This Day In 1876

On this day in 1876 the Battle of Little Bighorn was fought. Native American warriors led by Chief Crazy Horse and Chief Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. It was a bloody battle fought in southern Montana near the Little Bighorn River. Custer and some 200 men in his battalion were attacked by about 3,000 Native Americans from the Sioux nation. After an overwhelming and bloody battle, one hour later Custer and all of his men lay dead in the Little Bighorn Valley. This battle is also known as "Custer's Last Stand" and marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the Long Plains Indian War. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to living on reservations.