The Battle of the Little Bighorn

The Battle of the Little Bighorn

“A good day to die”

The Battle of Little Bighorn• Lesson Objectives– To understand the underlying tensions which led

to the Battle of Little Bighorn– To investigate the events of the Battle and the

mistakes made by the American Army

The Battle of Little Bighorn• On 25th June 1879 a US army regiment of 600 men

was defeated by a combined 2000 strong force of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors.

• It was the worst defeat of the US army by Indians.

Jack Gladstone: Valley of the Little Bighorn

When watching this video and listening to the lyrics, think about.– What do you think the message of this song is?– What image of the battle does this video depict?

CharactersCrazy Horse

Captain Benteen

SIOUX

Sitting Bull

Lt. Col George Custer

Major Reno

AMERICAN ARMY

Why did a battle occur?

The government ordered the Sioux into small reservations

The government ordered the Sioux into small reservations• These were special areas• They would receive annual cash

payments from the government and would be taught to be self-sufficient farmers.

• Life was particularly hard fro the Santee Sioux in southern Minnesota


Chief Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull refused to accept the peace in 1868

Peace was not kept in 1868• The government agreed to withdraw

from the forts.• Under Terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty

the Great Sioux Reservation was created.• No non-Indian settlers were to be

allowed ever to enter this land.• This marked the end for Red Cloud but

many other Sioux who were more militant started to follow Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse.





Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874











The discovery of Gold• 1874 Custer led an expedition to the

Black Hills of Dakota. • He reported that he discovered gold in

the area. • Custer's story attracted gold hunters and

in April 1876 the mining town of Deadwood was established in the area



The Sioux refused to sell their land in the Black Hills.










The discovery of Gold• 1874 Custer led an expedition to the

Black Hills of Dakota. • He reported that he discovered gold in

the area. • Custer's story attracted gold hunters and

in April 1876 the mining town of Deadwood was established in the area

The Sioux refused to sell their land• The following year the United States

government attempted to buy the Black Hills for six million dollars.

• The area was considered sacred by the Sioux and they refused to sell.


Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874


The Sioux refused to sell their land in the Black Hills.


ALL CAUSED INCREASED TENSIONS BETWEEN THE SIOUX AND THE AMERICAN ARMY

Tensions begin to rise• 17th May Sioux warriors killed and scalped five

settlers in the Black Hills• Over the next couple of days there were seven

more cases of men being murdered by Sioux

Battle of Rosebud Creek• General George Crook and about 1,000 troops,

supported by 300 Crow and Shoshone, fought against 1,500 members of the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes.

• It was over 15 miles away and Custer was unable to discover the number of warriors the camp contained.

• The battle at Rosebud Creek lasted for over six hours• This was the first time that Native Americans had

united together to fight in such large numbers.• Crook was defeated: he retreated south.

Victorious Crazy Horse• The Victorious Crazy

Horse took his forces to join sitting Bull on the Little Big Horn, creating a combined force of over 2000 warriors.

• The remaining two columns led by Terry and Gibbon met at the Yellowstone river.

Terry and Gibbon meet

General Crook, Gibbon and Terry

• Terry correctly guessed that the Sioux were camped in the Big Horn Valley and wanted a two-pronged attack to trap the Sioux in their camp

• He needed one army to attack from the north and one from the south

The ‘Two Pronged Attack’

The forces split again• After the forces had met,

General Terry again divided his forces

• Custer who was attacking the Sioux from the south disobeyed orders

• Instead of going around the mountains he went through them.

• He arrived a day early and his men and horses were exhausted as they had travelled day and night.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn

• Custer decided to attack despite warnings of his men

• Custer then split his forces further • This was a successful tactic he had used

previously in his career

Major Reno with 125 men to attack Southern camp

Captain Benteen was sent to the south with 125 men.

Captain McDougall took charge of the pack train

Custer took 260 men further north to attack the camp

So what happened to them…?

• Captain Reno and Benteen– Major Reno was the first to charge the village. – When he discovered that the camp was far larger than was

expected he retreated to the other side of the Little Big Horn River.

– He was later joined by Captain Benteen and, although they suffered heavy casualties, they were able to fight off the attack.

– Stopped by the Sioux– They did not follow Custer’s orders as they were under

attack

So what happened to them…?

• Custer– The Sioux and Cheyenne saw Custer's men and swarmed out of the village. – Custer was forced to retreat into the bluffs to the east where he was

attacked by about 4,000 warriors. – It is not clear as there were no survivors– At the battle of the Little Bighorn Custer and all his 231 men were

killed. – This included his two brothers, Tom and Boston, his brother-in-law,

James Calhoun, and his nephew, Autie Reed.– Archaeological excavations and oral accounts indicate that he was

unable to cross the river– His force was totally outnumbered

Task• To create a story board of the Battle of the

Little Bighorn• 6 stages to outline the chronology of events

6 possible stages• 1) Battle of Rosebud Creek• 2) General Crook’s plan• 3) Forces split to attack the camp

from the North and the South• 4) Custers actions- ignoring

orders• 5) Result of Reno and Benteen’s

battle• 6) Result of Custers actions

HomeworkDue: Tuesday 21st NovemberTask: To complete the grid using the information from your story board and the photocopied pages from the text book.

This will prepare you fornext weeks lesson where we will look at who was to Blame.

The actions of:

Custer His subordina

tes(Reno and Benteen)

His superiors(Terry and Sherman)

The Sioux and their

allies

Others

Planning the campaign

During the campaign

On the battlefield

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The Battle of the Little Bighorn