In the days of colonial America, the relationship between Native Americans and European settlers was a contentious one. After the Revolutionary War, the situation grew worse. As Americans crossed the Mississippi and settled in the plains, the Native Americans were forced off the land. Treaties were signed and broken, and the American Indians were driven west. Eventually, they were forced onto reservations. Incidents between the colonists/Americans and the Indians occurred from the beginning, and some of the confrontations were especially brutal.
Today is the anniversary of one of the most famous of these confrontations: The Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand. This battle pitted Lt. Colonel George Custer against thousands of Sioux and Cheyenne led by Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and other Native Americans. According to Encyclopedia Americana, which you can find on a shelf to the right of the Reference Desk, white Americans were settling on lands guaranteed to the Indians in the Black Hills and the Yellowstone River region. Because the Indians failed to return to their reservations as ordered, American troops mobilized. Soldiers were sent into the area from the east, west and north, although the latter column was apprehended by Crazy Horse earlier that month. Once the remaining soldiers met at the Yellowstone River, Maj. Marcus Reno scouted the area and determined that the Indians were probably on the Little Bighorn River. Two groups were sent out, one led by Custer, who was told not to advance too quickly, but did reach his point long before the other group was ready. On June 25, 1876, he saw a camp of 12,000 to 15,000 Indians, 4,000 to 5,000 of whom were warriors. Although they were not yet scheduled to advance, the tired troops attacked the Indians; erroneous information indicated that the soldiers had been discovered. While heading toward the river, Custer's group was driven back and surrounded. Custer and his men were killed. The Indians had won this round, but the defeat of the Americans at Little Bighorn and the death of Custer, a Civil War hero, would be avenged. The Indian Wars continued until the end of 1890 with the Wounded Knee Massacre.
Of course, the Battle of Little Bighorn is much more complex than the summary above. If you want to learn more, take a look at some of the books in our collection, such as:
The Little Bighorn Campaign, March-September 1876
Soldiers Falling Into Camp: The Battles at the Rosebud and the Little Big Horn
Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life
The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull
Custer Battlefield: A History and Guide to the Battle of the Little Bighorn: Custer Battlefield National Monument, Montana
For additional reading on the Indian Wars, we have, among others:
The American Indian Wars
Black Elk Speaks; Being he Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee; An Indian History of the American West
http://">In the Shadow of Wounded Knee: The Untold Final Chapter of the Indian Wars
href="http://hip.nashua.lib.nh.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=.GW&term=indian+yell&aspect=basic#focus">Indian Yell: The Heart of an American Insurgency
If you have read any of the books listed above and would like to offer your opinion, feel free to leave a comment below.
Source:
Stewart, Edgar I. "Little Bighorn, Battle of the." Encyclopedia Americana vol. 17. Danbury, CT: Scholastic Publishing 2005 p. 594-5