Battle of Little Bighorn

Lesson 8: The Battle of the Little Bighorn and Beyond

Some Who Lived On

Generals George Crook and Alfred Terry, after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, with two thousand men each marched to the headwaters of the Rosebud. Half-heartedly, they tried to follow Crazy Horse to the Black Hills. Soon they gave this up. Terry returned to the Yellowstone and Crook got lost north of the Black Hills. Crook’s men nearly starved and soon they were struggling against the elements. On September 7, Crook sent some men into Deadwood for supplies.

Major Reno, who until the Battle of the Little Bighorn had had no prior experience in fighting Indians, in 1879, “upon his own application, a court of inquiry was convened for the purpose of investigating his conduct at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It was the opinion of the court that no further proceedings were necessary in the case.”

In 1880, Reno was found guilty, by a general court-marshal, of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman due to intoxication. He was dismissed from the military in April of 1880.

The Building Where Crazy Horse Was Killed

Crazy Horse, for a time, attempted to run miners out of the Black Hills. On May 6, 1877, he surrendered because he had been promised an Agency. It never materialized. Because of a plot full of lies an attempt was made to put him in prison at Fort Robinson. He resisted and was murdered by someone, with Little Big Man’s assistance.

Red Cloud, with other Sioux leaders, visited President Rutherford B. Hayes in Washington. In the spring of 1878 the Sioux returned to the western part of their reservation where a new agency was established for his people called Pine Ridge.

Red Cloud was born in 1822 on the Platte River in present-day Nebraska. According to legend, a meteorite flashed across the sky that night and inspired his name. He died in 1909 on the Pine Ridge, South Dakota reservation.

Sitting Bull took his band to Canada in 1877 but returned and in 1881 and surrendered. Beginning in 1884 he performed in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show for a time. In December of 1890, he was murdered by Indian police, because of the Ghost Dance near Standing Rock.

Comanche was Captain Keogh’s claybank gelding

It was found on the battlefield and was near death. Comanche was taken to Fort Lincoln and nursed back to health. The horse lived for 15 more years. Captain Keogh died with Custer.

The Black Hills Continues to Endure

A commission visited the agencies in 1876 and demanded the sale of the Hills. The chiefs had no choice but to sign over their sacred Hills, “giving legal validity to a transaction aggressive miners had already made an accomplished fact.

Today in the Black Hills, a reserve in the Harney Mountains comprises 1,278 acres. A memorial, Mount Rushmore, was authorized in 1925 by an act of congress. It contains the 60-foot high heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, who peer westward across what at one time was Indian Territory. These colossal carvings were designed by American Artist Gutzon Borglum who was but three-years-old when Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer embarked on his famous expedition into the Black Hills.

Elizabeth BACON Custer survived her husband,George Armstrong Custer, by 57 years. She spent the rest of her life guarding Custer’s memory and writing books about their life together such as Boots and Saddles, a classic story of their years in the Dakotas. Libbie died in 1933 at the age of 91.

GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER AND HIS WIFE LIBBIE In spite of the length of this course, there is much, much more to be learned concerning the life of George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. I urge you all to explore, and enjoy, the sources I have presented here. The story of the Little Bighorn is like no other part of American Western History.

Thank you all, Mary Trotter Kion

Internet link(s) for this section are:

Sitting Bull’s Vision http://www.historytelevision.ca/chiefs/h...

From Wakan Tanka, http://www.historytelevision.ca/chiefs/h...

The Last Stand of Crazy Horse/American History Net http://americanhistory.about.com/library...

About the Sioux http://www.historytelevision.ca/chiefs/h...

Crow Indians http://www.crystalinks.com/crow.html Their life, religion, and medicine wheel,

The sources for this section are:

Ambrose, Stephen E. Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors. Random House, Inc. New York, 1996.

Brady, Cyrus Townshend. The Sioux Indian Wars: From the Powder River to the Little Big Horn. Indian Head Books, New York, 1992.

Collier’s Encyclopedia, Volume 16. Crowell-Collier Educational Corporation, 1968.

Lazarus, Edward. Black Hills White Justice: The Sioux Nation Versus the United States, 1775 to the Present. Harper Collins Publishers, 1991.

Utley, Robert M. Little Bighorn Battlefield: Official National Park Handbook. Division of Publications, National Park Service, 1994.

Utley, Robert M. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1993.

