Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument ⓘ

The Lakota and Cheyenne village lay in the broad river valley bottom, just west of the Little Bighorn River. As instructed by Custer, Major Reno crossed the river about two miles south of the village and began advancing downstream toward its southern end. Though initially surprised, the warriors quickly rushed to fend off Reno's assault. Reno halted his command, dismounted his troops and formed them into a skirmish line, which began firing at the warriors who were advancing from the village. Mounted warriors pressed their attack against Reno's skirmish line and soon endangered his left flank. Reno withdrew to a stand of timber beside the river, which offered better protection. Eventually, Reno ordered a second retreat, this time to the bluffs east of the river. The Lakota and Cheyenne, likening the pursuit of retreating troops to a buffalo hunt, rode down the troopers. Soldiers at the rear of Reno's fleeing command incurred heavy casualties as warriors galloped alongside the fleeing troops and shot them at close range, or pulled them out of their saddles onto the ground.

Reno's now shattered command recrossed the Little Bighorn River and struggled up steep bluffs to regroup atop high ground to the east of the valley fight. Meanwhile, Captain Benteen had returned after finding no evidence of Indians or their movement to the south. He arrived on the bluffs in time to meet Reno's demoralized survivors. A messenger from Custer previously had delivered a written communication to Benteen that stated, "Come on. Big Village. Be Quick. Bring Packs. P.S. Bring Packs." An effort was made to locate Custer after heavy gunfire was heard downstream. Led by Captain Weir's D Company, troops moved north in an attempt establish communication with Custer.

Assembling on a high promontory (Weir Point) a mile and a half north of Reno's position, the troops could see clouds of dust and gun smoke covering the battlefield. Large numbers of warriors approaching from that direction forced the cavalry to withdraw to Reno Hill where the Indians held them under siege from the afternoon of June 25, until dusk on June 26. On the evening of June 26, the entire village began to move to the south.

Several frontier regiments had been created at the end of the Civil War, including the 7th Cavalry in 1866. At its peak, the 7th Cavalry numbered some 850 men. Over 40% of that number were foreign born, with the majority born in Ireland or the German states. The 7th Cavalry was known for its esprit de corps (sense of unity, camaraderie, and shared purpose). The jaunty Irish tune "Garryowen" was its official marching song. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer epitomized the regiment, even as second in command. He was known as a gallant and flamboyant Civil War hero. Custer led the 7th Cavalry on many Western expeditions. Several such expeditions led to conflicts with Tribal Nations. In November 1868, Custer led the regiment in an attack on a Cheyenne village in the Battle of the Washita River . During the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873, they engaged Lakota warriors on several occasions. The Black Hills Expedition of 1874, where the discovery of gold brought thousands to the Black Hills, led directly to the Great Sioux War of 1876-77. On May 17, 1876, over 900 men departed from Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory. This group included companies from the 6th and 17th Infantry regiments and the entire 7th Cavalry. They were part of a three-pronged campaign meant to "end the threat" of the Lakota and Cheyenne. Many were destined not to return.

After his early education, George Armstrong Custer became a school teacher; soon he was accepted as a cadet at the United States Military Academy in West Point , New York and the rest is history.

The date and location of Crazy Horse's birth is in dispute. He was born in or near the Black Hills of South Dakota, probably in 1840. His father was called Crazy Horse and his mother's name was Rattle Blanket Woman. They were members of the Oglala Band of the Lakota Sioux. As a young boy Crazy Horse was known as Curley Hair. Later he was renamed Horse On Sight. During a battle with the Arapahos the young Crazy Horse showed bravery. As a result Crazy Horse, the father, passed on his name to his son in honor of his war deed. The father would be known thereafter as Worm. Crazy Horse had a formative vision as a teenager. In the young Crazy Horse's vision, a man appeared to him on horseback. The man's instructions to Crazy Horse was that he was not to wear a war bonnet or to tie up his horse's tail (tying up the tail was a common Lakota practice) and he was never to take trophies in battle. Before going into battle, Crazy Horse was to rub dust over his body. The man said Crazy Horse's death was not to come at the hands of an enemy or as the result of a bullet. Crazy Horse followed this vision. Crazy Horse was present and participated in the series of events that led to the Sioux War of 1876-1877, including the Powder River Campaign, Red Cloud's War, and the Battle of The Little Bighorn. In all of these events, Crazy Horse played a leading role. He signed no treaties, avoided the ways of the white men, and spurned reservation life. On June 17, 1876, along with more than 1,200 warriors, Crazy Horse helped defeat General George Crook at the Battle of the Rosebud. Eight days later he helped defeat the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Following the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the bands of Lakota and Cheyenne present at the battle began to scatter. The U.S. Army continued to track the dispersed bands, attempting to drive them back to the Great Sioux Reservation. Crazy Horse, who refused to go on a reservation or flee to Canada as others were doing, set up winter camp on the Tongue River in south-central Montana Territory. He attacked Colonel Nelson Miles' force on January 8, 1877, but was defeated. The relentless pursuit by the military, combined with the defeat at the Battle of Wolf Mountain, convinced Crazy Horse that surrender was inevitable. On May 7, 1877, Crazy Horse led 1,100 followers into Fort Robinson to surrender. At Fort Robinson and the Red Cloud Agency, old rivalries and misunderstandings between military officers and various Lakota Sioux personalities, and Crazy Horse erupted into open animosity. Crazy Horse was arrested to prevent continued disruption, and in the ensuing scuffle, Crazy Horse was stabbed and mortally wounded. He died on the evening of September 5, 1877. Learn More: Kingsley M. Bray, Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008).

