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—— ON THIS DAY ——
JUNE 25-26, 1876
Little Bighorn River, Montana Territory, USA
149 years ago
Custer's Last Stand, painted by Edgar Paxson — the heroic mythology of Custer's defeat at Little Bighorn, which became one of the most celebrated images of the American West despite being almost entirely inaccurate to what actually happened.
On June 25, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led approximately 700 men of the 7th Cavalry in an attack on a large Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne encampment on the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory. The encampment was one of the largest gatherings of Plains Indians in history — an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people, including between 2,000 and 4,000 warriors under the leadership of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Gall. Custer divided his force, launched an attack without adequate reconnaissance, and was surrounded. He and five companies — approximately 268 men — were killed within an hour.
'Custer's Last Stand' — the phrase, the mythology, the heroic imagery of a lone commander holding his ground against overwhelming odds — was created by the survivors of the battle (who were in other parts of the field), by Custer's widow Elizabeth Bacon Custer, who spent forty years after the battle managing her husband's reputation, and by a marketing campaign by Anheuser-Busch, which distributed reproductions of a dramatic painting of the 'Last Stand' to bars across America. The reality was a disorganized rout of an overconfident commander who had underestimated his enemy.
—— MARQUEE EVENT ——
"Sitting Bull, photographed by David Frances Barry, c. 1883 — the Hunkpapa Lakota leader who had had a vision of soldiers falling before the battle of Little Bighorn, and whose leadership of the Sioux alliance made the victory possible".
Sitting Bull had had a vision before the battle in which he saw soldiers falling from the sky like grasshoppers. He interpreted this as a prophecy of Lakota victory and communicated it to the warriors, who entered the battle with high morale and strategic coordination. The Lakota and Cheyenne fighting force at Little Bighorn was not a disorganized mob but a well-organized military coalition. Crazy Horse's flanking maneuver — riding around the cavalry position to cut off retreat — was a sophisticated tactical move. The battle was a military defeat for the US Army, not a noble sacrifice.
The tactical failure was Custer's, but the strategic situation it created was American policy. The Black Hills of South Dakota — sacred Lakota land guaranteed by treaty in 1868 — had been invaded by US gold miners following a geological survey that Custer had led in 1874. The US government had attempted to buy the Black Hills; the Lakota refused to sell. The Army was sent to force the Lakota onto the reservation. The battle of Little Bighorn was the most prominent engagement in that campaign. Despite the Lakota victory, the US Army returned in force; by 1877, Crazy Horse had surrendered and Sitting Bull had fled to Canada.
The legal status of the Black Hills has never been resolved. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians that the Black Hills had been illegally seized and ordered a $105 million compensation payment. The Sioux refused the money, saying the land was not for sale. The compensation award, with interest, now exceeds $2 billion, sitting uncollected in a federal account. The Black Hills are still not Sioux land. The legal and moral dispute established at Little Bighorn in 1876 is still active.
—— WHY THIS MATTERS ——
The battle of Little Bighorn is the most significant military victory by Native Americans over US forces in the Indian Wars — and it changed nothing strategically. The Lakota and Cheyenne won the battle decisively. Within a year, they had been forced back onto the reservation by the US Army's response. The battle demonstrates both the military capacity of the Plains nations and the limits of military victory against an opponent with vastly superior resources.
The mythologization of Custer is one of the most extensively documented examples of how American culture transforms military failure into heroic narrative. The 'Last Stand' mythology — created by his widow, promoted by commercial interests, and embedded in American popular culture through decades of paintings, films, and commemorations — is almost entirely inaccurate. The gap between the myth and what actually happened is itself a subject of serious historical study.
The uncollected $2 billion compensation payment for the Black Hills is one of the most striking unresolved legal questions in American constitutional history. The Supreme Court has ruled, definitively, that the US government illegally seized the Black Hills. The Sioux refuse the money because they want the land. The money sits in a federal account. The question of what justice requires in this situation has not been answered.
—— THE TAKEAWAY ——
On June 25, 1876, George Custer attacked a camp he hadn't properly scouted, was surrounded, and died along with 268 of his men. The Lakota and Cheyenne won decisively. A year later they were back on the reservation. The mythology of the heroic 'Last Stand' was manufactured afterward by his widow and a beer company. The Black Hills are still not Sioux territory.
—— QUOTE OF THE DAY ——
"They tell me I murdered Custer. It is a lie. He was a fool, and rode to his death."
— Sitting Bull, on the Battle of Little Bighorn
—— OUR QUIZ OF THE DAY ——
How much do you know about the actual tactical situation at Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse's leadership of the Lakota alliance, the Black Hills dispute that preceded the battle, the mythologization of Custer, and the uncollected $2 billion Supreme Court award?
