Little Bighorn

Little Bighorn river, c.90 mi (145 km) long, rising in the Bighorn Mts., N Wyo., and flowing north to join the Bighorn River in S Mont. On June 25-26, 1876, Sioux and Cheyenne warriors defeated the forces of Col. George Custer in the Little Bighorn valley. The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (formerly Custer Battlefield National Monument) occupies the site of the battle. The graves of those killed in the battle are located around a granite monument marking the spot of Custer's "last stand." See National Parks and Monuments (table).

Little Bighorn, Battle of a clash on June 25, 1876, during the Great Sioux War of 1876, between U.S. cavalry and Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, who had gathered under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, leader of the 7th Cavalry, which was part of Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry's column, led his battalion in an attack on the Indian village on the Little Bighorn. Maj. Marcus A. Reno and his three companies charged the upper end of the village and soon retreated, allowing the Indians to focus on Custer at the other end of the village. The Indians completely destroyed Custer and the five companies under his immediate command, some 210 men. Reno's men were joined by the three companies under Capt. Frederick W. Benteen and held hilltop positions 4 miles to the south through the next day. As Terry approached from the north, the Indians pulled off to the south. The defeat so outraged Americans that the army launched a counteroffensive that ended warfare on the northern plains. Also known as Custer's Last Stand.