Editing Battle of the Little Bighorn (section)

===Battlefield and surrounding areas===
In 1805, fur trader [[François-Antoine Larocque|François Antoine Larocque]] reported joining a [[Crow Nation|Crow]] camp in the [[Yellowstone National Park|Yellowstone]] area. On the way he noted that the Crow hunted buffalo on the "[[Little Bighorn River|Small Horn River]]".<ref>Wood, Raymond W. and Thomas D. Thiessen (1987): ''Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains. Canadian Traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738–1818''. Norman and London, p. 184</ref> [[St. Louis]]-based fur trader [[Manuel Lisa]] built [[Fort Raymond]] in 1807 for trade with the Crow. It was located near the confluence of the [[Yellowstone River|Yellowstone]] and [[Bighorn River|Bighorn]] rivers, about {{convert|40|miles|0}} north of the future battlefield.<ref>Hoxie, Frederick E. (1995): ''Parading Through History. The Making of the Crow Nation in America, 1805–1935''. Cambridge, p. 66.</ref> The area is first noted in the 1851 [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851)|Treaty of Fort Laramie]].<ref>Kappler, Charles J. (1904): ''Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties''. Vol. II. Washington, pp. 594–596.</ref>

In the latter half of the 19th century, tensions increased between the Native inhabitants of the [[Great Plains]] of the US and encroaching settlers. This resulted in a series of conflicts known as the [[Sioux Wars]], which took place from 1854 to 1890. While some of the indigenous people eventually agreed to relocate to ever-shrinking [[Indian Reservations|reservations]], a number of them resisted, sometimes fiercely.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://jetson.unl.edu/cocoon/encyclopedia/doc/egp.war.044 |title=Sioux Wars |author= Carole A. Barrett |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of the Great Plains |access-date= May 6, 2013 |url-status = dead|archive-url= https://archive.today/20130626183913/http://jetson.unl.edu/cocoon/encyclopedia/doc/egp.war.044 |archive-date= June 26, 2013 |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

On May 7, 1868, the valley of the Little Bighorn became a tract in the eastern part of the new [[Crow Indian Reservation]] in the center of the old Crow country.<ref>Kappler, Charles J. (1904): ''Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties''. Vol. II. Washington, pp. 1008–1011. Treaty with the Crows, 1868.</ref> There were numerous skirmishes between the Sioux and Crow tribes,<ref name=White1978>White, Richard: The Winning of the West: The Expansion of the Western Sioux in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The Journal of American History. Vol. 65, No. 2 (Sept. 1978), p. 342.</ref> so when the Sioux were in the valley in 1876 without the consent of [[Crow Nation|the Crow tribe]],<ref>Hoxie, Frederick E.: Parading Through History. The Making of the Crow Nation in America, 1805–1935. Cambridge,1995, p. 108.</ref> the Crow supported the US Army to expel the Sioux (e.g., Crows enlisted as [[Crow scouts|Army scouts]]<ref name=Bradley1896>Bradley, James H.: Journal of James H. Bradley. The Sioux Campaign of 1876 under the Command of General John Gibbon. ''Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana''. p. 163.</ref> and Crow warriors would fight in the nearby [[Battle of the Rosebud]]<ref>Dunlay, Thomas W.: Wolves for the Blue Soldiers. Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860–90. Lincoln and London, 1982, pp. 40, 113–114.</ref>).

The geography of the battlefield is very complex, consisting of dissected uplands, rugged bluffs, the Little Bighorn River, and adjacent plains, all areas close to one another. Vegetation varies widely from one area to the next.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sandy | first=John H. | title = Characterization of Geographical Aspects of the Landscape and Environment in the Area of the Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana | date = 2017 | url = https://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/3482 | access-date= 2022-03-12 }}</ref>

The battlefield is known as "Greasy Grass" to the [[Lakota Sioux]], [[Dakota Sioux]], [[Cheyenne]], and most other [[Plains Indians]]; however, in contemporary accounts by participants, it was referred to as the "Valley of Chieftains".<ref>Medicine Crow, Joseph (1992): ''From the Heart of the Crow Country. The Crow Indians' Own Stories''. New York. p. 44.</ref>