History for the day

Greg Breining has an article for the History Channel about Custer:

Few battles are as famous as Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s Last Stand, when thousands of Sioux, Northern and Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho killed 210 United States soldiers on a hill overlooking the Little Bighorn River.
The tale of the fight is still being told at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in southeastern Montana. The battlefield looks much as it did on 25 June 1876— a knoll covered by prairie grasses descends along a woody draw to the river bottom where thousands of Indians were camped. You can imagine the whirlwind of warriors wrapping around Custer’s troops on the hills, and the sounds of shots vanishing into the endless sky.
“I think really what keeps us coming back to this place is that it’s sort of a window to the world of 1870s America,” says Ken Woody, chief of interpretation at the monument. “America was expanding, with the Indians being put on reservations. Then there’s Custer himself, reckless and successful. It’s sort of a climax to many struggles.”

Custer was a dashing figure (photo). He had golden locks and was dressed on that day in buckskins. During the Civil War he earned a reputation for bravery bordering on recklessness. “He just made things happen,” says Woody. “You either liked him or you hated him.”
In the spring of 1876, the United States had launched three military columns to force the Sioux and Cheyenne back onto the Great Sioux Reservation. One command, under General Alfred Terry, headed west up the Yellowstone River toward the Little Bighorn. Custer’s Seventh Cavalry left Terry’s command on 22 June to scout ahead. Three days later, Custer’s Crow and Arikara scouts located the encampment of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho.
From an overlook known as the Crow’s Nest, Custer ordered Captain Frederick Benteen to move to the southwest to block a possible escape. After traveling a few miles, Custer again divided his force, sending Major Marcus Reno along the river bottom to attack from the south. Custer and his remaining troops followed a ridge to an ephemeral creek. They plunged down the ravine toward the village. Reno reached the Indians first, but was driven to a defensible position atop a ridge. Benteen’s troops eventually joined them, but under the Indians’ attack, they could not reach Custer.
The Indians immediately forced Custer to retreat to the ridge. Another group of Sioux warriors, commanded by the charismatic leader Crazy Horse, circled and caught Custer’s men in a pincer.
Vastly outnumbered, Custer’s soldiers were also outgunned. Their 1873 Springfield .45-70 single-shots were powerful at long range but incapable of rapid fire. Many Indians shot Henry and Winchester lever-action rifles (as well as revolvers, muskets, and bows and arrows).
The cavalry was probably outmatched man-to-man as well. The soldiers, many of them new immigrants, were poorly trained laborers and farmers. The Indians, by contrast, were experienced riders, hunters, and outdoorsmen, fighting with and for their communities. According to Woody: “The Indians were the best fighters in the world.”
The battle on the hill lasted perhaps an hour. Reno and Benteen remained pinned down five miles away until 27 June, when the warriors fled the advance of General Terry’s infantry, now joined by the forces of General John Gibbon.
 The battlefield was designated a national cemetery in 1879. Two years later, a memorial was erected on Last Stand Hill over the soldiers’ mass grave. Among most Americans, “they were pretty much considered heroes,” Woody says. In 1946 the site became Custer Battlefield National Monument.
But, over time, perceptions of Custer changed. By the Vietnam War, members of the armed forces and Indian fighters of the past were not so revered. “Custer was a bad guy,” Woody says; the 1970 movie Little Big Man presents Custer as a lunatic. As attitudes changed, so did the portrayal of the monument. In 1991, Congress changed the name and ordered the construction of an Indian Memorial, which was dedicated in 2003.
The elements that keep the legend alive— Custer’s flamboyance, the uncertainty of his final moments, and the profound social events of the time— make the interpretation of the battle compelling. The monument staff, including Indian interpretive rangers, strives to be even-handed in recounting the story. In the spring of 1876, the United States had launched three military columns to force the Sioux and Cheyenne back onto the Great Sioux Reservation. One command, under General Alfred Terry, headed west up the Yellowstone River toward the Little Bighorn. Custer’s Seventh Cavalry left Terry’s command on 22 June to scout ahead. Three days later, Custer’s Crow and Arikara scouts located the encampment of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. From an overlook known as the Crow’s Nest, Custer ordered Captain Frederick Benteen to move to the southwest to block a possible escape. After traveling a few miles, Custer again divided his force, sending Major Marcus Reno along the river bottom to attack from the south. Custer and his remaining troops followed a ridge to an ephemeral creek. They plunged down the ravine toward the village. Reno reached the Indians first, but was driven to a defensible position atop a ridge. Benteen’s troops eventually joined them, but under the Indians’ attack, they could not reach Custer. The Indians immediately forced Custer to retreat to the ridge. Another group of Sioux warriors, commanded by the charismatic leader Crazy Horse, circled and caught Custer’s men in a pincer. Vastly outnumbered, Custer’s soldiers were also outgunned. Their 1873 Springfield .45-70 single-shots were powerful at long range but incapable of rapid fire. Many Indians shot Henry and Winchester lever-action rifles (as well as revolvers, muskets, and bows and arrows). The cavalry was probably outmatched man-to-man as well. The soldiers, many of them new immigrants, were poorly trained laborers and farmers. The Indians, by contrast, were experienced riders, hunters, and outdoorsmen, fighting with and for their communities. According to Woody: “The Indians were the best fighters in the world.” The battle on the hill lasted perhaps an hour. Reno and Benteen remained pinned down five miles away until 27 June, when the warriors fled the advance of General Terry’s infantry, now joined by the forces of General John Gibbon.  The battlefield was designated a national cemetery in 1879. Two years later, a memorial was erected on Last Stand Hill over the soldiers’ mass grave. Among most Americans “they were pretty much considered heroes,” Woody says. In 1946 the site became Custer Battlefield National Monument. But, over time, perceptions of Custer changed. By the Vietnam War, members of the armed forces and Indian fighters of the past were not so revered. “Custer was a bad guy,” Woody says; the 1970 movie Little Big Man presents Custer as a lunatic. As attitudes changed, so did the portrayal of the monument. In 1991, Congress changed the name and ordered the construction of an Indian Memorial, which was dedicated in 2003.The elements that keep the legend alive— Custer’s flamboyance, the uncertainty of his final moments, and the profound social events of the time— make the interpretation of the battle compelling. The monument staff, including Indian interpretive rangers, strives to be even-handed in recounting the story.

Rico says that Custer was a pompous ass, and died a richly deserved death; unfortunately, he got a lot of the Seventh Cavalry killed, too...