Greatest Battles - BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN

LITTLE BIGHORN RIVER, MONTANA, USA, 25 JUNE 1876 

- Hareth Al Bustani

In 1876, after violating an earlier peace treaty with the Plains Indians, the United States Army sent a force to the Midwest to conquer the increasing number of nomadic natives who did not want to live on designated reservations.

The ensuing conflict culminated in the Battle of Little Bighorn, where the US soldiers, under the leadership of Civil War veteran General George Armstrong Custer, were overwhelmed and killed down to the last man. A spectacular loss for the US Army and a stunning win for the combined Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, the battle remains one of the most significant events of the wider Sioux Wars.

The battle was part of an ongoing series of hostilities triggered by relentless white American expansion westwards through indigenous ancestral lands. With most Native Americans either dead or forced onto reservations, after centuries of abuse the Great Plains Indians were the last remaining nomadic communities left.

However, their victory at Little Bighorn proved a double-edged sword: the decisive win over Custer’s men only strengthened the United States’ resolve. Utilising their greater resources, within a year the US Army would force the remaining Native Americans to surrender, taking the Black Hills by force and without any compensation.

FROM CIVIL WAR TO CONQUEST OF THE WEST