LITTLE BIG HORN

Specialty Definition: Battle of the Little Bighorn

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Battle of Little Big Horn, also called Custer's Last Stand, took place on June 25, 1876 as part of the Indian Wars and was a victory of a large force of Lakota and their allies including the Cheyenne over the 7th Cavalry of the United States Army which attacked their village. The part of the detachment personally commanded by General George Armstrong Custer was killed to the last man.
The American forces were sent to attack the natives based on Indian Inspector's E.C. Watkins report (issued on November 9, 1875) that stated that hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne associated with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were hostile to the United States.
The widow of Custer helped popularize this defeat in memory of her husband and the event as recreated in numerous films as a heroic American general fighting valiantly against savage forces. By the end of the 20th century, the general recognition of the mistreatment of the various Native American nations in the conquest of the American west, and Custer's role in it, has changed the image of the battle to one of a bloodthirsty conqueror meeting his match against courageous warriors defending their land and way of life.

Further reading

Wind on the Buffalo Grass, The Indians' Own Account of the Battle at the Little Big Horn River, & the Death of their Life on the Plains, collected and edited by Leslie Tillett, Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1976, Illustrated hardback, 158 pages with many drawings by Native Americans, ISBN 0-690-01155-5.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Battle of the Little Bighorn."

Top

INDEX

1. Bibliography