Battle of Little Big Horn
General information
Date June 25, 1876
Location Little Bighorn Valley, Montana
Outcome Decisive Indian Victory
Belligerents
Sioux and Cheyenne Indians United States
Commanders
Sitting Bull
Crazy Horse
Two Moon
Crow King
Gall
Rain In The Face
Marcus Reno
George Armstrong Custer
Frederick Benteen
Forces present
1,500 warriors
31 officers
566 cavalry
35 Indian scouts
Losses
at least 200 dead and 200 wounded
268 dead (including Custer)
60 injured
The Battle of Little Big Horn took place on June 25, 1876 near the Little Bighorn River (tributary of the Bighorn, a tributary of the Yellowstone), Montana. It opposes the 647 men of the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the US Army of Lieutenant-Colonel George A. Custer to a coalition of Cheyenne and Sioux gathered under the influence of Sitting Bull (Taureau Sitting). On the other hand, the command of the attacks on June 25 is entrusted to and led by Crazy Horse (Cheval Fou) and Gall.
References
In 1874, George Armstrong Custer led an exploration expedition from the Black Hills (Montana/Dakota), to the Sioux Lakota reservation and discovered gold deposits there. The authorities first tried to stem the wave of gold diggers, before seeking to buy the Black Hills from the Indians. In September 1875, negotiations with the Sioux failed. The American government then decides to launch a military offensive against the hostile Indians in Montana. In the spring of 1876, several columns converged on the Indians.
The battle
After General Crook's failure at the Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer (general by commission in 1865) led the attack on a camp of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians about 6' 000 people (including 1,500 warriors). The Indians are led by Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
Custer divides his forces to attack from several sides at once:Commander Reno with 3 companies or squadrons (A, G and M companies =170 people), Captain Benteen with 3 squadrons (D, H and K companies =125 pers), Custer with 5 squadrons (E, F, C, I and L companies =216 pers). Having to stay behind with ammunition, Captain McDougall has a squadron (coy B) [101 pers.].
His plan (according to Bugler Martini):surround the Indian camp by attacking it from the south (Reno), the center (Benteen) and the north (Custer himself). The ammunition train must progress at its own pace, independently.
3:20 p.m.
The battle begins as Reno's companies descend into the small valley and take up a skirmish line formation. The Indians are taken by surprise, but go to meet Reno who attacks them in the valley. Meanwhile, Custer drives along the hills to take the village on his flank. The two forces then no longer have any visual contact. Around 3:50 p.m., Major Reno had his left flank exposed and began to be outflanked in the rear. He therefore ordered his riders to get back into the saddle and retreat into the undergrowth in order to consolidate his right flank. On the other hand, the trees prevent the riders from positioning themselves in an orderly fashion. The warriors then charge the horsemen in disorder through the wood. Reno is overwhelmed, he panics, ordering his men to mount their horses, dismount and then remount... Confusion sets in and he then gives the order to retreat heading towards the top of the hill. His men attempt to follow him but Reno has left no covering force or rear guard to cover his hasty retreat. This causes a rout and 40 soldiers are killed and 13 wounded by the Indians, led by chiefs Two Moon, Crazy Horse and Crow King.
4:10 p.m.
Custer reaches a hillock near the village. He needs to recognize the terrain and find a ford to ensure the future offensive of captain Benteen, in the center. He also sends a messenger ordering Benteen to join him quickly and bring with him boxes of ammunition transportable by the riders ("bring packs"). The mule train always advances independently in the device.
4:20 p.m.
Custer has divided his battalion into two wings:the left wing, under his command, includes companies E and F, which will have to reconnoitre the ford at the bottom of Medicine Tail Coulee. The right wing, under the command of Captain Keogh, was to protect the maneuver by engaging a band of mounted Indians returning from a hunting party and visible northeast of Medicine Tail Coulee. Recognition done, the regiment regroups in full on Calhoun Hill, to the northwest. Custer develops the rest of his plan:Keogh's right wing deploys on the ridge in a skirmish line, while Custer and the left wing recognize a second ford (North Ford), always with the aim of launching an attack of encirclement. In all likelihood, Custer believes Reno is still engaged.
Meanwhile, Captain Benteen joins Major Reno on a hill in what is now known as the Reno-Benteen Battlefield. Outraged at Reno's inaction, Captain Weir and his men will attempt to meet Custer at 4:50 p.m. They will remain 45 minutes without being supported. Major Reno and Captain Benteen will join them at 6 p.m., when Custer and his men are about to be annihilated and, without bringing aid to them, will retreat to Reno Hill, lest they be spotted by Indian forces. .
5:30-6:20 p.m.
