Lewis and Clark Expedition: THE SIOUX, PART 8, CUSTER MEETS CRAZY HORSE BESIDE A LITTLE RIVER

[I have deviated a bit from the direct path of the Louis & Clark Expedition in this recent series of videos on the evolution of the paleface-redman relations on the North Plains in the 19th century. But soon I will continue the account of the expedition from where we last left off- at Fort Mandan in North Dakota]

The sun was setting on the Sioux, northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho renegade communities when Lt. Col, George Custer and more than 200 cavalry charged over the bluffs lining the Greasy Grass River in the summer 1876. That now legendary Battle of the Little Bighorn left Custer, two of his brothers, and his troops clustered in a last stand on a hill, until all were killed.  Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and thousands of men, women and children were in the vicinity of the spectacular Montana prairie within view of the Bighorn Mountains.  Custer, himself, apparently was not mutilated or scalped; the reason is uncertain. In my experience, the battlefield memorial is a moving and justified reminder of the complex forces that eventually created a United States.