Custer's Revenge
The Battle of Little Bighorn is one of the most significant battles in American history. This is not because of the weaponry used, the casualties, or even the battle strategies. This is because the battle is one of the only big battles that Native Americans won against the U.S. military. After this battle, the Native American power in the West ended. Ironically, by winning the Battle of Little Bighorn, the Sioux and Cheyenne actually sped up the downfall of Native American power.
In 1876, after a treaty dispute, President Ulysses S. Grant issued an ultimatum stating that all Native Americans had to be on the Great Sioux Reservation by January 31st. When this ultimatum was not met, the United States declared war. General Philip Sheridan, commander of the U.S. forces, planned his strategy. He was going to divide the army into three different forces that would converge at the junction of the Bighorn and Yellowstone Rivers, where they had found signs of a large Native American village. What they did not know was how large this village was. Native American Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had joined their tribes together and Sitting Bull had called for more tribes to join theirs. Even Native Americans living on reservations were invited to join them. The American Army was expecting about 1,000 Native Americans, but there were about 12,000. The first Americans to meet the Native Americans were General Crook's force in the late spring of 1876. He clashed with the Sioux in the Battle of Rosebud. The fight was long and hard and ended in a draw. General Crook then retreated to the Bighorn Mountains without sending a scout to warn the other troops about the number of Native Americans or that he had re...
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...e country's favorite general they had brought death and destruction upon themselves. In fifteen years there were no more free Native Americans. This process could have been slowed if they had not killed Custer and there had still been Native American supporters in the U.S. After Custer's death, the U.S. military could do whatever they wanted to get rid of the Native Americans. Custer was not able to defeat the Sioux and Cheyenne at the Battle of Little Bighorn, but his memory accomplished that and so much more.
Works Cited
Flemming, Walter C. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Native American History. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2003.
Mc Murtry, Larry. Oh What a Slaughter. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005
Welch, James with Paul Stekler. Killing Custer. New York: Penguin Group, 1994.
Venables, Robert. Looking Back at Wounded Knee. 18 Aug. 2000. 1 March 2006
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On July 25, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led his soldiers into the village along the Little Big Horn River. By the end, Custer and his army of more than 200 soldiers were dead. Sitting Bull thought by winning this battle that the government would leave him alone. The fight had just begun. Sitting Bull would not give up. Soldiers chasing him found a note that read,
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The Alamo was one of the most astounding and critical battles of our country. Its men were ruthless in their bravery and love of their country. Their mission for independence lives on in the hearts of all American’s today. Their legacy lives on forever and their courageous souls are still in the heart of the people of the lone star state. This is the story of bravery, love, tyranny, and liberty. This is the story of the Alamo
William Henry Harrison, later to become the ninth President of the United States, was a military officer born to a political family. Joining the military at a young age he rose in its ranks under the tutelage of General “Mad” Anthony Wayne where he served as a lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp during the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The winning of this battle paved the way for the “peace” signing of the Greenville Treaty. This single treaty ceded most of present day Ohio and pushed many Algonquians from their tribal lands. In less than 15 years time, by Harrison’s efforts, 48 million acres of Native American lands would be lost by cessation. Appointed as Superintendent of the North West Indians and Indiana Territory Governor he was undoubtedly the single most powerful white in the West. Harrison, having higher ambitions then frontier...
“Over the Earth I come.” This is not a statement made in haste but a declaration of war, coming from the mouth of a Sioux warrior, a Dakota. They call him Crooked Lightning. That was the first and only true announcement about the planned uprising from the Dakota Nation. The Sioux Uprising of 1862 was appallingly deadly and destructive considering it may have been avoided if the United States had paid the Sioux their gold on time.
In the spring of 1868 an invitation was sent to various Indians of power to come to Fort Laramie to sign the new treaty. The treaty was meant to end the war, so that all could live in harmony with one another or at least that is what the Sioux were led to believe. Many of the Indians decided to sign the treaty and receive gifts, however, many including Red Cloud, refused to sign until all of the U.S. military presence was gone from their land and the fort vacated (Calloway, 2012). They made it clear tha...
The journey of exploration to the western territories brought the white man many great things, but they did face some opposition. The US government made plans to explore the Black Hills, after hearing of the gold it contained. This was not an easy task. The Sioux, with strong force, were not giving up their sacred land easily. The only way to gain the territory of the Black Hills was to wage war against the Sioux. The Battle of the Little Big Horn was one battle that the US will never forget. General George Custer led an army of men to take out the Sioux, one of the battalions was completely wiped out including Custer. The Sioux were very strong, but US had a lot more power and technology. Why did we get massacred? This question has been a mystery to many people throughout the years. Sergeant Windolph, of Benteen’s cavalry, and John F. Finerty, from General Crooks cavalry, bring us some personal accounts and memories of this tragedy.
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Nardo, Don, “The Relocation of the North American Indian”, San Diego, California, Kid Haven Press, 2002, Print.
Francis, L. (1998). Native time, a historical time line of native America. New York: St Martins Press.
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One must understand the context in which Custer fought at Little Bighorn. The year was 1876, and the country was growing. The United States had, since the settlement of North America by Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries, been populated in an east-to-west manner. People generally moved west as the population increased, and resources as well as physical space became sparse in a particular area. People at the time viewed The American West as an area under-utilized by the Indians, and there was a land grab by settlers as the population continued to increase in the East and the South. Additionally, the idea of Manifest Destiny was perhaps at its most fevered point during and after the period following the Civil War. Manifest destiny is the concept of a kind of American Imperialism that holds the belief that Americans are simply destined to occupy the continent of North America, and that they should remake the West into an American agrarian region.
Wounded Knee was a terrible event in US history. It showed how the US government didn't understand the Native Americans and treated them badly and unfairly.
The first point he made was how the Westward expansion affected the Plains Indians. The Plains Indian tribes consisted mostly of the Kiowa, Kiowa Apaches, Comanche, Sioux, and Cheyenne. As the white settlers made their way across the country taking land, the Indians pushed back by raiding settlements and killing the occasional settler. More and more white settlers were pouring into the West in search of gold and silver. As the settlers came into the territories, large herds of buffalo were killed, much of the time just for the sport of it. This had an adverse affect on the Indians since they relied on buffalo not only for food, but also for hides and blankets as well as to make teepees. Another factor was the pony herds; the U.S. Army frequently seized herds and a herd of upwards of one thousand was killed just so the Indians would not be able to use them. The soldiers that were on patrol in the West kept pushing the Indians, driving them away from their hunting and fishing grounds.