Battle of Little Bighorn

This letter was written by James McLaughlin, Indian Agent at Standing Rock, instructing members of the Indian Police to arrest Sitting Bull, the famed Lakota chief. Dated December 14, 1890, this letter set off a chain of events that resulted in the death of Sitting Bull.

McLaughlin…

This photograph is described as, "Sitting Bull, half-length portrait, facing front, holding peace pipe." Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his tribe during a period of resistance against the United States government.

This lithograph, created by Henry Steinegger in 1878, depicts General Custer during the Battle of Little Bighorn. The illustrator depicted a scene showing the struggle that ensued leading up to Custer's death. 

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (LIBI), located in southeastern Montana, was originally established as a national cemetery on Jan. 29, 1879, less than three years after the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

This map, courtesy of the National Park Service, is titled "Three Pronged Movements in the Sioux Expedition of 1876." It shows the movements of the Sioux tribe leading up to the Battle of Little Bighorn. 

This photograph, taken by W. H. Illingworth, shows a column of cavalry, artillery, and wagons, commanded by Gen. George A. Custer, crossing the plains of Dakota Territory during his 1874 Black Hills expedition.

This photograph, taken by W.H. Illingworth during Custer's Black Hills expedition, shows a panoramic view of his camp at Hidden Wood Creek.

This song, known as Custer's Last Charge, was most likely copied from Custer's monument in 1906 according to the Library of Congress. The song lyrics below were taken as a textual transcription.

This photograph of Major General George Armstrong Custer, taken by Civil War photographer Matthew Brady, was taken during the Civil War in 1865. He was a well known Union general at the time known for his tactical military strategy. 

<p><span class="deck">To Stanley Vestal, the old Sioux warrior White Bull describes the day when he counted his greatest coup</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">So spoke Sitting Bull, greatest of Sioux chiefs, as he bitterly watched his people bargain away their Dakota homeland</span></p>

<p><span class="deck"><span class="typestyle">A Cheyenne historian whose grandfather was in the battle sheds new light on the slaughter of Custer and his troopers</span> </span></p>

<p>No battle in American history has won more attention than the relatively insignificant defeat at the Little Bighorn River in 1876.</p>

<p><span class="deck">Starting with a single, haunting battlefield image, an amateur photo detective managed to reconstruct a forgotten photographer’s life and uncover a treasure of Indian portraits.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">Our greatest Western novelist deciphers Crazy Horse, Custer, and the hard year of the Little Bighorn</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">Thomas Berger, the author of a classic novel of the American West, speaks about its long-awaited sequel, and about what is to be learned in the challenging territory that lies between history and fiction.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">Fate brought Custer and Sitting Bull together one bloody June evening at the Little Bighorn—and marked the end of the Wild West.</span></p>