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the Seventh Cavalry still standing, Little Bighorn Battlefield photo by Lordkinbote Wikimedia

 Top 10 Famous Facts about the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876)

The Battle of the Little Bighorn which  was 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, had been  dispatched to confront them.

 Custer  who was unaware of the number of Indians fighting under the command of Sitting Bull (c.1831-90) at Little Bighorn. His forces had been  outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed in what became known as Custer’s Last Stand.

 Here are 10 famous facts about the battle of the little bighorn (1876)

1.The Government had signed the treaty of forty Laramie with the Sioux Natives in Dakota Territory

In the 19th century, the U.S. Government’s drive for expansion clashed violently with Native Americans’ resolve to preserve their lands, sovereignty, and ways of life. This struggle over land has defined the relationship between the U.S. Government and Native tribes.

The U.S. Government set out to establish a series of treaties with Native tribes that would force American Indians to give up their lands and move further west onto reservations. 

 The goal of the treaty was to bring peace between White settlers and the tribes, who agreed to relocate to the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory. All the tribes who had been  involved gave up many thousands of acres of land which they had been promised in earlier treaties, but retained hunting and fishing rights in their older territory. They also agreed not to attack railroads or settlers.

2. The U S government had went against the treaty when the gold  which was discovered in the Black Hills

Flag of U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment in Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 photo by Delehaye

 Gold which  had been discovered in the Black Hills and the U.S. government decided it wanted the land back. When Custer arrived to remove the Natives by force, he didn’t expect the thousands of warriors that greeted his Calvary. This battle was a victory for the Native tribes.

3.The Battle of the Little Bighorn which  was also referred as the Custer’s stand

Custer’s 600 men entered the Little Bighorn Valley. Among the Native Americans, word quickly spread of the impending attack. The older Sitting Bull rallied the warriors and saw to the safety of the women and children, while Crazy Horse set off with a large force to meet the attackers head on. Despite of  Custer’s desperate attempts to regroup his men, who were quickly overwhelmed. Custer and some 200 men in his battalion  who had been attacked by as many as 3,000 Native Americans; within an hour, Custer and all of his soldiers were dead.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also called Custer’s Last Stand, marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. The demise of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne who had  confined to reservations.

4. George Armstrong Custer led the 7^th Calvary of 700 men into battle at Little Bighorn

George Armstrong Custer photo by Matthew Brady

The 7 the Calvary  which was created just after the American civil war. They had been  divided into 12 companies. 5 of the 12 companies  who were led by Custer and they had been  were wiped out. It had  resulted to268 death and 6 more injuries were claimed into the lived of the wounded soldiers.

5.The Native American tribe leaders present at the Battle of Little Bighorn were Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Chief Gall.

Custer Battlefield, 1876 photo by Three Hawks Foto

Native American forces led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeat the U.S. Army troops of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer in the Battle of the Little Bighorn near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River.

Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, Lakota Sioux leaders, strongly resisted the mid-19th-century efforts of the U.S. government to confine their people to reservations. In 1875, after gold  which was discovered in South Dakota’s Black Hills, the U.S. Army ignored previous treaty agreements and invaded the region.

This betrayal led many Sioux and Cheyenne tribesmen to leave their reservations and join Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in Montana

6. The retreating of Marcus Reno which had  resulted to Custer’s companies being wiped out

 Custer’s 600 men entered the Little Bighorn Valley. Among the Native Americans, word quickly spread of the impending attack. The older Sitting Bull rallied the warriors and saw to the safety of the women and children, while Crazy Horse set off with a large force to meet the attackers head on.

Despite of  Custer’s desperate attempts to regroup his men, who were quickly overwhelmed. Custer and some 200 men in his battalion who  were attacked by as many as 3,000 Native Americans. within an hour, Custer and all of his soldiers were dead. This was Marcus Reno  who had retreated when he shouldn’t have.

7. The 210 Soldiers  who were killed in the battle of the little horn

the Seventh Cavalry still standing, Little Bighorn Battlefield photo by Lordkinbote Wikimedia

All the 210 soldiers who had followed Custer toward the northern   village were killed in the desperate fight. The fight might have lasted nearly two hours and culminated in the defense of high ground beyond the village.

8. After the victory of Sioux the tribes formally surrendered

At the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876, a large contingent of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors again took advantage of the hubris of U.S. officers, overwhelming Lieut. Col. George A. Custer and 200 men of his 7th Cavalry.

This definitive indigenous victory essentially sealed the fate of the tribes by instigating such shock and horror among American citizens that they demanded unequivocal revenge.

The so-called Plains Wars essentially ended later in 1876, when American troops trapped 3,000 Sioux at the Tongue River valley; the tribes formally surrendered in October, after which the majority of members returned to their reservations.

9.The Government sent an army to attack the Indian tribes out of the black hills

When the Indians refused to give up the land, the U.S. decided to force the Indian tribes out of the Black Hills. An army  which was sent to attack any Indian villages and remaining tribes in the region. At one point, the army heard of a fairly large gathering of tribes near the Little Bighorn River. General Custer and his men  who were sent to attack the group in order to keep them from escaping.

10. Five family members of Cluster who had been  killed in the Battle of little Bighorn little

George Armstrong Custer photo by Matthew Brady

Several of Custer’s relatives  who were also killed in the battle including two brothers, a nephew, and his brother-in-law. Emanuel and Maria Custer who  received official notification from the Department of the Army that not only their son George Custer was killed in the battle, but so were four other members of their family.