Okla-homey
6/25/2010, 05:43 AM
June 25, 1876: Indians defeat Custer at Little Big Horn
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/204/custerlj9.jpg
Lt Col George A. Custer in his Civil War brevet major general's duds
134 years ago today, determined to resist the efforts of the U.S. Army to force them onto reservations, Plains Indians under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse wipe out Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and much of his 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Sioux Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had been successfully resisting American efforts to confine their people to reservations for more than a decade. Although both chiefs wanted nothing more than to be left alone to pursue their traditional ways, the growing tide of white settlers invading their lands inevitably led to violent confrontations.
Increasingly, the Sioux and Cheyenne who did try to cooperate with the U.S. government discovered they were rewarded only with broken promises and marginal reservation lands. In 1875, after the U.S. Army blatantly ignored treaty provisions and invaded the sacred Black Hills, many formerly cooperative Sioux and Cheyenne abandoned their reservations to join Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in Montana. They would not return without a fight.
Late in 1875, the U.S. Army ordered all the "hostile" Indians in Montana to return to their reservations or risk being attacked. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse ignored the order and sent messengers out to urge other Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe Indians to unite with them to meet the white threat.
By the late spring of 1876, more than 10,000 Indians had gathered in a massive camp along a river in southern Montana called the Little Big Horn by whites and Greasy Grass by the Indians. "We must stand together or they will kill us separately," Sitting Bull told them. "These soldiers have come shooting; they want war. All right, we'll give it to them."
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3435/csittinguntitled8tf.png (http://imageshack.us)
Sitting Bull
Meanwhile, three columns of U.S. soldiers were converging on the Little Big Horn. On June 17, the first column under the command of General George Crook was badly bloodied by Sioux and Cheyenne warriors led by Crazy Horse. Stunned by the size and ferocity of the Indian attack, Crook was forced to withdraw.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1787/crook3r9ct.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
George Crook
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/5390/cgibbon5511kc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
John Gibbon, taken about ten years earlier during the Civil War.
Knowing nothing of Crook's defeat, the two remaining columns commanded by General Alfred Terry and General John Gibbon continued toward the Little Big Horn. On June 22, Terry ordered the 7th Cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Custer to scout ahead for Indians. Mind you, "scout," but not engage.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4530/cterryalfred2ty.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Alfred Terry taken about ten years earlier during the Civil War.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9341/cusgengeorgecusters1874nx4.jpg
Custer's column
On the morning of this day in 1876, Custer's scouts told him that a gigantic Indian village lay nearby in the valley of the Little Big Horn River. Custer dismissed the scouts' claim that the village was extraordinarily large-certainly many thousands of Indians-as exaggerated. Indeed, his main fear was that the Indians would scatter before he could attack. Rather than wait for reinforcements, Custer the glory hound decided to move forward immediately and stage an unusual mid-day attack.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/3965/cusbighornmapua3.gif
As the 7th Cavalry entered the valley, Custer divided the regiment of about 600 men into four squadrons, keeping one squadron of 215 under his own command. The force ratio would be approximately 600 cavalry combatants versus at least 5000 well armed and very hacked-off Indian combatants.
It is generally undisputed that Custer, having reverted to his permanent rank of Lieutenant Colonel after the Civil War, was looking for an opportunity to regain his general officer status. The Michigander had been the Army's youngest major general when he was promoted to that rank in 1863. It is believed, based on contemporary accounts and Custer's letters to his wife Libbie, Custer felt if he could pull off a resounding victory in this campaign, he would be elevated to the status of a hero and his stars would be restored. In short, his quest for glory and renewed fame cost him and his troopers their lives when he charged in against orders and without waiting for reinforcement from the other forces in the vicinity.
In the vast Indian encampment (historians estimate there were as many as 11,000 Indians), word quickly spread of the approaching troopers. Too old to actually to engage in battle, Sitting Bull rallied his warriors while seeing to the protection of the women and children. The younger Crazy Horse prepared for battle and sped off with a large force of warriors to meet the invaders.
