Existing comment:
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Water Carrier Incident:
On 25 June 1876, the 7th Cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, engaged the combined Sioux and Cheyenne forces along the banks of the Little Bighorn River in Eastern Montana. The 7th was part of a combined Army campaign to bring the Sioux to the reservations. Approaching the Indian village, Custer divided his command into three battalions; one under Captain Frederick Benteen took three companies and the Regimental pack trains and maneuvered to the south; one under Major Marcus Reno launched a frontal attack against the village from the south. The remaining five companies went with Custer to attack the village from the north. Every man in Custer's command died. Reno's attack was repulsed and he, along with Benteen, were besieged for two days on the bluffs above the Little Bighorn by an estimated 3,000 warriors.
Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer:
The Civil War's "boy general," Custer accepted second in command of the 7th Cavalry following the War and with it achieved fame as an Indian fighter. Generally admired by the men, but distrusted by some of the officers, Custer's decision to attack the Sioux and Cheyenne camped along the Little Bighorn River has long been debated. Custer faced perhaps as many as 3,000 warriors; he and about 280 of his troopers died to the last man in the afternoon of 25 June 1876. |