Reflections: Little Bighorn
If one event symbolizes an era, it is the Battle of the Little Bighorn, one of the most misunderstood and myth-filled episodes in American history. On June 25, 1876, George Armstrong Custer and some 200 of his Seventh Cavalry troopers died fighting Sioux and Cheyenne followers of Chief Sitting Bull. Although known as Custer’s Last Stand, it was actually the last stand of the Northern Plains Indians. Within a year of the battle, all of Custer’s adversaries were either dead, on reservations, or in Canada.
The battle was the direct result of the rapid changes in the West after the Civil War. Following Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, thousands of white settlers swarmed across the Great Plains. The Homestead Act of 1862, the transcontinental railroad, and a large influx of European immigrants fueled the massive migration.
Of the 38 million people living in the United States in 1870, about 5 million were foreign born. Many of these immigrants went west seeking homesteads on cheap land. The West had no room for Indians who hunted buffalo and followed their traditional way of life. As the demand for land grew, the federal government was under intense pressure to place all Indians on reservations. Sitting Bull and his followers were just as determined to remain free and independent.
The Indian victory over Custer spelled their doom. The nation, celebrating its hundredth anniversary, sought vengeance. At the same time, the media idolized Custer, a Civil War hero, and his slain troopers. Journalists, artists, and writers portrayed a gallant battle in which Custer and troopers fought to the last man against overwhelming numbers of Indians armed only with bows and arrows.
In truth, the Indians won because they had better guns than the soldiers, most of whom were recently arrived immigrants with no combat experience and no hope of defeating angry warriors defending their homes and their freedom. Nonetheless, the Battle of the Little Bighorn remains a symbol of the romantic West.
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