battle of little big horn

• The battle was between the US 7th cavalry under George Armstrong Custer and the Indians
• Before the battle, Indians were partly tolerated but gradually moved onto reservations
• After the battle, Indians were given a simple choice: assimilate or die
• Second Fort Laramie Treaty

  1868
• The Black Hills were guaranteed to the Sioux as a sacred site in perpetuity
• In 1874, gold prospectors flooded into the Black Hills, violating the treaty
• The Sioux rejected US government offers to buy the Black Hills for $6 million
• President Grant insisted that any Sioux not on reservations by December 1875 would be attacked
• Sitting Bull said the whites want a war and we will give it to them
• In June 1876, the Sioux with 2,000 warriors and 5,000 other Indians met the US army at the Battle of Little Bighorn
• Custer's 600 men were outnumbered and slaughtered by the Sioux
• Custer had split his force into three in a doomed attempt to surround the Sioux
• Sitting Bull led the women and children to safety, while Crazy Horse led the attack on Custer's men
• Custer's men were surrounded and killed in a last stand to defend themselves
• After the battle, the US government decided the Plains Indians must stay on reservations
• The US army relentlessly chased Indians back onto reservations, and within five years virtually all were on reservations
• The US government could now ignore previous treaties with the Indians at will
• The US army increased the number of soldiers guarding the Indians, and in 1877 Crazy Horse surrendered and was murdered
• The battle led to a shift in US policy from a "peace policy" to a policy of extermination of Indians who would not stay on reservations