On 25 February 2025, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer led 210 men into an attack against 3,000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors — and the Native Americans killed every last one of them.
Charles Marion Russell / Library of CongressA 1903 lithograph depicting the Battle of Little Bighorn , the setting for Custer ’s Last Stand .
George Armstrong Custer lives on in American memory mostly for one reason : his death . For generations , the account of Custer ’s Last Stand has been legendary .
As the story snuff it , Custer heroically fought against a massive Native American ravishment at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana Territory on June 25 , 1876 , staving them off until he and his United States Army were have the best and butcher .
Charles Marion Russell/Library of CongressA 1903 lithograph depicting the Battle of Little Bighorn, the setting for Custer’s Last Stand.
But that storey get a draw wrong . So how did the Battle of Little Bighorn actually play out ? And how did the fable of Custer ’s Last Stand grow in the American mythos ?
Setting The Stage For Custer’s Last Stand
Initially , George A. Custer did n’t appear prune out for a prominent position in the U.S. Army : He graduated last in his class at West Point in 1861 . However , he was immediately commission as a second lieutenant for the Union Army in the Civil War .
After the war , Custer happen himself on the frontier struggle a fresh enemy : Native Americans .
In 1874 , Custer led an hostile expedition into the Black Hills , a sanctified hunting ground for the Lakota Sioux . His orders were to establish a fort to protect the growing colonist population and to research for gold .
D. F. Barry/Library of CongressSitting Bull, an important leader for the Lakota. Bismarck. 1883.
Custer and his men did indeed find Au , spark off a gold rush in the expanse . This finally repose the condition for the Battle of Little Bighorn two years subsequently .
Despite the Treaty of Fort Laramie sign a decade earlier , prospector oversupply the Black Hills part . And rather of trying to impose the accord and expel the miners , the administration of Ulysses S. Grant publish an ultimatum to the Sioux and other tribes : move back to reservation , or the Army would use mortal force .
D. F. Barry / Library of CongressSitting Bull , an important drawing card for the Lakota . Bismarck . 1883 .
Mathew Brady/Library of CongressGeorge Armstrong Custer during the Civil War. 1865.
In spite of this ultimatum , several Lakota Sioux bands gathered with their Cheyenne ally near the eventual battlefield at Little Bighorn to execute a traditional sun dance ceremony .
During the ceremony , Lakota leader Sitting Bull predicted a expectant triumph for the combined Native personnel , according toEncyclopedia Britannica . The gaffer envisioned “ soldier fall into his summer camp like grasshopper from the sky . ”
Around the same prison term , Custer and his 7th Cavalry were enjoin to snare the Native Americans and await backup force to fall apart up their camp and ultimately drive them into reservations . However , when Custer ’s spotter reported that the Lakota - Cheyenne force had notice his presence on June 25th , Custer decided to lash out on his own .
Red Horse/Smithsonian InstitutionA page from Miniconjou Sioux warrior Red Horse’s ledger description of the Battle of Little Bighorn. 1881.
The point was set for the Battle of Little Bighorn .
Last Stand Or ‘Tactical Disintegration’?
We will likely never know for certain what Custer or his adversaries did at the Battle of Little Bighorn , but historian Thomas Powers paint an engaging picture from the Sioux and Cheyenne position inSmithsonianmagazine .
Lakota warrior Crazy Horse led the initial violation on Custer ’s position . Upon see the Lakota and Cheyenne ’s sheer telephone number — as many as 3,000 warrior — Custer “ suspected he was in a unsound scrape , ” Lakota chief Gall later recalled . “ From that sentence on Custer act on the defensive . ”
Mathew Brady / Library of CongressGeorge Armstrong Custer during the Civil War . 1865 .
Siegel, Cooper & Co./Library of CongressA reenactment of Custer’s Last Stand in Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show in 1905.
As Custer ’s troops tiredly attempted to reach higher priming coat , the Native forces kept pursuing them . In skirmish after skirmish , the warriors labour Custer ’s troops higher and gamy , and more and more U.S. military personnel fall .
