Editing Battle of the Little Bighorn (section)

===Expansion of the U.S. Army===
The [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] authorized appropriations to expand the Army by 2,500 men to meet the emergency after the defeat of the 7th Cavalry. For a session, the Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives abandoned its campaign to reduce the size of the Army. Word of Custer's fate reached the 44th United States Congress as a conference committee was attempting to reconcile opposing appropriations bills approved by the House and the Republican Senate. They approved a measure to increase the size of cavalry companies to 100 enlisted men on July 24. The committee temporarily lifted the ceiling on the size of the Army by 2,500 on August 15.<ref>Utley, Robert M. (1973) ''Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 1866–1890'', pp. 64 and 69 note 11.</ref>