Dreams of a Kitten by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Dreams of a Kitten

Page 383

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other

Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly

referred to as Custer's Last Stand happened the next day, after

Stevie and Timmy’s departure. It was an armed engagement between

the combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and

Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States

Army. It took place on June 25–26, 1876, along the Little

Bighorn River in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern

Montana Territory. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of

US forces, largely through the heroism of Crazy Horse, was the

most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.

Custer’s plan to subdue a large Indian village had completely

broken down. He had been warned repeatedly by his scouts that

his target, an Indian encampment on Montana’s Little Bighorn

River, was far larger than he had imagined. Now, on this very

hot June day in 1876, he must have known that he was going to

die.

Even to the very end of what is now known as Custer’s Last

Stand, we can picture the desperate, dust covered Custer looking

hopefully to the southeast for expected help from the rest of

his command. He died not knowing why Major Marcus Reno and

Captain Frederick Benteen never came up in support.