Editing Battle of the Little Bighorn (section)

===1876 U.S. military campaign===
[[File:Custermovements.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|1876 US Army campaign against the Sioux]]

Col. [[John Gibbon]]'s column of six companies (A, B, E, H, I, and K) of the [[7th Infantry Regiment (United States)|7th Infantry]] and four companies (F, G, H, and L) of the [[2nd ACR|2nd Cavalry]] marched east from [[Fort Ellis]] in western Montana on March 30 to patrol the [[Yellowstone River]]. Brig. Gen. [[George Crook]]'s column of ten companies (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, L, and M) of the [[3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (United States)|3rd Cavalry]], five companies (A, B, D, E, and I) of the [[2nd U.S. Cavalry|2nd Cavalry]], two companies (D and F) of the [[4th Infantry Regiment (United States)|4th Infantry]], and three companies (C, G, and H) of the [[9th Infantry Regiment (United States)|9th Infantry]] moved north from [[Fort Fetterman]] in the [[Wyoming Territory]] on May 29, marching toward the [[Powder River (Montana)|Powder River]] area. Brig. Gen. [[Alfred Terry]]'s column, including twelve companies (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, and M) of the [[7th Cavalry Regiment|7th Cavalry]] under Lt. Col. [[George Armstrong Custer]]'s immediate command,<ref name="John Gray">{{cite book |last=Gray |first=John S. |title=Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876 |year=1988 |location=Norman |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press }}</ref> Companies C and G of the [[17th Infantry Regiment (United States)|17th Infantry]], and the [[Gatling gun]] detachment of the [[20th Infantry Regiment (United States)|20th Infantry]] departed westward from [[Fort Abraham Lincoln]] in the [[Dakota Territory]] on May 17. They were accompanied by teamsters and packers with 150 wagons and a large contingent of pack mules that reinforced Custer. Companies C, D, and I of the [[6th U.S. Infantry|6th Infantry]] moved along the [[Yellowstone River]] from [[Fort Buford]] on the [[Missouri River]] to set up a supply depot and joined Terry on May 29 at the mouth of the [[Powder River (Wyoming and Montana)|Powder River]]. They were later joined there by the steamboat ''[[Far West (Steamboat)|Far West]]'', which was loaded with 200 tons of supplies from Fort Abraham Lincoln.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://steamboats.com/museum/lossingmodels.html |title= Virtual Online Steamboat Museum at |publisher= Steamboats.com |date=1914-01-30 |access-date= 2012-03-15 |url-status = live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111212015204/http://steamboats.com/museum/lossingmodels.html |archive-date= December 12, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

====7th Cavalry organization====
The 7th Cavalry had been created just after the [[American Civil War]] (1861-1865). Many men were veterans of the war, including most of the leading officers. A significant portion of the regiment had previously served 4½ years at [[Fort Riley]], in  [[Kansas]], during which time it fought one major engagement and numerous skirmishes, experiencing casualties of 36 killed and 27 wounded. Six other troopers had died of drowning and 51 in [[cholera]] epidemics. In November 1868, while stationed in Kansas, the 7th Cavalry under Custer had routed [[Black Kettle]]'s Southern Cheyenne camp on the [[Washita River]] in the [[Battle of Washita River]], an attack which was at the time labeled a "massacre of innocent Indians" by the [[Indian Bureau]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/218456/pdf | doi=10.1353/jmh.2007.0179 | title=Washita Memories: Eyewitness Views of Custer's Attack on Black Kettle's Village (Review) | year=2007 | last1=Carroll | first1=James T. | journal=The Journal of Military History | volume=71 | issue=3 | pages=927–928 | s2cid=162234777 }}</ref>

[[File:S.J. Morrow, Slim Buttes.png|thumb|[[U.S. Army]]  
[[7th Cavalry Regiment]]'s Troop "I" [[Guidon (United States)|guidon]] banner recovered at the camp of [[American Horse (elder)|American Horse the Elder]], c.1876]]

