Custer's Last Stand - Battle of Little Big Horn
Little Big Horn, 1876-1877. Discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874, bringing an influx of miners, & extension of railroads into the area renewed unrest among the Indians, & many left their reservations. When the Indians would not comply with orders from the Interior Department to return to the reservations by the end of January 1876, the Army was requested to take action.A small expedition into the Powder River country in March 1876 produced negligible results. Thereafter, a much larger operation, based on a War Department plan, was carried out in the early Sumner months. As implemented by Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan, commander of the Division of the Missouri (which included the Departments of the Missouri, Platte, & Dakota), the plan was to converge several columns simultaneously on the Yellowstone River where the Indians would be trapped & then forced to return to their reservations.
In pursuance of this plan, Maj. Gen. George Crook, commander of the Department of the Platte, moved north from Fort Fetterman (Wyoming) in late May 1876 with about 1,000 men (elements of the 2d & 3d Cavalry & 4th & 9th Infantry). At the same time two columns marched south up the Yellowstone under Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry, commander of the Department of Dakota. One column of more than 1,000 men (7th Cavalry & elements or the 6th, 17th, & 20th Infantry), under Terry's direct commend, moved from Fort Abraham Lincoln (North Dakota) to the mouth of Powder River. The second of Terry's columns, numbering about 450 men (elements of the 2d Cavalry & 7th Infantry) under Col. John Gibbon, moved from Fort Ellis (Montana) to the mouth of the Big Born.
On 17 June 1876 Crook's troops fought an indecisive engagement with a large band of Sioux & Cheyenne under Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, & other chiefs on the Rosebud & then moved back to the Tongue River to wait for reinforcements. Meanwhile, General Terry had discovered the trail of the same Indian band & sent Lt. Col. George A. Custer with the 7th Cavalry up the Rosebud to locate the war party & move south of it. Terry, with the rest of his command, continued up the Yellowstone to meet Gibbon & close on the Indians from the north.
The 7th Cavalry, proceeding up the Rosebud, discovered an encampment of 4,000 to 5,000 Indians (an estimated 2,500 warriors) on the Little Big Horn on 25 June 1876. Custer immediately ordered an attack, dividing his forces so as to strike the camp from several directions. The surprised Indians quickly rallied & drove off Maj. Marcus A. Reno's detachment (Companies A, G, & M) which suffered severe losses. Reno was joined by Capt. Frederick W. Benteen's detachment (Companies D, H, & K) & the pack train (including Company B) & this combined force was able to withstand heavy attacks which were finally lifted when the Indians withdrew late the following day. Custer & a force of 211 men (Companies C, E, F, I, & L) were surrounded & completely destroyed. Terry & Gibbon did not reach the scene of Custer's last stand until the morning of 27 June. The 7th Cavalry's total losses in this action (including Custer's detachment) were: 12 officers, 247 enlisted men, 5 civilians, & 3 Indian scouts killed; 2 officers & 51 enlisted men wounded.
After this disaster the Little Big Horn campaign continued until September 1877 with many additional Regular units seeing action (including elements of the 4th & 5th Cavalry, the 5th, 14th, 22d, & 23d Infantry, & the 4th Artillery). Crook & Terry joined forces on the Rosebud on 10 August 1876, but most of the Indians slipped through the troops, although many came into the agencies. Fighting in the fall & winter of 1876-77 consisted mostly of skirmishes & raids, notably Crook's capture of American Horse's village at Slim Buttes (South Dakota) on 9 September & of Dull Knife's village in the Big Horn Mountains on 26 November, & Col. Nelson A. Miles' attack on Crazy Horse's camp in the Wolf Mountains on 8 January. By the summer of 1877 most of the Sioux were back on the reservations. Crazy Horse had come in & was killed resisting arrest at Fort Robinson (Nebraska) in September. Sitting Bull, with a small band of Sioux, escaped to Canada but surrendered at Fort Buford (Montana) in July 1881.
