MovieChat Forums > Into the West (2005) Discussion > The Battle of the Little Bighorn

The Battle of the Little Bighorn

posted 18 years ago by li-mu-bai
20 replies | jump to latest

On June 25 1876. Custer's scouts located the Sioux on the Little Bighorn River. Unaware of the Native American strength, between 2,500 and 4,000 men, Custer disregarded arrangements to join Terry at the junction of the Bighorn and Little Bighorn rivers and prepared to attack at once. In the hope of surrounding the Native Americans, he formed his troops into a frontal-assault force of about 260 men under his personal command and two flanking columns. The center column encountered the numerically superior Sioux and Cheyenne. Cut off from the flanking columns and completely surrounded, Custer and his men fought desperately but all were killed. Later Terry's troops relieved the remainder of the regiment.
The battle was the most famous incident in the Indian Wars and was a remarkable victory for the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne.

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] sndpul 18 years ago

>It's great that the terrorist Custer died.

>When they found his body, he had an arrow shoved up his penis

Really? Funny, it's not in any history book I've read (and I'm not surprised about that).

If true, that is hilarious, and fitting.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] pax-2 17 years ago

Not true.

He did apparently have his ears poked through with needles by Indian women so that in the next life he could 'hear'.

[–] olmecajade 18 years ago

>On June 25 1876. Custer's scouts located the Sioux on the Little Bighorn River. Unaware of the Native American strength, between 2,500 and 4,000 men, Custer disregarded arrangements to join Terry at the junction of the Bighorn and Little Bighorn rivers and prepared to attack at onc

I believe he was aware of how many warriors the lakota had but was just arrogant to the pont of thinking it didnt matter. He thought that the seventh calvery was unbeatable

By the way great song quote,I love pink floyd

There's a way to live with earth and a way not to live with earth. We choose the way of earth.

[–] wolly2525 18 years ago

custer for sure had some balls but he deffinitely didn't know how many warriors he was up against. when he attached he believed he was at the end of the village but he was actually in the middle.

[–] KimiWin56 18 years ago

Word up. this is probably my most favorite war in the history of native american battles.

I cant tell you how many time ive studied this

*´¨)
¸.~´¸.~*´¨) ¸.~*¨)
(¸.~´ (¸.~´ Kimimela Winyan

[–] wolly2525 18 years ago

I agree, each time i read a book or anything on the subject it just becomes more interesting each time.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] shrekmichaels 17 years ago

BUT WE GOT OUR REVENGE

[–] pedicab_driver 17 years ago

I just watched a BBC drama documentary about this battle (Toby Stephens as Custer). They said that Custer's plan was to use the same tactics he used at the battle of Wash!ta river. He wanted to capture the women and children of the village and use them as hostages, forcing the warriors to go back to the reservation. Custer thought that the warriors had gone out hunting, but they were actually in their tents sleeping late.

[–] li-mu-bai 17 years ago

So you're telling me a great man lost his life cause of those damn lazy Indians?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfO-0f8cjwk

[–] ReinaMissy 17 years ago

George Custer was many things, but "great" sure as hell wasn't among 'em.

[–] coxm-1 14 years ago

"I just watched a BBC drama documentary about this battle (Toby Stephens as Custer). They said that Custer's plan was to use the same tactics he used at the battle of Wash!ta river. He wanted to capture the women and children of the village and use them as hostages, forcing the warriors to go back to the reservation. Custer thought that the warriors had gone out hunting, but they were actually in their tents sleeping late."

Also, what you won't find in many history books, is that during this battle, LTC Custer invented the phrase "Holy $hit!" when he saw how many Natives Americans he was up against.

[–] Sid-Blitzen 17 years ago

"The battle was the most famous incident in the Indian Wars ...."

Maybe the most famous, but not the worst defeat ever suffered by US troops at the hands of Natives. That occurred in 1791, in what is now Indiana, when General St Clair got majorly whupped by such tribes as the Shawnee and Miami.

[–] zohoe 17 years ago

Actually the battle was fought at what is today Fort Recovery, Ohio. But yes, as you mentioned, it was the worst defeat of the US Army in its history with over 600 men killed which represented over half of the entire army in the West at that time. The Shawnee and Miami eventually were smashed four years later at Fallen Timbers by Mad Anthony Wayne.

[–] ReinaMissy 17 years ago

Your historical knowledge is faulty, zohoe.

Mad Anthony Wayne was a general during the American Revolution, a century before Custer's defeat.

[–] TheHistoryFamily 17 years ago

You're right that Mad Anthony Wayne was a general in the Revolution. However I don't think Zohoe was saying that Wayne was around in Custer's time. The Battle of Fallen Timbers took place in 1794 just south of what is now Toledo, Ohio. Prior to that Josiah Harmar and Arthur St. Clair were both clobbered by a confederacy of tribes including the Shawnee and Miami. When you allow for the size of the United States military at that time these possibly were the greatest defeats of the US military by anyone, let alone Native American Indians.

[–] caymancic 14 years ago

Did any of you see the special on researching the Little Big Horn by the artifacts left at the battle scene. It is REALLY interesting and you should try to find this. It is for real. They found some skeletons and a lot of cartriges. Any way it is so good. Like most of Custers men were NOT season indian fighters. Most were young men and a lot were new immigrants. They also use some of the paintings on skins the indians had made to follow their story. If I knew who to look up I would tell you. Discovery channel or history channe. I watch them all the time.

caydj

ps I had heard Custer had used his last "shot" to kill himself. Which was a common thing in the west. To take your own life rather than be captured and prob tortured. Also I have a gun from the "stand" passed to me by my father. neat huh???
dj

[–] rmontro 12 years ago

Custer is almost always portrayed as a blundering idiot stereotype in these types of movies, but I don't think he was quite as stupid as he is usually portrayed.

For instance, as I understand it, he was expecting the size of the Souix force to be about 800 warriors, because that was the number that had left the reservation in protest of the treaty being broken. He didn't know that many others had secretly left and joined Sitting Bull afterward. So instead he was facing several thousand.

He also didn't know that he was outgunned, that many natives were armed with repeater rifles, while the army had only single shot rifles.

It's also been noted that his strategy was to take hostages, because historically the warriors would surrender in order to protect the wives and children.

Hindsight is always better than foresight, but if he had actually known what he was up against, he might have taken a different approach, I don't know. Obviously he should have had better reconnaissance information, but that's all part of war. Originally, he was counting on the element of surprise, but mistakenly believed that his forces had been spotted by natives due to a report he received. So he decided to attack immediately rather than wait for further information.