Understanding The Battle Of Little Bighorn

By Tammie Caldwell


Many wars have been fought on American soil by the US Army and some were won gloriously while others led to grave defeat and casualties for the army. One such battle is the battle of Little Bighorn. The battle has come to be known by several other names such as Custer Last Stand and Battle of Greasy Grass. The war was fought between combined forces of Native American tribes and the Seventh Cavalry Regiment of the American Army.

The battle engagement took place on the 25th and 26th of June in 1976 close to the Little Bighorn River. The river is situated on the eastern part of the Montana territory. The engagement makes the most severe action of Great Sioux War. This war started off as a series of conflicts that were referred to as Sioux Wars. The conflicts were brought about by the encroachment of settlers into Great Plains, which were under the inhabitation of Native societies.

The settlers caused Native Americans to be forced to move to ever reducing reservations. Whereas a majority of Native American accepted to relocate, others declined and decided to form a resistance to oppose the initiative. An alliance between Lakota and Cheyenne tribes was formed under the leadership of Sitting Bull. The alliance was called Sun Dance. Several thousand Indians who had initially accepted to relocate joined the alliance and a big army was formed.

Crazy Horse and the Chief Gall are among native Indian war leaders that took part in the war. The seventh Cavalry Regiment lost its commander, top officers and several soldiers. The seventh Regiment was under the command of George Armstrong. Great victory was obtained by the Native Americans with some historians approximated the engagement to has lasted only thirty minutes. Some say it lasted a shorter time than that.

The exact facts about the battle remain largely unknown and the little that is known is very debatable. The official number of casualties on the US side is placed at 268 soldiers dead and fifty five injured. The lack of exact account of this war is hugely attributed to the fact that many officers from the US Army died in the engagement. Native Indians have since then given contradicting accounts.

Custer has been criticized a lot for miscalculations and errors during the war. His refusal to accept reinforcement for Gatling guns and overrating of his battalion against the enemy have particularly been criticized greatly. He also made his forces easier to defeat by dividing them into three groups. Wrong assumptions were prevalent in the war and contributed to the greasy loss by the Army.

The site where the engagement took place has since been made into a national monument. All soldiers who died were reburied in a mass grave on the battlefield. The engagement has been featured in many artistic works such as music, video games, TV shows, radio programs, paintings, and film.

The seventh Cavalry regiment has since been reconstructed to fill positions left by dead soldiers. The Indian resistance was also fought back by the US Army and confined in reservations. Despite a lot of criticism towards Custer by the public, some people have defended him as courageous in a skilled warrior.




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