By the time of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, half of the 7th Cavalry's companies had just returned from 18 months of constabulary duty in the [[Deep South]], having been recalled to [[Fort Abraham Lincoln]], [[Dakota Territory]] to reassemble the regiment for the campaign. About 20% of the troopers had been enlisted in the prior seven months (139 of an enlisted roll of 718), were only marginally trained and had no combat or frontier experience. About 60% of these recruits were [[United States|American]], the rest were [[Europe]]an immigrants (primarily [[Irish people|Irish]] and [[Germans|German]])—just as many of the veteran troopers had been before their enlistments. Archaeological evidence suggests that many of these troopers were malnourished and in poor physical condition, despite being the best-equipped and supplied regiment in the Army.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astonisher.com/archives/museum/wm_slaper_little_big_horn.html|title=A 7th Cavalry survivor's account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn|work=Conversations with Crazy Horse|access-date=August 19, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080906155747/http://www.astonisher.com/archives/museum/wm_slaper_little_big_horn.html|archive-date=September 6, 2008 <!--DASHBot-->|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Barnard, pp. 121–36.</ref>

Of the 45 officers and 718 troopers then assigned to the 7th Cavalry (including a second lieutenant detached from the 20th Infantry and serving in Company L), 14 officers (including the regimental commander) and 152 troopers did not accompany the 7th during the campaign. The regimental commander, Colonel [[Samuel D. Sturgis]], was on detached duty as the Superintendent of Mounted Recruiting Service and commander of the Cavalry Depot in [[St. Louis, Missouri]],<ref>{{cite web |url =https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/1303*.html |title= Online version of Cullum's Register of Graduates of the United States Military Academy – Class of 1846 – Samuel D. Sturgis |access-date = 10 December 2018}}</ref> which left Lieutenant Colonel Custer in command of the regiment. The ratio of troops detached for other duty (approximately 22%) was not unusual for an expedition of this size,<ref name="dtch">{{cite web |url = http://www.historynet.com/magazines/wild_west/3035376.html |title= The 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment Fought in Battle of the Little Bighorn |publisher= HistoryNet.com |access-date = January 18, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080121092726/http://www.historynet.com/magazines/wild_west/3035376.html |archive-date= January 21, 2008 |url-status = dead|df= mdy-all}}</ref> and part of the officer shortage was chronic and was due to the Army's rigid seniority system: Three of the regiment's twelve captains were permanently detached, and two had never served a day with the 7th since their appointment in July 1866.{{NoteTag|Capt. Sheridan (Company L), the brother of Lt. Gen. [[Philip H. Sheridan]], served only seven months in 1866–67 before becoming permanent aide to his brother but remained on the rolls until 1882. Capt. Ilsley (Company E) was aide to Maj. Gen [[John Pope (general)|John Pope]] from 1866 to 1879, when he finally joined his command. Capt. Tourtelotte (Company G) never joined the 7th. A fourth captain, Owen Hale (Company K), was the regiment's recruiting officer in St. Louis and rejoined his company immediately.}} Three second lieutenant vacancies (in E, H, and L Companies) were also unfilled.

====Battle of the Rosebud====
The Army's coordination and planning began to go awry on June 17, 1876, when Crook's column retreated after the [[Battle of the Rosebud]], {{convert|30|miles}} to the southeast of the eventual Little Bighorn battlefield. Surprised and according to some accounts astonished by the unusually large numbers of Native Americans, Crook held the field at the end of the battle but felt compelled by his losses to pull back, regroup, and wait for reinforcements. Unaware of Crook's battle, Gibbon and Terry proceeded, joining forces in early June near the mouth of [[Rosebud Creek (Montana)|Rosebud Creek]]. They reviewed Terry's plan calling for Custer's regiment to proceed south along the Rosebud while Terry and Gibbon's united forces would move in a westerly direction toward the [[Bighorn River|Bighorn]] and [[Little Bighorn River]]s. As this was the likely location of Native encampments, all army elements had been instructed to converge there around June 26 or 27 in an attempt to engulf the Native Americans. On June 22, Terry ordered the 7th Cavalry, composed of 31 officers and 566 enlisted men under Custer, to begin a reconnaissance in force and pursuit along the Rosebud, with the prerogative to "depart" from orders if Custer saw "sufficient reason". Custer had been offered the use of Gatling guns but declined, believing they would slow his rate of march.<ref name="John Gray" />

