The Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought on June 25, 1876,
near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, pitted federal
troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (1839-76)
against a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Tensions between
the two groups had been rising since the discovery of gold on Native
American lands. When a number of tribes missed a federal deadline to
move to reservations, the U.S. Army, including Custer and his 7th
Calvary, was dispatched to confront them. Custer was unaware of the
number of Indians fighting under the command of Sitting Bull (c.1831-90)
at Little Bighorn, and his forces were outnumbered and quickly
overwhelmed in what became known as Custer’s Last Stand.
