It is 150 years this June since the dust settled on the hills surrounding the site of the encampment which attracted the unwelcome attentions of the 7th US Cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. There is little to remind one of the brutal encounter that occurred there, save for the wind in the buffalo grass and the soft flutter of cottonwood leaves along the banks of the Little Bighorn River, or perhaps the unwelcome buzzing of a rattlesnake coiled in the dry sagebrush. What is perhaps most remarkable is that – for a military action that was incredibly minor in terms of its number of combatants, its duration, and its ultimate number of casualties – the battle on the Little Bighorn River in southern Montana maintains an incredible, almost hypnotic hold on historians and novelists. Even the most rudimentary check reveals that thousands of books and papers have been produced, and more continue to appear every year. Despite, or perhaps because of, the sheer quantity of material produced, it is inevitable that a number of myths, legends, and even bizarre theories have emerged about the battle. Luckily, we also have some very good, well-researched and documented accounts of the fight available to counter the more outlandish views of the events of 25 June 1876.
Part of the fascination with the engagement may come from the strange juxtaposition of the forces engaged – namely, an organised, well-equipped military force versus an irregular if combative native force. But this might equally apply to an engagement such as at Isandlwana three years later, in which a well-trained force of British regulars augmented by local forces and native levies were badly mauled by Zulu impis in South Africa. While the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn suffered some 268 deaths, Lieutenant-Colonel Durnford’s force at Isandlwana had more than 1,300 men killed in action. Nor was this restricted to natives with a strong organisational tradition. Consider the 1842 disaster at Gandamak, where a strong British force under General Elphinstone was cornered by Afghan tribesmen resulting in more than 16,500 soldiers and civilians killed, captured or missing. Thus the fight at Little Bighorn was not unique, except perhaps for the involvement of such outsized personalities as George Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse.
The background
The operation that produced the fight on the Little Bighorn was probably prompted by the economic downturn known as the ‘Panic of 1873’, which had resulted in nationwide bank failures, bankruptcies, and massive unemployment. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory had spurred a population rush to that area by prospectors, miners, and people simply looking to restore their finances. The problem for President Ulysses S Grant’s administration was the fact that the Black Hills were in the midst of what was termed Indian Territory. When the tribes inhabiting the area refused to cede their rights to the land, the US government determined to force them off it and into established reservations. The Army was assigned the task of fulfilling the government’s intentions.
