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N0KFQ > TODAY 25.06.15 15:15l 56 Lines 2502 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 59694_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Jun 25
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<F1OYP<ZL2BAU<7M3TJZ<JE7YGF<XE1FH<N0KFQ
Sent: 150625/1308Z 59694@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1876
Battle of Little Bighorn
On this day in 1876, Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy
Horse and Sitting Bull defeat the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant
Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern
Montana's Little Bighorn River.
Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, leaders of the Sioux tribe on the
Great Plains, strongly resisted the mid-19th-century efforts of
the U.S. government to confine their people to reservations. In
1875, after gold was discovered in South Dakota's Black Hills,
the U.S. Army ignored previous treaty agreements and invaded the
region. This betrayal led many Sioux and Cheyenne tribesmen to
leave their reservations and join Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in
Montana. By the late spring of 1876, more than 10,000 Native
Americans had gathered in a camp along the Little Bighorn
River - which they called the Greasy Grass - in defiance of a U.S.
War Department order to return to their reservations or risk
being attacked.
In mid-June, three columns of U.S. soldiers lined up against the
camp and prepared to march. A force of 1,200 Native Americans
turned back the first column on June 17. Five days later, General
Alfred Terry ordered Custer's 7th Cavalry to scout ahead for
enemy troops. On the morning of June 25, Custer drew near the
camp and decided to press on ahead rather than wait for
reinforcements.
At mid-day, Custer's 600 men entered the Little Bighorn Valley.
Among the Native Americans, word quickly spread of the impending
attack. The older Sitting Bull rallied the warriors and saw to
the safety of the women and children, while Crazy Horse set off
with a large force to meet the attackers head on. Despite
Custer's desperate attempts to regroup his men, they were quickly
overwhelmed. Custer and some 200 men in his battalion were
attacked by as many as 3,000 Native Americans; within an hour,
Custer and every last one of his soldiers were dead.
The Battle of Little Bighorn - also called Custer's Last
Stand - marked the most decisive Native American victory and the
worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. The
gruesome fate of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans
and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and
bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its
efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of
the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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