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/1448/crazyhorse1lq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Photo attributed by some to be Crazy Horse. It's doubtful it is, but here you go.
As Custer's divided regiment advanced, the soldiers suddenly found they were under attack by a rapidly growing number of Indians. Gradually, it dawned on Custer that his scouts had not exaggerated the size of the Indian force after all. He immediately dispatched urgent orders in an attempt to regroup his regiment. Custer dashed off a note to Major Benteen, who led one squadron in reserve and and also guarding the force's wagons and supplies to "come quick and bring packs." Benteen had his hands full because he too was facing attack and was unable to ride in support.
Soon, Custer and his 215 men found themselves cut off and under attack by as many as 3,000 armed braves. Within an hour, they were wiped out to the last man. The remaining battalions of the 7th Cavalry were also badly beaten, but they managed to fight a holding action until the Indians withdrew the following day.
The Battle of the Little Big Horn was the Indians' greatest victory and the army's worst defeat in the long and bloody Plains Indian War. The Indians were not allowed to revel in the victory for long, however. The deaths of Custer and his 7th Cavalry outraged many Americans and only confirmed the image of the "bloodthirsty" Indians in their minds, and the government became more determined to destroy or "tame" the hostile Indians.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1083/cus1955594798cad7880f8fv5.jpg
The government erected markers where Custer and his troopers fell.
The army redoubled its efforts and drove home the war with a vengeful fury. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations. Crazy Horse was killed in 1877 after leaving the reservation without permission. Sitting Bull was shot and killed three years later in 1890 by a Lakota policeman.
Moreover, this "massacre" gave new legs to the notion that the "only way to save the man was to kill the Indian inside him" which directly led to the "assimilation era" of Federal Indian policy. That policy continued for approximately fifty years. That policy called for forcing individual Indians to accept acreage in their own name, rather than land collectively held by the tribe, on which they were expected to farm and learn to act white. The policy was also marked by taking children from their parents against their will to be educated in white ways and "useful" pursuits at federally operated boarding schools around the country -- a practice that continued into the 1970's.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/204/custerlj9.jpg
Lt Col George A. Custer in his Civil War brevet major general's duds
134 years ago today, determined to resist the efforts of the U.S. Army to force them onto reservations, Plains Indians under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse wipe out Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and much of his 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Sioux Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had been successfully resisting American efforts to confine their people to reservations for more than a decade. Although both chiefs wanted nothing more than to be left alone to pursue their traditional ways, the growing tide of white settlers invading their lands inevitably led to violent confrontations.
Increasingly, the Sioux and Cheyenne who did try to cooperate with the U.S. government discovered they were rewarded only with broken promises and marginal reservation lands. In 1875, after the U.S. Army blatantly ignored treaty provisions and invaded the sacred Black Hills, many formerly cooperative Sioux and Cheyenne abandoned their reservations to join Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in Montana. They would not return without a fight.
Late in 1875, the U.S. Army ordered all the "hostile" Indians in Montana to return to their reservations or risk being attacked. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse ignored the order and sent messengers out to urge other Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe Indians to unite with them to meet the white threat.
By the late spring of 1876, more than 10,000 Indians had gathered in a massive camp along a river in southern Montana called the Little Big Horn by whites and Greasy Grass by the Indians. "We must stand together or they will kill us separately," Sitting Bull told them. "These soldiers have come shooting; they want war. All right, we'll give it to them."
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3435/csittinguntitled8tf.png (http://imageshack.us)
Sitting Bull
Meanwhile, three columns of U.S. soldiers were converging on the Little Big Horn. On June 17, the first column under the command of General George Crook was badly bloodied by Sioux and Cheyenne warriors led by Crazy Horse. Stunned by the size and ferocity of the Indian attack, Crook was forced to withdraw.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1787/crook3r9ct.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
George Crook
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/5390/cgibbon5511kc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
John Gibbon, taken about ten years earlier during the Civil War.
