Battle of Little Big Horn essays

Battle of Little Big Horn essays War whoops. Screams of wounded horses and dying men. Smoke drifting over blue uniforms lying still in the grass. It has been troubling historians for years, how did the great George Armstrong Custer get defeated by the Native Americans? In my essay I am going to tell you what I have learned about why this battle took place and what its outcome meant to the Nation and the Native Americans. I have always been intrigued by the history of the conflict between Native Americans and the U.S. Calvary. In 1875, the Sioux and Cheyenne had been forced to live on reservations in the Black Hills of South Dakota. They were continually crowded off of their sacred lands by white settlers, and finally they had had enough. The Native Americans left the reservations, and gathered in Montana under a great chief named Sitting Bull to fight for their land. By the summer of 1876, the US Cavalry was dispatched to force the Native Americans back to their reservations. Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer commanded one of the Cavalry columns. His Seventh Cavalry was known for their fearless Native American fighting, and Custer had an ego that needed constant feeding. On June 25th, 1876 the US Cavalry had three columns of soldiers in the area around the Native American encampment. The columns were commanded by General Alfred Terry. General Terry sent Custer south to scout out the Native American encampment. Custer expected to find about 1000 warriors, but his scouts found an estimated 5000 Native Americans. The leaders of the village included many legendary warriors, including Crazy Horse, Gall, and Sitting Bull. General Custers force was comprised of 650 soldiers, and he was confident that he could easily capture the entire village. Custer made a fatal mistake; he decided to attack immediately instead of waiting for the other troops to reinforce the attack. Custers ego had finally gotten the b ...