George Armstrong Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio on December 5, 1839. Custer entered West Point in the fall of 1857. He graduated last in a class of 34 in June of 1861. Custer was present at the first battle of Bull Run in July 1861. Initially Custer was assigned staff duty with the Army of the Potomac. He soon distinguished himself as a man quick to volunteer and easily relied upon.

In November of 1862, Custer was introduced to Elizabeth "Libbie" Bacon, the daughter of a judge. Libbie's father, Judge Daniel Bacon, did not approve of his daughter courting someone beneath her station. Nevertheless, the two soon began to court writing letters to one another frequently.

In the two years since the war had begun, Custer had been promoted several times to the rank of Brigadier General of Volunteers, and put in command of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade. Libbie's father began to cool his objections to the young couple and in February 1864, the two were married in Monroe, Michigan. By war's end in 1865, Custer commanded an entire Cavalry Division, holding the rank of Major General. Custer distinguished himself as a leader who commanded his troops from the front, often the very first soldier to engage the enemy. In one instance, he extended so far ahead of his own men that the enemy cut him off from the rest of his command. Men found in Custer a gallant leader worthy of following into battle. In the majority of the battles where he fought against Confederate forces he was victorious. On many occasions, he narrowly escaped harm in battle having 11 horses shot from under him. He incurred only one wound from a Confederate artillery shell during the Battle of Culpeper Courthouse. As a result he became known for his legendary "Custer Luck." After the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, the huge Volunteer Army was demobilized and Custer assumed his regular army rank as Captain.

In 1866, when the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment was created at Fort Riley, Kansas, Custer was promoted to the position of Lt. Colonel of the regiment. The first Colonel of the 7th was Col. Andrew Smith, (1866-1869) and the second Colonel was Col. Samuel Sturgis (1869-1886). Col. Smith and Col. Sturgis were usually on detached service, which placed Custer in command of the Regiment.

In 1867, serving under General Winfield Hancock, Custer would see his first real experience in the west, a campaign to enter into peace negotiations with the Southern Cheyennes and Kiowas along the Arkansas River. Hancock's men and Custer set out "to confer with them to ascertain if they want to fight, in which case he [Hancock] will indulge them." While he scarcely saw combat during his Kansas/Colorado campaign, Custer had begun to learn the nuances of Indian fighting.

At the end of the campaign, he was placed under arrest and charged with absence without leave from his command, conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, and ordering deserters shot without trial and refusing them medical attention. The court-martial found him guilty of all charges and he was sentenced to one year of suspension from rank without pay. Custer went to Monroe where he would stay for more than a year.

In 1868, the U.S. Army prepared a winter campaign in response to Cheyenne raids along the Arkansas valley. Custer, now reinstated, commanded the 7th for the campaign which culminated with the Battle of the Washita on November 27th, 1868.

In 1873, the 7th was charged with protecting the Northern Pacific Railroad Survey as it moved along the Yellowstone investigating sites to lay rail. The Lakota, among other tribes, took issue with the construction of the railroad and began attacking survey sites regularly.

The following summer of 1874, the 7th was sent to survey the Lakota's Black Hills and charged with finding a proper site for a fort to be built. Along for the expedition, were two professional miners. During the expedition, gold was discovered and accompanying journalists quickly sent word back east, and a new gold rush was on.

