Into Annihilation: The Arikara Story of Custer’s March to, and the Battle of, the Little Bighorn, part 1

Summary: Battle of the Little Bighorn Anniversary Special:<br><br> One of the most mesmeric and seismic battles in world history: when the Lakota defeated utterly the United States.<br><br> ⁓The Voice before the Void<br> Into Annihilation: The Arikara Story of Custer’s March to, and the Battle of, the Little Bighorn<br> from The Arikara Narrative of the Campaign against the Hostile Dakotas, June, 1876<br> compiled from interviews conducted by the North Dakota State Historical Society with the aged Arikara scouts in 1912 at Fort Berthold Reservation<br> edited by O.G. Libby and The Voice before the Void<br> part 1<br> Historical Introduction to the Battle of the Little Big Horn<br> In the year 1867, the United States Congress provided for a commission to treat with all the Indian tribes of the Great Plains and arrange a treaty which would grant to them definite lands. This, it was thought, would cause them to settle down and cease their war on the white man. Parts of two years were spent in visiting the scattered bands and finally, in April, 1868, an agreement was concluded which defined clearly the boundaries of the territory set apart for the Dakotas [Treaty of Fort Laramie]. This area was not large when compared with the fields over which the Dakotas had been accustomed to roam at will, but it included the Black Hills and adjacent lands which the Dakotas had cherished for a long time as a hunting ground and asylum. Consequently when gold was discovered in these hills and when the expedition commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was sent “to reconnoiter the route from Fort Abraham Lincoln to Bear Butte,” a well known point north of the Black Hills, and “to explore the country south, southeast, and southwest of that point,” the Dakotas were much disturbed.<br> <a href="https://i1.wp.com/www.thevoicebeforethevoid.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Charles-Marion-Russell-The-Custer-Fight-1903.jpg?ssl=1"></a><br> The evidence gathered on Custer’s expedition with regard to a large amount of precious metal in the Black Hills was on the whole discouraging. However, other expeditions followed, and soon there began a rush of white men into this territory. It was at this point that the Dakotas were aroused and made a desperate attempt to defend their lands and their rights in the treaty.<br> From the time of the treaty of 1868 there had remained outside of the reservation a number of Dakotas, known as hostiles. To these were constantly being added outlaws who left the reservations, until the number which could be called hostile was probably about three thousand. Most of these were under the leadership of Sitting Bull. In late 1875, the Indian inspector E.C. Watkins, after investigation, advised that troops be sent against these hostile Indians “that winter; the sooner the better.”<br> In early 1876, General George Crook and Colonel J.J. Reynolds were sent on an expedition against the hostiles. Colonel Reynolds followed a trail and struck the camp of Crazy Horse. The Dakotas fled and the soldiers destroyed the camp, while being shot at from rocks, bushes, and gullies [Battle of Powder River]. General Crook was driven back by the Indians.<br> The results of this expedition were considered neither conclusive nor satisfactory, and a systematic campaign was devised, consisting of three distinct divisions – General Crook from the south, General Alfred H. Terry from the east, and Colonel John Gibbon from the west – to march and converge upon the Big Horn River, a tributary of the Yellowstone River.<br> The military authorities assumed that any one of these three divisions could defeat the enemy, the only difficulty being to catch him, for it was believed that no one of the commanders would encounter more than five to eight hundred hostile warriors. But the failure of Crook’s expedition in March, and the delay of Custer’s command at Fort Linco...