====Little Bighorn====
While the Terry–Gibbon column was marching toward the mouth of the Little Bighorn, on the evening of June 24, Custer's Indian scouts arrived at an overlook known as the Crow's Nest, {{convert|14|mi}} east of the Little Bighorn River. At sunrise on June 25, Custer's scouts reported they could see a massive pony herd and signs of the Native American village{{NoteTag|[[Plains Indians]] were semi-nomadic peoples and had no permanent settlements off the [[Indian reservation|reservations]] (aka "Agencies). A "village" was a collection of [[tipis]], housing a group of Natives under the leadership of a chief, including those of tribes other than the chief's. A village would be created wherever a group stopped by simply erecting the tipis and could last from a single night to several weeks. Young warriors without a tipi would generally create [[lean-tos]] or sleep in the open. When the chief decided that it was time to move on the villagers simply struck their tipis, tied the tipi poles to their horses so as to form a [[travois]] for their goods and children, and followed the chief. The term "village", therefore, refers to the group while moving or encamped.<ref>Philbrick, Nathaniel, ''The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn'', Viking, 2010, pp. 102, 106, e{{ISBN|978-1-101-19011-1}}</ref>}} roughly {{convert|15|mi|km}} in the distance. After a night's march, the tired officer who was sent with the scouts could see neither, and when Custer joined them, he was also unable to make the sighting. Custer's scouts also spotted the regimental cooking fires that could be seen from {{cvt|10|mi|km}} away, disclosing the regiment's position.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nativeamerican.co.uk/lbhthebattle.html |title=1876 The Battle of the Little Big Horn |date=July 2007 |access-date=January 17, 2022}}</ref>

Custer contemplated a surprise attack against the encampment the following morning of June 26, but he then received a report informing him several "hostiles" ''[sic]'' had discovered the trail left by his troops.<ref>Andrist, Ralph K., "The Long Death: The Last Days of the Plains Indian". ''Editorial Galaxia''. 2001, p. 272.</ref> Assuming his presence had been exposed, Custer decided to attack the village without further delay. On the morning of June 25, Custer divided his 12 companies into three battalions in anticipation of the forthcoming engagement. Three companies were placed under the command of Major [[Marcus Reno]] (A, G, and M) and three were placed under the command of Captain [[Frederick Benteen]] (H, D, and K). Five companies (C, E, F, I, and L) remained under Custer's immediate command. The 12th, Company B under Captain [[Thomas Mower McDougall|Thomas McDougall]], had been assigned to escort the slower pack train carrying provisions and additional ammunition.<ref name="John Gray" />

Unknown to Custer, the group of Native Americans seen on his trail was actually leaving the encampment and did not alert the rest of the village. Custer's scouts warned him about the size of the village, with [[Mitch Bouyer]] reportedly saying, "General, I have been with these Indians for 30 years, and this is the largest village I have ever heard of."{{NoteTag|Villages were usually arrayed in U-shaped semi-circles open to the east; in multi-tribal villages, each tribe would erect their tipis in this manner separately from the other tribes but close to the other tribes. Sitting Bull's village was multi-tribal, consisted of "a thousand tipis [that] were assembled in six horseshoe-shaped semicircles", had a population of approx. 8000 people, and stretched over two miles end-to-end.<ref>Philbrick, Nathaniel, ''The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn'', Viking, 2010, Ch 3, e{{ISBN|978-1-101-19011-1}}</ref>}}<ref>Macnab, David B., ''A Day to Remember: Introducing the Drama, Irony, and Controversies of the Battle of the Little Bighorn'', iUniverse, 2003, p. 45, based on Abstract of the Official Record of Proceedings of the Reno Court of Inquiry, 35.</ref> Custer's overriding concern was that the Native American group would break up and scatter. The command began its approach to the village at noon and prepared to attack in full daylight.<ref>{{Cite book |first=John |last= Gray |author-link= John C. Gray |title= Custer's Last Campaign |publisher= University of Nebraska Press |year= 1991 |page=243 |isbn= 0-8032-7040-2}}</ref>

With an impending sense of doom, the Crow scout [[Half Yellow Face]] prophetically warned Custer (speaking through the interpreter Mitch Bouyer), "You and I are going home today by a road we do not know."<ref name=Viola>{{cite book|last=Viola|first=Herman J.|title=It Is A Good Day to Die, Indian Eyewitnesses Tell the Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn|year=2001|publisher=Bison Books|location=US|isbn=0-8032-9626-6|page=30}}</ref>