By late 1875, information had become public that high ranking officials in Washington were involved in a scandal that involved the selling of exclusive trading rights at forts and posts along the upper Missouri region. The licenses needed to trade at military forts were issued by the Secretary of War, William Belknap. In March and April of 1876, Custer testified before a congressional committee that Secretary Belknap was involved in the graft. In addition, Custer's testimony attached President Grant's own brother Orvil to the corruption. This put Custer in a precarious situation with the Commander in Chief, who was presently overseeing the final planning stages of an offensive on non-treaty Lakotas and Cheyennes for the upcoming spring.

Custer was eventually allowed to command his 7th Cavalry for the upcoming campaign. In the spring of 1876, the U.S. Army launched a three-part campaign with an objective to force non-treaty Lakota and Cheyenne onto the Great Sioux Reservation. The 7th Cavalry with more than 600 men came from Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory. General George Crook with 1,300 men came from Fort Fetterman, Wyoming Territory, and Colonel John Gibbon led a 400-man force from Fort Ellis, Montana Territory. Crook was turned back at the Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, 1876, removing the largest force for the remainder of the campaign. Gibbon, General Alfred Terry, the nominal commander of the 7th Cavalry, and Custer met on June 22, with Terry giving Custer free reign to discover the location of the Lakota and Cheyenne. The three planned to meet again on June 26 or 27. They would not do so.

On the morning of June 25th, based on intelligence suggesting that the Lakotas and Cheyennes were about to flee, Custer ordered his 7th Cavalry to attack. By the end of the day, 263 soldiers and civilians, including all five companies riding with Custer and Custer himself, as well as approximately 80 Lakotas and Cheyennes lay dead. On July 4, the 100th birthday of the United States the country would receive word that Custer had been killed and his force defeated. The country was stunned, none more than Libbie Custer. For the rest of her days, she tirelessly lobbied public opinion portraying her husband as a brave, gallant, and noble figure struck down before his time. Custer's name would continue to live on in dime novels, art, music and film. Learn more: "Custer" by Jeffry Wert (Simon and Schuster, 1997), "Custer: The Making of a Young General" by Edward Longacre (Skyhorse, 2018)

Frederick William Benteen was born on August 24, 1834. He entered military service from Missouri as first lieutenant, Company C, Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, on September 1, 1861. Benteen was actively engaged in fighting throughout the Civil War, primarily in the western theater. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel during the war.

After the war he was appointed captain, 7 th Cavalry, effective July 28, 1866. Benteen received a brevet of colonel for gallant service in the engagement on the Saline River in Kansas on August 13, 1868.

Almost immediately on joining the 7 th Cavalry, Benteen developed a dislike for his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Benteen disliked Custer's showy self display.

Benteen was involved in the attack on the Southern Cheyenne village at Washita in November 1868. His dislike of Custer intensified when he blamed Custer for not making a more thorough effort to locate Major Joel Elliot. Elliot had led a small force of troops down the valley chasing Cheyenne refuges from the attacked village and had never returned to the command. It was discovered later that Elliot's small force of 20 troopers had been cut off and slain by warriors responding from villages further down the valley.

Benteen participated in the Black Hills Expedition in 1874 and the Sioux campaign in 1876. His part in the Battle of the Little Bighorn elicited mixed reviews. His failure to promptly come to Custer's aid as ordered was strongly criticized. However, his aid to Reno, at Reno's request, and his active leadership at the Reno-Benteen defense site mitigated such criticism.

At the Little Bighorn, Benteen had been sent southwest with a battalion of three companies to determine if more Indian encampments extended to the south along the Little Bighorn River. Finding none, Benteen turned back north, encountering trumpeter John Martin (Giovanni Martini) who delivered a message from Custer's adjutant, Lieutenant W. W. Cooke, to come quick and bring the extra ammunition with the pack train. Benteen encountered Major Reno's depleted command before he reached Custer and Reno begged Benteen to stay with his force yelling that he "had lost half his men." In response to the firing heard down river, Benteen followed Captain Thomas Weir's initiative to respond to the sound of the guns. The relief stopped at the spot known today as Weir Point after moving a mile north, but were forced back by the approach of hundreds of warriors to Reno's original position where they dug in defensively.

From that point on, Benteen took over the active defense for the 7th Cavalry, through the rest of that day and into the afternoon of June 26. He deployed the various companies, actively led an attack to clear warriors from his section of the perimeter and encouraged Reno to do the same in his sector. He further deployed sharpshooters to cover volunteers sent to the river to secure water. The consensus among officers and men was that Benteen saved the day at the defense site above the Little Bighorn River. Benteen was on his feet the entire time during the siege, positioning and directing the troops while distaining seeking cover. He had the boot of his heel shot off and was hit in the finger by a spent bullet. As a result of Benteen's leadership, about 350 men of the 7th Cavalry survived the siege.

