came as a profound shock to the US authorities, and they responded by pouring troops and resources into the region. Led by Colonel Nelson Miles, the ensuing winter campaign broke the back of Lakota resistance – within a year most of the so-called ‘hostiles’ had either followed Sitting Bull across the border into Canada or given themselves up. One of these was Crazy Horse, who was subsequently killed while under arrest at Fort Robinson. The Black Hills were taken by the government, and the Native Americans received no compensation at all.

This article was originally published in the October 2016 edition of BBC History Revealed