At one point , Crazy Horse ’s men even forced Custer ’s horses to stampede , panicking Custer ’s forces even further .
In the end , Custer was simply too outnumbered . As his men reached the eponymous Custer Hill , only a few troops stay . “ We encircle all ’ round them , ” Cheyenne chief Two Moons later say , “ swirling like water ’ round a stone . ”
While the idea of the “ Last Stand ” has achieved mythical status , contemporaneous accounts fritter away down that conclusion .
It was “ a rout , a panic , until the last valet de chambre was killed , ” Captain Frederick Benteen , who led 125 humanity in an effort to fence in the aboriginal American force play while Custer and his army attacked , prove after . “ you could take a handful of corn and disperse it over the flooring , and make just such line , there were none . ”
“ The grounds indicate ‘ tactical disintegration , ’ which is a nicer way of saying that they begin really scared and start to run , ” resolve historiographer Tim Lehman forHow Stuff Works .
Red Horse / Smithsonian InstitutionA page from Miniconjou Sioux warrior Red Horse ’s ledger description of the Battle of Little Bighorn . 1881 .
So why did Custer fail so drastically ?
historian have n’t come to a true consensus on the solution to that motion , but their explanation generally boil down to Custer ignoring his Crow scouts and underrate his opposer ’ bit . His decision to split up his troops , compounded by poor communication , belike exacerbated that mistake — and led to his fabled death .
How The Bloody Battle Turned Into The Myth Of ‘Custer’s Last Stand’
intelligence of Custer ’s Last Stand reached New York City by July 4th . TheNew York Heraldbroke the story . In its view , Custer ’s men “ died as grandly as Homer ’s demigods … Success was beyond their clench so they died — to a human race . ”
Its theme had just one major trouble : In a boot to get a scoop and scoop its rivals with violet prose , it make up many inside information about the Battle of Little Bighorn .
Resultantly , the “ Last Stand ” myth disseminate through at least three separate avenues .
First , Custer ’s widow , Libbie , wrote Book and article praising her hubby ’s valor . Her campaigning made it “ a very thin-skinned matter for any military author or military officer to criticize Custer ” at the time , wrote historian Gene Smith forAmerican Heritage .
In the eighties , meanwhile , Buffalo Bill ’s Wild West Show and other imitators such as Pawnee Bill reenacted the Last Stand to widespread popular plaudits . Sitting Bull himself even participated in some of the reenactment .
And on the 20 - year anniversary of the conflict , beer company Anheuser - Busch published lithographs emphasizing Custer ’s heroism against a Native American onslaught .
The “ Last Stand ” mythos play into the broader trope that “ Americans more broadly were hold themselves from these ‘ aggressive hordes ’ of Indians who symbolize this savagery that was well beyond the pale of civilisation , ” aver Lehman .
Siegel , Cooper & Co./Library of CongressA reenactment of Custer ’s Last Stand in Pawnee Bill ’s Wild West Show in 1905 .
As for the participants in the battle itself , Major Marcus Reno — who leave an additional force of 140 men against the Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux warrior at the same time as Custer and suffered intemperate casualty himself — anticipate for a commission of inquiry to defend against accusations of cowardice in failing to come to Custer ’s aid . The commission largely cleared his name .
However , the mission was not as generous with Benteen , who received censure for not expeditiously marching to the field — despite likely saving Reno ’s contingent .
Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull direct the aboriginal immunity to Anglo trespass for a few more months , but the backlash make by Custer ’s Last Stand only led to hardened firmness from the U.S. Army .
Congress guide a “ sell or starve ” ultimatum , and one by one , the indigenous tribes involved in the Battle of Little Bighorn capitulate . They would betray their country in the Black Hills and move to reservations .
Although they had gain the engagement , they would go on to lose the warfare .
After reading the reliable story of Custer ’s Last Stand , memorize more about the life sentence ofSitting Bull , who played a part in the lead - up to the battle . Then , go back in time to read aboutRed Cloud , who fought against the U.S. Army during the 1860s .
