Editing George Armstrong Custer (section)

==Indian Wars==
{{main|American Indian Wars#Great Plains}}
On July 28, 1866, Custer was appointed lieutenant colonel of the newly created [[7th Cavalry Regiment]],<ref name="utley-40">Utley 2001, p. 40.</ref> which was headquartered at [[Fort Riley]], [[Kansas]].<ref name="utley-41">Utley 2001, p. 41.</ref> He served on frontier duty at Fort Riley from October 18 to March 26, and scouted in Kansas and Colorado until July 28, 1867. He took part in Major General [[Winfield Scott Hancock]]'s expedition against the [[Cheyenne]]. On June 26, Lt. Lyman Kidder's party, made up of ten troopers and one scout, were [[Kidder fight|massacred]] while en route to [[Fort Wallace]]. Lt. Kidder was to deliver dispatches to Custer from [[William Tecumseh Sherman|General Sherman]], but his party was attacked by Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne. Days later, Custer and a search party found the bodies of Kidder's patrol.

Following the Hancock campaign, Custer was arrested and suspended at [[Fort Leavenworth, Kansas]], until August 12, 1868, for being absent without leave (AWOL), after having abandoned his post to see his wife. At the request of Major General Sheridan, who wanted him for his planned winter campaign against the Cheyenne, he was allowed to return to duty before his one year of suspension had expired and join his regiment on October 7, 1868. He then went on frontier duty, scouting in Kansas and [[Indian Territory]] through October 1869.

Under Sheridan's orders, he took part in establishing [[Fort Supply (Oklahoma)|Camp Supply]] in Indian Territory in early November 1868 as a supply base for the winter campaign. On November 27, 1868, he led the 7th Cavalry Regiment in an attack on the Cheyenne encampment of Chief [[Black Kettle]] – the [[Battle of Washita River]]. He reported killing 103 warriors; 53 women and children were taken as prisoners. Estimates by the Cheyenne of their casualties were substantially lower (11 warriors plus 19 women and children).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Story of the Battle of the Washita|publisher=National Park Service (USA)|date=November 1999|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/waba/story.htm|access-date=May 2, 2010}}</ref> Custer had his men shoot most of the 875 Indian ponies they had captured.<ref name=Schultz2010>{{cite book|last=Schultz|first=Duane|title=Custer: lessons in leadership|chapter=The snow was made red with blood|pages=111–26|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|year=2010|isbn=978-0-230-11424-1|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DorvCgAAQBAJ&q=Now+Custer+had+to+decide+what+to+do+with+the+875+horses&pg=PA124}}</ref> The Battle of Washita River was regarded as the first substantial U.S. victory in the [[American Indian Wars#Sheridan's campaigns|Southern Plains War]], and it helped force a large portion of the [[Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes|Southern Cheyenne]] on to a U.S.-assigned reservation.

In 1873, he was sent to the [[Dakota Territory]] to protect a railroad survey party against the [[Lakota people|Lakota]]. On August 4, 1873, near the [[Tongue River (Montana)|Tongue River]], the 7th Cavalry Regiment clashed for the first time with the Lakota. One man on each side was killed. In 1874, Custer led [[Black Hills Expedition|an expedition]] into the [[Black Hills]] and announced the discovery of gold on [[French Creek (Cheyenne River)|French Creek]] near present-day [[Custer, South Dakota]]. Custer's announcement triggered the [[Black Hills Gold Rush]]. Among the towns that immediately sprung up was [[Deadwood, South Dakota]], notorious for its lawlessness.