Horsemeat March - Colonel George Crook and The Battle of The Little Big Horn

Colonel George Crook and The Battle of The Little Big Horn

Disputes over the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory came to a high in 1876 between the American Army and the Natives in the area (Lakota, Sioux, Arapaho and Northern Cheyenne). After a short battle in March, The Battle of Powder River, organized by General George Crook and led by Joseph Reynold, a larger effort was made for a battle later in the spring in order to move the Indians to reservations. Multiple columns of soldiers were made to trap the enemy and prevent escaping. Crook’s troops: the 2nd and 3rd Cavalry and 4th and 9th Infantries, moved north from Fort Fetterman for the battle. However, they encountered the Sioux and Cheyenne, ultimately creating the Battle of the Rosebud, which delayed them to the columns in Dakota. The Battle therefore went on without them. All the senior commanders wanted to reunite their soldiers with Custer’s in order to overwhelm and finally win the battle and overwhelm the Native camps. On June 22 1876, Custer declined the offer of reinforcements in either soldiers or equipment. On June 24, Custer’s troops found shelter on an overlook called Crow’s Nest, around fourteen miles from Little Big Horn River. Here they spotted a herd of ponies. This overlook saw onto one of the largest community of Plain Native Americans. This group was called together by Hunkpapa Lakota religious leader Sitting Bull. The group consisted of 1800 warriors, among them were notable warriors Crazy Horse and Gall. To add on, Custer moved forward under the untrue information given by agents that suggested that the region had just over 800 troops, roughly the same size as the 7th Cavalry Size. Custer and the men under his command took up positions on a hill near the Native encampment known as Battle Ridge. General Crook, who had been camped a small distance away, tried to drive off the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, but failed to take advantage of his position because his troops were running low on ammunition. Under the leadership of Crazy Horse, the Native warriors decimated Custer’s soldiers, forcing a small remnant of his command to defend themselves at a spot now known as Last Stand Hill. Custer and his men were massacred by the combined Sioux and Cheyenne force in what has become known as one of the worst defeats in American military history. Following this battle, the United States increased the size of its army and began a campaign to hunt down the large force of Native warriors that had carried out the massacre of Custer’s troops.