Topics for discussion:

When the expedition first began Custer made an unauthorized forty-five-mile scout. Terry did not reprimand Custer. Yet when Reno disobeyed Terry’s orders to scout the Powder River but not to go on to the Rosebud, Reno was severely reprimanded, plus Custer made sure the press had a full account of the misdemeanor. However, in disobeying orders Reno returned with valuable information on the location of the hostiles. Terry was totally indignant with Reno, not even giving him a little credit for solving a major mystery. The location of the Indian camp was vital to the three-pronged attack being successful. Was it a clash of personalities between Terry and Reno? Was Reno that much disliked?

Bibliography:

Ambrose, Stephen E. Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors. Random House, Inc. New York, 1996.

American Heritage Encyclopedia of American History. John Mack Faragher, General Editor. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1998.

Barnett, Louise. Touched by Fire: The Life, Death, and Mythic Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1996.

Bradley, James H. The March of the Montana Column: A Prelude to the Custer Disaster. Edited by Edgar I. Stewart. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1961.

Brady, Cyrus Townshend. The Sioux Indian Wars: From the Powder River to the Little Big Horn. Indian Head Books, New York, 1992.

Capps, Benjamin. The Indians: The Old West. Time-Life Books, New York, 1973.

Collier’s Encyclopedia, Volumes 4 and 16. Crowell-Collier Educational Corporation, 1968.

Custer, Elizabeth Bacon. Boots and Saddles. Downloaded from Internet.

Faragher, John Mack, General Editor. American Heritage Encyclopedia of American History. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1998.

Flaherty, Thomas H., Editor-in-Chief. The Spirit World. Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1992.

Flaherty, Thomas H., Editor-in-Chief. The Mighty Chieftains. Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1992.

Godfrey, Edward Settle. General George A. Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Century Company, New York, 1921.

LR, RG 393, Department of Dakota, 1868-1911, no. 3953, National Archives, as quoted in: Barnett, Louise. Touched by Fire: The Life, Death, and Mythic Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1996.

Marcovitz, Hal. George Custer: Famous Figures of the American Frontier. Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia, PA, 2002.

McClernand, Edward J. With the Indians and the Buffalo in Montana, 1870-1878: Edward J. McClernand’s Narrative, 1870-1878, and Journal (1876) (Glendale, Calif.: Arthur H. Clark, 1969).

Nevin, David. The Soldiers: The Old West. Time-Life Books, New York, 1973.

Stewart, Edgar I. Custer’s Luck. Norman Oklahoma, 1955.

Thorndike, Joseph J., Jr. Bruce Catton, Editors. American Heritage: The Magazine of History. October 1960. American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc. 1960.

Utley, Robert M. Custer and the Great Controversy: The Origin and Development of a Legend. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1962.

Utley, Robert M. Custer Battlefield National Monument, Montana. Office of Publications National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 1969.

Utley, Robert M. Little Bighorn Battlefield: Official National Park Handbook. Division of Publications, National Park Service, 1994.

Utley, Robert M. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1993.

Viola, Herman J., and Jan Shelton Danis. It Is A Good Day To Die: Indian Eyewitnesses Tell the Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1998.

Wheeler, Keith. The Scouts: The Old West. Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, 1978.

Wheeler, Keith. The Townsmen: The Old West. Time-Life Books, New York, 1975.

Questions for this lesson:

Below, I have presented a multitude of possible questions that may, and should, be considered concerning the outcome of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Pick one or more and give us your opinion.

Did Custer abandon Reno or did Reno abandon Custer, or were both at fault?

Did Reno disobey orders by not following through with attacking the Indian camp?

Did Benteen disobey Custer’s order to be quick and bring the ammunition packs, which he did not do, but stopped to assist Reno? Remember, Reno was in a bad situation in part from his own lack of courage and leadership and because Custer had not backed him up as he had said he would do. And, Reno was closer to where Benteen was than was Custer.

Could the outcome of the fight been different if: Custer had taken the extra troops and guns that Terry offered? If Custer’s men had not been exhausted from a forced march? If Custer had backed-up Reno’s advance on the Indian village, as he had told Reno he would do? If Reno had not lost his nerve when an enemy bullet splattered Bloody Knife’s brains all over Reno’s face? If Reno had not been drunk, as he admitted to being sometime later?

Feel free to start a discussion on any aspect of this course.

Images for this course were provided by:

Rocky Mountain National Park http://www.nps.gov/romo/downloads_photos...

Park Net: National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/gosp/research/histori...

Whitman Mission National Park Site http://www.nps.gov/whmi/

National Parks Service http://www.cr.nps.gov/catsig.htm

Treasure Net: American West Images http://ww.treasurenet.com/

Treasure Net: Civil War Images http://www.tresurenet.com/