The Battle of the Little Bighorn occurred on June 25, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory. This engagement, famously known as Custer’s Last Stand, was part of the Great Sioux War of 1876. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry was overwhelmingly defeated by combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, led by several prominent Native American leaders, including Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The battle was a significant, albeit temporary, victory for Native American tribes resisting United States government efforts to confine them to reservations.