Benteen served in the Nez Perce campaign in 1877, including the Canyon Creek fight on September 13. He testified at the Reno Court of Inquiry in 1879 in Chicago. At the Inquiry, he interestingly stated that he did not hear the firing of Custer's battalion four miles to the north.

Benteen was generally highly respected as a company commander by his men. He had a relaxed manner but brooked no insubordination. His manner and competence gained the respect of his men. He was appointed major, 9 th Cavalry, effective December 17, 1882.

In later years Benteen began to drink more. He was suspended from rank for one year at half pay for drunken and disorderly conduct on April 20, 1887 and was retired for disability on July 7, 1888.

Unlike Reno, Benteen seemed impervious to criticism of his role at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Learn more: "Harvest of Barren Regrets: The Army Career of Frederick William Benteen, 1834-1898" by Charles K. Mills (Bison Books, 2011), "Custer's Thorn: The Life of Frederick W. Benteen" by Jules Ladenheim (Heritage Books, 2007)

Marcus Reno was born on November 15, 1834, in Carrollton, Illinois. Reno entered West Point on 1 September 1851. Reno graduated 20th in a class of 38 in June 1857.

Reno served in the Union Army during the Civil War, participating in the Battles of Kelly's Ford (wounded), the Gettysburg Campaign, Cold Harbor, Trevilian Station, and Cedar Creek. He was twice brevetted for gallant and meritorius conduct. After the war, Reno served in the Pacific Northwest until 1868, when he was promoted to major and joined the 7th Cavalry at Fort Hays, Kansas. Reno commanded the 7 th Cavalry during Custer's absence through the winter and early spring of 1876. During this time, the full regiment was brought together for the planned campaign against the Lakota and Cheyenne south of the Yellowstone River in southeastern Montana. Custer returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory in early May. Major Reno was second in command of the 7 th Cavalry as part of the Dakota Column headed by General Alfred Terry which left the fort on May 17, 1876. Major Reno led the scouting efforts with six companies of the 7 th from June 10-19. Discovering that the large Indian village had moved from the Rosebud River west to the Bighorn valley, the 7th Cavalry left the Yellowstone River on June 22. This was part of a pincer's movement against the Lakota and Cheyenne village.

"The purpose of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is to preserve, protect, memorialize, and interpret the cultural and natural resources, including landscape, pertaining to the Battle of the Little Bighorn"….- Little Bighorn National Monument Foundation Document.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is more than a battlefield and monuments. The park's 765 acres are situated between true grasslands and the shrub-steppe ecosystem of the intermountain west. This integration of habitat types allows more species to coexist in a very dynamic landscape.

Volcanism, uplift, erosion and other geologic forces have determined the topography and soils at the battlefield. Advancing and retreating glaciers further transformed the landscape while cooling and warming conditions created new possibilities for life. Through ecological succession (the gradual process by which ecosystems change and develop over time), the natural appearance of the landscape and historic battlefield have changed, but remain similar to how it looked in 1876.

Learn about what fire does, and why it is important to the health of the grasslands within the battlefield.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is home to a wide variety of terrestrial mammals. They are warm-blooded species that spend all or most of their life on land. They range in size from shrews, tiny mole-like creatures, to 190-pound (86.19 kg) mule deer. These mammals either reside at the monument year-round or occupy home ranges that overlap with the park's boundaries.

There are 25 known species of terrestrial mammals in the monument, including five species of bats. These mammals either reside in the monument year-round, or occupy home ranges that overlap the park's boundaries. Some terrestrial mammals, particularly bats, reside in the park only during the warmer months, and migrate south for the winter.

Many of the small mammals within the monument are seldom seen. These animals are mainly nocturnal (night-active) or fossorial (underground active) and include mice and insectivores (shrews). Although not often directly observed, the signs of these mammals are often evident. For example, the prairie vole makes shallow underground burrows and runways through surface vegetation. In winter, they tunnel underneath the snow. Their runways have many purposes from predator protection to obtaining food.

When walking along the established trails you are likely to see signs of the mountain cottontail. They feed on grasses and woody vegetation including sagebrush. They can be seen any time of the day, but are most active around dawn and dusk.

Another group of mammals that delights monument visitors and staff alike are the smaller opportunistic carnivores including the coyote, red fox, and the raccoon. Although these animals are rarely seen, they inhabit many different types of habitat found at the monument.