The most famous Indian battle in American history is the Battle of the Little Big Horn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand.
Depicted in films and novels, the battle at the Little Big Horn River, located in what is now Montana, proved to be the death of U.S. Army General George Armstrong Custer and 265 men from his Seventh Cavalry Regiment.
Custer had been part of an army campaign to force Sioux and Cheyenne Indians off the plains and into the reservations. Gold had been found on Indian lands in South Dakota’s Black Hills and now white men wanted that land for themselves. Indians were ordered off the lands but, refusing to leave, took to the warpath.
Going into the Black Hills, Custer had been warned that 2,000 to 4,000 Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were waiting for him there. Instead of a surprise attack, Custer led a full charge straight into the area. He met thousands of Indians, led by chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, who closed off Custer’s retreat. Only a half-Indian scout for Custer’s group survived the battle; Custer and all his men died.
Back on the East Coast, newspapers interpreted the battle as a savage Indian attack on innocent Army personnel. The public responded by demanding war on the Sioux and soon the Army launched more ferocious attacks on the Indians.