The nation is celebrating our 250th birthday and I would be remiss if I failed to include the anniversary 150 years, of the Little Big Horn….since my grandfather was full blood Choctaw he would haunt me if I neglect to stick to Custer.
A little history….
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought on June 25, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, pitted federal troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (1839-76) against a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Tensions between the two groups had been rising since the discovery of gold on Native American lands. When a number of tribes missed a federal deadline to move to reservations, the U.S. Army, including Custer and his 7th Cavalry, was dispatched to confront them. Custer was unaware of the number of Indians fighting under the command of Sitting Bull (c.1831-90) at Little Bighorn, and his forces were outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed in what became known as Custer’s Last Stand.
https://www.history.com/articles/battle-of-the-little-bighorn
The day is important in American history….
On June 25, 1876, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and an entire battalion of the 7th Cavalry Regiment rode to their deaths and into American legend on the ridges north of Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The battle was decided in a few hours. Its meaning remains contested 150 years later.
Little Bighorn stands alongside Yorktown, Gettysburg, and D-Day in the pantheon of iconic American battles. But it is a curious addition there, in that it was a small engagement, fought by just a few hundred men on a compact piece of terrain. More curiously still, it was a loss. Not just a loss — a disaster. And more than any other American battle, it has become identified with a single man. Most Americans know it not by its place, but by its protagonist: “Custer’s Last Stand.”
Relative to those multi-corps- and army-sized battlefields, its small scale and remarkable preservation make Little Bighorn an excellent staff ride for junior leaders, allowing participants to study leadership, terrain, and small-unit combat at a very human level. Yet the closer one looks at Little Bighorn, the larger it becomes.
https://warontherocks.com/the-importance-of-the-battle-of-the-little-bighorn/
The Nations that took part in the attack are doing a job on history so that the affair will not be forgotten.
The 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn is weeks away, and tribal leaders are working to ensure their perspective of one of the most significant battles in American history is preserved and shared with the public.
Northern Cheyenne Tribal Vice President Assistant Eugene Little Coyote said the spot marks where four Cheyenne warriors and five Lakota warriors first engaged Custer’s troops on June 25, 1876. He named the four Cheyenne warriors as Bobtail Horse, Dull Knife, Roan Bear, and Calf.
Tribal leaders said the marker will explain how a small group of Cheyenne and Lakota warriors prevented the 7th Cavalry from crossing the river and reaching the nearby village.
“Had they not engaged them and stopped their advance across the river, Custer’s troops would have gotten into our villages and just killed a lot of people,” Little Coyote said. “So this was a pivotal moment at the beginning of this, the Custer side of the battle.”
Watch the story below:
If you haven’t already seen it, there was a Discovery program years back called “Battlefield Forensics” a cool show how they explored the various battlefields in history. The one show I recorded was Little Big Horn. Amazing how those guys with metal detectors and ballistics determined where specific soldiers moved across the battlefield.. where they stopped and fired. There was sowent to Keesler out of Lackland back in ’71.mething like 30 different firearms represented on the battlefield that day from both sides. Cool show.
Whoa.. how did a line from another post end up on this blog?? lol Well, you live near Keesler as I recall. I was telling that to another guy who did a stint there as well.
I remember Keesler Air Force Base near Bloxi — I was there in the 1960s learning a specialty …hotter than hell in the summer time….but the live oaks are nice to see… the beer is good … the Gulf of MEXICO or what the hell ever gulf it was was nice to visit …
I’ve been to the Little Big Horn National Monument several times as I traveled out west. You can actually walk out and find small monuments where they found the bodies of the troop and the Native Americans following the battle. It is a rather curious place. The whole atmosphere is somber. Even little kids seemed to be affected by that. People talk in hushed tones, almost in whispers, at least when I was there. There is a feeling of almost overwhelming sadness about the whole place. It’s difficult to describe. I would urge anyone who gets out into that part of the country to stop there and spend a few hours there.
I hope that the Trumpers never succeed in erasing that battle from the history books. It exploded the myth of Custer, and showed that a determined people can overcome invaders and colonisers.
Best wishes, Pete.
If a determined people could overcome invaders and colonizers, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in today. Besides which the “Determined People” you are talking about didn’t overcome anything.. they lost it all and ended up on reservations.
I honor your Choctaw heritage. As Doug alluded to, forensic analysis of the battlefield as well as interviews with the descendants of eyewitnesses revealed that the myth of Custer bravely fighting to the last man on Last Stand Hill was only that – a myth. Custer repeatedly disregarded warnings and recklessly attempted to charge into that camp. The Native Americans had the superior strategy, superior numbers, superior weapons (many armed with Henry repeaters vs Custer’s single-shot Springfield rifles), and were highly motivated to prevent being exterminated. Custer got what he deserved in my opinion, but I do feel sorry for the doomed men in his command.
– Robert (a.k.a. “Sees Through Smoke” – “Wayate I Huniya Sota” in Lakota, pronounced “Wah Yah Day Ee Huen-nee-yah Shoh Dah”). Rainbow Warrior, a Lakota Sioux chief, gave me that name in September 2010. I am eternally proud and respectful.