Little Bighorn 150 Years On

Thursday, June 25, 2026

The Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25 and 26, 1876, lasted barely a full day, but it would become one of the most famous, controversial and mysterious military engagements in American history. Pitting the United States Army against Native warriors, primarily Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne, the battle also brought together three men who remain legends 150 years later: on one side, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, in command of the Army's Seventh Cavalry Regiment, and on the other, the Lakota chief and holy man Sitting Bull and the Lakota leader Crazy Horse.

Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 04:40 AM | 17 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Informative background at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn

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Among the soldiers killed: Tom Custer, the first person to receive two Medals of Honor (in his case, for Civil War actions).

The main fight, Cheyenne leader Two Moon opined, lasted about long enough for a hungry man to eat a meal. Other Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho (five of them) veterans compared it to the time it took to smoke a pipe.

Among other problems: Custer's failure to fully take into account the report of his Crow and Arikara scouts that the village in that valley was the biggest they'd ever seen. Cooking fires obscured it that morning, eyes were bleary from the forced march, but that pony herd grazing along the hillsides - "like worms," they reported, perhaps 50,000 animals.

#1 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-06-25 04:48 AM | Reply

Morning Doc Sarvis.

Thanks for posting.

Less than 1,000 US Army soldiers were killed during the 19th-century pacification process of the native Americans, including the casualties of Battle of Little Bighorn. And after the last military engagement against the indigenous people in the early 1890s, the Gatling gun was formally retired.

You might remember this made-for-TV film from 1977: YouTube

#2 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-06-25 04:59 AM | Reply

News of the battle reached Philadelphia on July 6, somewhat dampening self-congratulatory national centennial celebrations.

#3 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-06-25 06:18 AM | Reply

Never divide your men without being certain of the movements of the enemy.

#4 | Posted by Zed at 2026-06-25 07:26 AM | Reply

"1890s, the Gatling gun was formally retired"

Not to be a nerd or anything (I am), the Gatling saw service in the Spanish-American War and was retired in 1911.

#5 | Posted by Zed at 2026-06-25 07:27 AM | Reply

Hi Zed:

Thanks for the clarification. I had read many years ago the Gatling gun was retired after the last battle against the indigenous warriors circa 1892-- either Wounded Knee or something with the Ghost Dancers warriors-- meaning their mass killing function came to an end.

When I went to Wikipedia I was surprised to read that the Gatling gun was used during labor unrest in 1921 West Virginia.

Last week I learned that Mount Rushmore is a testament to America's ethnic cleansers, when for years I thought it was a monument to four of our great POTUS.

Thanks again, Zed.

#6 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-06-25 07:50 AM | Reply

Custer declined the offer of three Gatling guns for the Little Bighorn campaign: they would slow his outfit as he drove the troopers along; he was in a hurry.

#7 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-06-25 08:03 AM | Reply

#2
Thanks for that link, Coriolanus.

#8 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-06-25 08:06 AM | Reply

Most welcome, Doc Sarvis.

The 1970s saw some pretty good made-for-TV movies, like that one and The Execution of Private Eddie Slovik amongst others.

I may write a non-political historic OP about the US Army, but the last non-political OP I wrote was not-- sniff-sniff-- well received.

"I work my fingers to the bone for you people and this is the thanks I get!"

#9 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-06-25 08:22 AM | Reply

Obligatory:

Little Big Man - "You Go Down There"

www.youtube.com

1 min

#10 | Posted by Corky at 2026-06-25 10:52 AM | Reply | Funny: 1

This battle, and how it's remembered and enshrined in our mythology, exemplifies Third and Fourth Stage Colonialism.

We honor and remember the noble bravery of the... genetically inferior savages we slaughtered.

It's a cultural whitewash job.

Take Apache and Comanche attack helicopters. Named for the bravery and ferocity of our enemies from a hundred and fifty years ago. But at the time, these were Inferior, Savage races bound by no moral scruple, worthy only of slaughter.

Now those despicable tribes are the names we bestow to the cutting edge of our sword hand.

In a way that most Republicans reading this can't understand, we're telling on ourselves.

Is that thing about the very bright full moon true, in terms of altering the battlefield outcome? Or is that a Noble Myth that sprang to life in wistful hindsight.

#11 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-06-25 06:23 PM | Reply

This country has no issues with slaughtering its inhabitants

#12 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-06-25 08:30 PM | Reply

If you ever get a chance, please go and visit the Little Bighorn battlefield site. I've stopped there several times over the years and it always makes an impression as you see exactly what happened via the way that the National Park Service has preserved the site. Also, adjoining the site is a National Cemetery, which in itself is worth the visit. And from what I understand, many Native Americans who have served in the various branches of the US military, that this is a desirable place for where they wish to be interned when their time comes, as a way of being at rest with their ancestors who lost their lives on that fateful day 150 years ago.

Beside, when I was in Army officers school, when taking a class in tactics and strategies, this battle was one of the examples that were used to make the point about what not to do.

OCU

#13 | Posted by OCUser at 2026-06-26 04:05 PM | Reply

#13 | Posted by OCUser

Retreating to the top of a hill with no water and no cover wasn't real bright.

#14 | Posted by morris at 2026-06-27 10:07 AM | Reply

There was nowhere else to go, the outfit was getting separated, and events were moving fast - afterwards, quite a few of the cavalrymen were found lying in the "count fours" position for fighting on foot: three men dismounting with a fourth holding onto everyone's mounts. The swirling fracas moved so quickly isolated groups of soldiers often had just enough time to get off their horses, form a quick line, and die. Things got so confused that an Arapaho warrior killed what he thought was one of Custer's Crow or Arikara scouts only to find out he'd lanced a Lakota whose comrades were none too pleased.

#15 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-06-27 11:34 AM | Reply

Retreating to the top of a hill with no water and no cover wasn't real bright.

#14 | Posted by morris at 2026-06-27 10:07 AM

To say nothing of dividing your forces and ignoring your intelligence reports.

OCU

#16 | Posted by OCUser at 2026-06-27 11:40 AM | Reply

If you ever get a chance, please go and visit the Little Bighorn battlefield site.

I've spent hours on that site. I doubt the Gatling guns would have made much difference.

#17 | Posted by REDIAL at 2026-06-27 12:45 PM | Reply