June 25, 1876 – The Greasy Grass Fight

The Greasy Grass Fight

better known as the

Battle of the Little Big Horn

The Battle of the Greasy Grass River, known to history as the Little Big Horn occurred on June 25, 1876. I’d like to offer some comment on the adversaries and then describe the incidents from an Indian viewpoint.

Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer

The two side’s approach to warfare couldn’t have been more different. Americans had tactical objectives and rules of engagement which included preservation of your own and your comrades lives – killing the enemy was expected but risking ones life unnecessarily was to be avoided . The soldiers were mercenary, many of them recent immigrants.

The Cheyenne and Lakota stressed achieving honor through bravery in battle – there was generally little in the way of tactical objectives. To show bravery and humiliate the enemy was more important than killing him. Once they adapted this warrior ethic to include killing as many of their foe as possible they became an even more formidable opponent. So the Indian warriors were a motivated group of veteran fighters, the fact they were fighting for their families and way of life only added to their motivation.

Including Indian scouts and armed civilians there were approximately 700 men under Lt Col Custer’s command. Indian numbers are harder to determine, most Indian accounts say between 900-1000 warriors were in the camp. Due to the inability of some to accept such a defeat at the hands of what they consider savages, the numbers of armed Indians has grown over the years till it would seem every man, woman and child of indigenous blood living in the Americas from Canada to Tierra del Fuego was there. Also many military history sites claim the Indians were far better armed. I would consider this claim spurious, the only way Indians could obtain weapons would have been trade. They had no currency. They might trade buffalo robes, but American hunters had cornered that market. During the battle as ammunition-laden horses broke free and dead troopers were stripped of their weapons Indian firepower increased, but to begin the battle the Lakota and Cheyenne had mostly bow and arrows, clubs, lances and a motley collection of firearms.

Standard army practice in waging war against Indians was to strike their encampment when the majority of warriors were on a buffalo hunt. Women and children would flee from the soldiers while remaining warriors would defend the village. When a second American force would attack from another direction the warriors would disengage in order to protect their fleeing families and the rout would be on. Lodges and food stores would be burned and the prisoners taken to the nearest fort and held hostage. When the larger group of warriors would return from the hunt they would have little choice but to surrender.
 

Lt. Col. Custer ignored intelligence about Greasy Grass camp

Custer had initially been informed the Indian encampment along the Greasy Grass wasn’t large, with most of the men away at a hunt. When his Crow scouts told him this was not true he chose not to believe them, even as the scouts began to sing their death songs. I believe this is the reason he split his force-the group with Major Reno was going to attack the village and draw the warriors out, Custer’s smaller mounted group would later attack from another direction. It was only when Reno’s skirmish line advanced on the village and began firing that they realized the size of the encampment, and understood they were not about to enter an undefended village. The first shots killed two women and a child, the wives and daughter of war chief Gall, adopted son of Sitting Bull. The shots panicked two horses which charged into a large group of Lakota women who subsequently dragged the troopers from their mounts and clubbed them to death. The enraged Gall along with Crazy Horse led a group of 150-300 mounted warriors and quickly overwhelmed Reno’s Indian scouts and skirmish line. In the panicked retreat 3 officers and 29 soldiers were killed, their deaths buying the remaining seven companies time to take defensive positions and hold the Indians off.

At this point Gall and Crazy Horse pulled their men back to protect the fleeing women and children.

Meanwhile Custer’s five companies neared the village, their own skirmish line beginning to slowly cross the Greasy Grass River. A group of Cheyenne waiting amid the shrubs and willows began to cut them down with gunfire. This unexpected resistance caused Custer’s troopers to wheel and charge up a slope, as several hundred warriors led by Gall came crashing across the river in angry pursuit.

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse the Oglala and Two Moons of the Cheyenne crossed the river farther up to prevent the soldiers from descending the slope into the village. Seeing their escape from Gall blocked the cavalry headed north but were quickly overtaken by the swift ponies of the Cheyenne and Lakota. Most were cut down while firing wildly, many took their own lives. One exception was the company commanded by Irish Captain Myles Keough, who shot their horses and used them for breastworks. This was where the majority of Indian casualties occurred.

Custer’s five companies lasted no more than half an hour in battle. The Cheyenne women approaching the battlefield recognized the insignia of the 7th cavalry, from when Black Kettles village was attacked on the Washita River. 92 women and children were killed there, along with the 11 warriors there to defend them. The troopers mutilated the Indian dead, taking what soldiers called “women’s scalps” which they used as hatbands. The Cheyenne remembered this. Only Keough and his men weren’t mutilated, out of respect for their bravery.

There was little in the way of celebration following the victory at the Greasy Grass. Perhaps the people sensed their efforts only hastened destiny. Certainly much anger was generated among the Americans as news of the disastrous defeat reached a nation preparing to celebrate it’s own big event, the 100 year anniversary of it’s independence from Great Britain. That this defeat – along with the death of arguably the young nations best known military leader, a man with his eye on the presidency – was at the hands of savages only fueled the flame of its anger.

Fourteen years later Big Foot’s band of Lakota were massacred at Wounded Knee Creek by the 7th Cavalry, undoubtedly payback for their loss at the Greasy Grass.

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