50 Fun Facts About Little Bighorn

In which year was the Battle of the Little Bighorn fought?

It was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.

By what name do the Lakota and other Plains peoples know the battle?

Contemporary participants also called the place the "Valley of Chieftains".

Which U.S. Army regiment did Custer command at the Little Bighorn?

Five of the regiment's twelve companies were wiped out along with Custer himself.

What was George Armstrong Custer's actual Army rank at the battle?

He had been a brevet major general during the Civil War, which is why he was often called "General".

In which present-day state is the battlefield?

It lay inside the Crow Indian Reservation in what was then Montana Territory.

Which three Native nations fought together against Custer's regiment?

The Crow and Arikara, by contrast, served as Army scouts against the Lakota.

Which Hunkpapa spiritual leader's vision inspired the warriors?

At a Sun Dance around June 5 he reportedly saw soldiers falling into his camp like grasshoppers from the sky.

In the Sun Dance vision, what was seen falling into the camp?

The Sun Dance was the most important religious event of the Plains year.

Which Oglala war leader is credited with the charge that overwhelmed Custer's men?

Lakota accounts say his surprise charge from the northeast broke the soldiers' command structure.

Which tribe held the treaty claim to the Little Bighorn valley in 1876?

Crow chief Blackfoot had asked for U.S. military action against Lakota intruders as early as 1873.

Which battle on June 17, 1876 forced General Crook's column to pull back before Little Bighorn?

Terry and Gibbon, unaware of Crook's fight, carried on with the plan to converge on the Bighorn valley.

Which general commanded the Dakota column that Custer's regiment marched with?

Terry's column left Fort Abraham Lincoln on May 17 with 150 wagons and a Gatling gun detachment.

From which post did Custer and Terry's column set out?

It was in Dakota Territory; Gibbon marched from Fort Ellis and Crook from Fort Fetterman.

What weapons did Custer decline because he thought they would slow his march?

Each gun needed four horses to haul it, could fire up to 350 rounds a minute and jammed frequently.

What was the name of the overlook from which Custer's scouts first saw the village?

It was 14 miles east of the river; Custer himself could not make out the pony herd they reported.

Into how many battalions did Custer divide his twelve companies on June 25?

Reno and Benteen each took three companies, Custer kept five, and one guarded the pack train.

Which major led the first attack on the southern end of the village?

His three companies crossed the river around 3:10 pm and found the Lakota and Cheyenne "in force and not running away".

Which captain commanded the battalion sent on a scouting mission to the south?

His companies D, H and K later joined Reno's survivors on the bluffs.

Which unit was assigned to escort the slow pack train?

Captain Thomas McDougall's troop later joined the defence on Reno Hill.

Which scout told Custer, "this is the largest village I have ever heard of"?

He said he had been with these Indians for 30 years; he died with Custer's column.

What did Custer's last written message tell Benteen to bring?

The note read "Benteen. Come on, Big Village, Be quick, Bring packs. P.S. Bring Packs."

Who carried Custer's final message to Benteen?

Born Giovanni Martino, he was later billed in newspapers as the last white man to see Custer alive.

Which Arikara scout was killed beside Reno, shaking the major badly?

Reno then led a disorderly retreat across the river and up to the bluffs.

On what standard formation did Reno's men dismount to fight, cutting their firepower by a quarter?

Every fourth trooper held horses, so only three in four could shoot.

Roughly how long did Custer's fight last, according to most accounts?

One Native account said it lasted only "as long as it takes a hungry man to eat a meal".

What was the rough size of Custer's own column when it was destroyed?

The whole regiment numbered about 700; Reno and Benteen's men held out on the bluffs.

How many U.S. dead did the battle produce in total?

Another 55 were severely wounded, six of whom later died.

How many of Custer's close relatives died with him?

Tom and Boston Custer, nephew Autie Reed and brother-in-law James Calhoun all fell.

What name is given to the hilltop where Custer's body was found?

A tall memorial obelisk there bears the names of the 7th Cavalry's dead.

What did the men on Reno Hill use to dig rifle pits?

The trick of digging in with knives, plates and pans had become standard in the last year of the Civil War.

On which date did General Terry's column reach the survivors on Reno Hill?

The men on the bluffs had no idea what had happened to Custer until then.

Which Crow scout first told Terry's officers that Custer's force had been wiped out?

The Crow scouts had been released by Custer before the fight began.

What was the name of the steamboat that carried the wounded and the news to Bismarck?

Captain Grant Marsh made the 710-mile run in a record 54 hours.

How long did the Far West take to steam 710 miles to Bismarck with the news?

The editor of the Bismarck Tribune then kept the telegraph busy for hours wiring the New York Herald.

The news of the defeat reached the East as the U.S. celebrated what?

The telegraph from Bismarck arrived as the country marked 100 years since 1776.

Which horse was the only verified survivor of Custer's command?

Captain Keogh's wounded mount became the regimental mascot and is now stuffed at the University of Kansas.

Which university has displayed the stuffed horse that survived Custer's column?

He lived another fifteen years before being stuffed and put in a glass case.

What carbine did Custer's troopers carry?

It was a single-shot breech-loader, paired with the 1873 Colt revolver; sabers were left behind on Custer's order.

Roughly how many Lakota and Cheyenne fighters carried Winchester Model 1866 repeaters?

That was roughly one in ten of the village's 2,000 able-bodied fighters.

Which general declared the rapid-fire guns Custer refused "useless for Indian fighting"?

Civil War artillery expert Henry Hunt took the opposite view, saying they "would probably have saved the command".

What was the Lone Teepee on the regiment's route to the village?

Inside lay a Sans Arc warrior wounded at the Rosebud; it was where Custer gave Reno his attack orders.

Who requested the 1879 Army Court of Inquiry into the battle?

The Chicago court found his conduct without fault despite testimony calling him drunk and a coward.

How many books did Custer's widow Elizabeth write defending his reputation?

She never remarried and lived until 1933, which discouraged serious criticism for decades.

Which 1934 book was the first to portray Custer in unheroic terms?

Frederic F. Van de Water's book appeared a year after Libbie Custer's death.

Custer's own 1874 memoir was titled what?

In it he explained his tactic of camping close to a village so that families would argue for peace.

In which year was the site renamed Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument?

Since 1946 it had been the Custer Battlefield National Monument; the same bill authorised an Indian Memorial.

What is the theme of the Indian Memorial at the battlefield?

Its open circle is sacred to many tribes, and a "spirit gate" window faces the cavalry obelisk.

Custer's regiment attacked Black Kettle's Cheyenne camp in 1868 on which river?

The Indian Bureau at the time called it a "massacre of innocent Indians".

Who was the regiment's actual colonel, absent on detached duty in 1876?

Colonel Sturgis was running the cavalry depot in St. Louis; he led the regiment against the Nez Perce in 1877.

Who was the first to tell the Far West's crew of the defeat, reportedly in tears?

Captain Grant Marsh then turned the steamboat into a floating hospital for the 52 wounded.