Battle of Little Big Horn

George Armstrong Custer was one of America's heroes: young, dashing and famous thanks to his exploits as a cavalry officer during the Civil War. In the 1870s, he reinvented himself as an Indian fighter. Adoring magazine profiles and an autobiography,My Life on the Plains: or, Personal Experiences With Indians, contributed to his self-confidence. He wore his blond hair long and cut a stylish figure in his buckskin frontier clothes.

In 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Sioux and Cheyenne tribes were to be pushed onto reservations to make room for white miners and settlers. Naturally, Custer took a leading role. He led almost 600 soldiers and Native American scouts onto the Great Plains, itching for a fight. On the trail of an Indian village in June 1876, Custer drove his men hard, marching 72 miles in three days toward the Little Bighorn River.

There he found one of the biggest Indian camps the Plains had ever seen -- around 7,000 strong, made up of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho bands. The overconfident Custer quickly split his forces into three columns, hoping to trap the tribes and force a quick surrender. After sending the rest of his force on their way, Custer and about 200 men charged straight toward the camp.

The 36-year-old general was counting on his two subordinates to surround the Indian warriors. But they got bogged down, and Custer's men were quickly surrounded by hundreds of mounted warriors led by an Oglala chief named Crazy Horse. The troopers were outnumbered at least three to one, on unfamiliar terrain and cut off from reinforcements.

Continuing reading about the Battle of Little Big Horn with  Custer's Last Stand.