Knowing nothing of Crook's defeat, the two remaining columns commanded by General Alfred Terry and General John Gibbon continued toward the Little Big Horn. On June 22, Terry ordered the 7th Cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Custer to scout ahead for Indians. Mind you, "scout," but not engage.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4530/cterryalfred2ty.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Alfred Terry taken about ten years earlier during the Civil War.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9341/cusgengeorgecusters1874nx4.jpg
Custer's column
On the morning of this day in 1876, Custer's scouts told him that a gigantic Indian village lay nearby in the valley of the Little Big Horn River. Custer dismissed the scouts' claim that the village was extraordinarily large-certainly many thousands of Indians-as exaggerated. Indeed, his main fear was that the Indians would scatter before he could attack. Rather than wait for reinforcements, Custer the glory hound decided to move forward immediately and stage an unusual mid-day attack.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/3965/cusbighornmapua3.gif
As the 7th Cavalry entered the valley, Custer divided the regiment of about 600 men into four squadrons, keeping one squadron of 215 under his own command. The force ratio would be approximately 600 cavalry combatants versus at least 5000 well armed and very hacked-off Indian combatants.
It is generally undisputed that Custer, having reverted to his permanent rank of Lieutenant Colonel after the Civil War, was looking for an opportunity to regain his general officer status. The Michigander had been the Army's youngest major general when he was promoted to that rank in 1863. It is believed, based on contemporary accounts and Custer's letters to his wife Libbie, Custer felt if he could pull off a resounding victory in this campaign, he would be elevated to the status of a hero and his stars would be restored. In short, his quest for glory and renewed fame cost him and his troopers their lives when he charged in against orders and without waiting for reinforcement from the other forces in the vicinity.
In the vast Indian encampment (historians estimate there were as many as 11,000 Indians), word quickly spread of the approaching troopers. Too old to actually to engage in battle, Sitting Bull rallied his warriors while seeing to the protection of the women and children. The younger Crazy Horse prepared for battle and sped off with a large force of warriors to meet the invaders.
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/1448/crazyhorse1lq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Photo attributed by some to be Crazy Horse. It's doubtful it is, but here you go.
As Custer's divided regiment advanced, the soldiers suddenly found they were under attack by a rapidly growing number of Indians. Gradually, it dawned on Custer that his scouts had not exaggerated the size of the Indian force after all. He immediately dispatched urgent orders in an attempt to regroup his regiment. Custer dashed off a note to Major Benteen, who led one squadron in reserve and and also guarding the force's wagons and supplies to "come quick and bring packs." Benteen had his hands full because he too was facing attack and was unable to ride in support.
Soon, Custer and his 215 men found themselves cut off and under attack by as many as 3,000 armed braves. Within an hour, they were wiped out to the last man. The remaining battalions of the 7th Cavalry were also badly beaten, but they managed to fight a holding action until the Indians withdrew the following day.
The Battle of the Little Big Horn was the Indians' greatest victory and the army's worst defeat in the long and bloody Plains Indian War. The Indians were not allowed to revel in the victory for long, however. The deaths of Custer and his 7th Cavalry outraged many Americans and only confirmed the image of the "bloodthirsty" Indians in their minds, and the government became more determined to destroy or "tame" the hostile Indians.
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1083/cus1955594798cad7880f8fv5.jpg
The government erected markers where Custer and his troopers fell.
The army redoubled its efforts and drove home the war with a vengeful fury. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations. Crazy Horse was killed in 1877 after leaving the reservation without permission. Sitting Bull was shot and killed three years later in 1890 by a Lakota policeman.
Moreover, this "massacre" gave new legs to the notion that the "only way to save the man was to kill the Indian inside him" which directly led to the "assimilation era" of Federal Indian policy. That policy continued for approximately fifty years. That policy called for forcing individual Indians to accept acreage in their own name, rather than land collectively held by the tribe, on which they were expected to farm and learn to act white. The policy was also marked by taking children from their parents against their will to be educated in white ways and "useful" pursuits at federally operated boarding schools around the country -- a practice that continued into the 1970's.