James Baquet

On the morning of June 25, 1876 — almost exactly 100 years after the founding of the United States — U.S. Cavalry Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led the 200-plus men under his immediate command into battle against a force composed of Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples, all commonly referred to as “Indians.” Not one of Custer’s men survived to tell exactly what happened. Custer himself, two of his brothers, his nephew, and his brother-in-law were among the dead.

The site of the battle was along a small tributary of the Bighorn River called the Little Bighorn (known to the natives as the “Greasy Grass”), now located in the U.S. state of Montana. The Indians had been given rights to an area now in nearby South Dakota called the Black Hills. It was sacred ground to the Indians, who exercised their right to leave their reservations and visit.

However, there was “gold in them thar hills,” and when the Americans began encroaching on the Black Hills in droves, the Indians were prohibited from visiting their own land.

It was against this background that the U.S. Government initiated the Great Sioux War of 1876, sometimes called the Black Hills War.

Though the superior numbers and technology of the U.S. ultimately prevailed, the Battle of the Little Big Horn, in which the Indians temporarily won the day, has achieved iconic status, and is by far the most famous engagement of the war. It was even parodied in cartoons when I was a boy, especially under its nickname, “Custer’s Last Stand.”

Opposing Custer and his subordinates — Marcus Reno, Frederick Benteen and others — were the Sioux leaders Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Chief Gall. Five of Custer’s 12 divisions were completely wiped out; a number of men under Reno and Benteen survived, but the final U.S. casualties included 268 dead and 55 severely wounded, of whom six later died. The original U.S. force had numbered 700, against 2,500 native warriors. Estimates claim some 160 of the Indians were wounded, as well as 10 non-combatants.

The Indians’ victory was short-lived. They ultimately surrendered or escaped to Canada, leaving the Black Hills to the miners.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. in large numbers

2. didn’t last long

3. took advantage of, used

4. gave up

5. a colloquial form of “there”

6. going beyond proper limits

7. made fun of

8. smaller source of a river

9. lived

10. having symbolic significance