Any fan of the American West of the nineteenth century will know something about Billy the Kid, Jesse James as well as other characters. But there were also battles against the native Americans who for many years were unfortunately called “Red Indians.” Their foe was the US Army or US Cavalry. And one of the most famous was the 7th Cavalry which at the time of our discussion, was led by Lieutenant Colonel George Custer.
Custer and his men were massacred at a place called the Little Big Horn. For those who have read some of the many accounts of the battle or who have seen any of the many movies produced, then you will “know” that even though heavily outnumbered by the Sioux under the leadership of Chief Crazy Horse, the men of the 7th Cavalry fought bravely until overwhelmed. But are these accounts completely accurate?
The official version says they shot their horses to make a barricade and then fought for as long as they could. This all sounds like they followed army procedures and did their best. At no point am I saying they did not do their best? But, there is evidence that directs us in another direction.
But first, a quick explanation of how the situation arose. In 1868, Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refused to accept the peace plan that was offered to them. Then in 1874, gold was discovered on their land, in the region of the Black Hills. You can imagine what was the likely outcome when the chiefs refused to sell their land which they regarded as “holy.” The government then ordered the Sioux to move onto small reservations which they refused to do. That was when open hostilities began.
Two years later in 1876, General Philip Sheridan was given the task to defeat the Sioux nation. The US Cavalry gathered their troops together in June of that year. They met at the Yellowstone River. The troops were under the leadership of General Alfred Terry and John Gibbon. The battle plan was to attack the main Sioux camp. To accomplish this, it was decided to launch a two-pronged attack. One of these prongs was led by Custer. His orders were to march around the Wolf Mountains before attacking with the other cavalry brigade.
Whether or not the army was aware of this or not, the Sioux had been joined by tribes belonging to the Arapaho and Cheyanne. In all, this amounted to a fighting strength of over 3,000 warriors. They also did not have to rely on spears or bows and arrows; they were armed with Winchester repeating rifles. For some reason, probably because Custer was well-known for fighting from the front and fond of being an American hero, he decided to march over the Wolf Mountains to get to the Sioux camp first. This was the first of several very costly decisions he made.
Custer had 600 soldiers under his command. He now decided to split them up into three groups of 200 each. Captain Benteen was sent with his group to scout out the area and Major Marcus Reno to launch an attack on the camp from the south. Custer would attack from the north. But the Sioux were savvy enough to cut off both Custer and Reno. Major Reno’s command would be saved by the arrival of Benteen and his soldiers. But Custer and his 215 men found themselves facing a huge number of warriors.
So, what happened at the Battle of the Little Big Horn? The first accounts came from the Sioux. Negotiations were set up after Generals Terry and Gibbon arrived with both of their commands. The Sioux knew that this new force was too great and therefore agreed to negotiate. They were not stupid. They decided that if they told of Custer and his men fighting valiantly as fellow warriors, it would make the negotiation go easier on them.
However, since then, there have been several investigations of the battleground which is now called Custer Hill. Analysing where the bodies were found indicated that the 7th did indeed fight from behind their barricade. However, later analysis of the spent cartridges showed a different story. It suggests that the cavalrymen were in disarray and running all over the place firing indiscriminately. Later, the Sioux story also changed somewhat by them stating that the battle was over in a very short time, “As long as it takes a man to eat a meal.”
The debate as to what happened is still in full flow.
John Pullen 