The Indians, under the command of Cheyenne Chief Lame White Man, lead the offensive. Custer's left wing is broken near Deep Ravine where it had established a perimeter defense. Overwhelmed on its flank, the right wing in turn collapsed at 5.50 p.m., after more than an hour of 1v5 combat, on terrain unfavorable to the dismounted cavalry. The last square of American horsemen succumbed at 6:20 p.m. after fierce fighting (this episode would become legendary as "Custer's Last Stand", Custer's Last Stand).
Review
263 men of the 7th Cavalry were killed at Little Big Horn, along with 38 wounded. The latest research by historians suggests that Indian casualties were very heavy, ranging from 190 dead and 200 wounded in total[3] to 200 dead on the battlefield, not counting deaths from wounds[4]. Overall, the 7th Cavalry charged half of its 647 men hors de combat (killed/wounded) and the American Indians about 1/3 of their 1,500 engageable warriors.
This battle had a great impact on American public opinion, and led to the Wounded Knee Creek massacre, fourteen years later.
Quotes
U.S. Army Chief General (1895-1903) Nelson A. Miles:"The more I study the movements here (at Little Big Horn) the more admiration I have for Custer."
Private William Taylor, 7th Cavalry, veteran of the battle:"(Major) Reno has proven his incompetence and (Captain) Benteen has shown his indifference. I wouldn't use the uglier words I've so often thought of Both abandoned Custer and he had to fight on his own."
Sioux Chief White Bull:"It was a tough fight, very tough."
Sioux Chief Gall:"(...) both sides fought bravely."
Sioux Chief Sitting Bull:"There was so much doubt about the outcome of the battle that I ordered the squaws to dismantle the tepees and prepare to depart."
Sioux Chief Sitting Bull:"Custer was a brave chief. The Indians respected him and did not scalp him. I will answer for the dead of my people. Mine said I was right. Let the Palefaces do the same on their side."
Historian Gregory F. Michno (1997):"The survivors of Reno and Benteen had a good deal of perpetuating the idea that Custer's last stand was short. It was not in the interests of the military or those of the career officers to say they hung around for two hours as Custer fought to the death."
One of the most controversial issues in US history
Custer's defeat is shrouded in controversy and divides the community of historians.
Several officers (including the supreme commander of the American army in person, General Miles) and civilians will be indignant at the behavior of Benteen and Reno who did not render assistance to Custer's men. Before a commission of inquiry in 1879, the latter affirmed that it would have been suicidal to try to join the 5 companies of Custer, a judgment today controversial. Some historians, as well as the last study by David Cornut published in France in 2006, accuse, with supporting evidence, Reno and Benteen of having deliberately abandoned Custer and consider them guilty of military treason.
These accusations against Reno are not shared by E. A. Brininstool for example. For some, Reno was already in a shell-shock from the fights conducted in the undergrowth, thus rendering it non-operational in the combat zone.
Other authors finally throw the responsibility for the disaster on Custer (a very controversial judgment, which has caused a lot of ink to flow).
Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand) in American Culture
Little Big Horn looms large in American culture. It is estimated that on average, a thousand books devoted to commitment and/or its actors are released each year in the United States. Theater, film, and print media have contributed to worldwide stardom for Custer, Sitting Bull, and "The Last Stand." For the most famous films, we can mention "The fantastic charge", with Errol Flynn, Custer the man of the West, with Robert Shaw, "Fort Apache", a metaphor of Little Big Horn with John Wayne and Henry Fonda or "Little Big Man", with Dustin Hoffman. Little Big Horn is also used as a historical reference in films such as "The Last Samurai", with Tom Cruise, "We were soldiers", with Mel Gibson, "Windtalkers", with Nicolas Cage or even "A night at the museum", with Ben Stiller. We find this reference on television in "Doctor Quinn, female doctor", "Over There", "Into the West" or even "Deadwood".
To measure the impact of Little Big Horn and General Custer on the American unconscious, you should know that George Armstrong Custer is the American personality on whom the most books have been published to date, ahead of President Abraham Lincoln, and that it is frequently said that he acquired with Little Big Horn a kind of immortality, making him an American symbol (the notion of "to stand and fight", to stand and fight, remains linked to Custer). The engagement of June 25, 1876 is also the second most studied American battle after that of Gettysburg.
Although the battle is usually referred to as the Little Big Horn, most Americans only know it as Custer's Last Stand. Until 1991, the battlefield itself was called "Custer's Battlefield". In 2003, a monument honoring Indian warriors was dedicated by an indirect descendant of Custer and the descendants of Sitting Bull and other Little Big Horn chiefs.