June 26: South–Eastern Montana Territory: The Battle of the Little Bighorn… but, in Indian parlance, the Battle of the Greasy Grass…
The opposing forces: Custer’s US Cavalry on the attack vs. a Lacota/Cheyenne Indian warrior defending force.
Context: An ever–increasing US military presence in the Western territories is pressing the various (quite–proud) Indian tribes into (not–so–proud) Indian reservations. But, thousands of Indians have recently slipped away from these US government–imposed reservations. US Military officials planned a summer military campaign to intimidate them aggressively, if not terrorize them, and then corral them back.
Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led the 7th Cavalry, a lightly armed component of the greater and more heavily–armed US Expeditionary Force, force out of Fort Fetterman in Wyoming. His advance scouts having spotted an Indian encampment near the Little Bighorn River, Custer elected to attack after just rudimentary analysis. He unilaterally attacks with about 210 US cavalry soldiers, mostly armed with single–shot Springfield rifles. Custer’s nightmare unfolds when he is countered by a “surprisingly large” defending force of approximately 1500–1800 Indian warriors, many now armed with repeating action Winchesters rifles.
Custer’s 7th Cavalry is annihilated.