The Battle of Little Bighorn is famous in American lore as “Custer’s Last Stand.” For the Lakota and Plains Indians, it’s known as the Battle of Greasy Grass. 268 soldiers from the 7th Cavalry Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer  were killed (including Custer,) and another 55 were seriously wounded. Led by Crazy Horse and Chief Gall, this was an overwhelming victory for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. They fought to keep their way of life and ancestral lands free. Unfortunately for the Native Americans, their victory was short-lived, as the news of loss of Custer and so many US Soldiers made it’s way East. This was the beginning of the end of the “Indian Wars,” with the US galvanized to overpower the Native Americans once and for all. Custer’s wife, Elisabeth Bacon Custer, spent the rest of her life promoting the ideal of her husband as a gallant hero. With the passage of time, history blurs so many aspects of this battle. But, one thing is certain: the West would never be the same and the Native Americans who called this land home for millennia would pay the ultimate price of this westward expansion.

Today, the battlefield is a memorial to both sides, the 7th Cavalry as well as the Native Americans. There is a cemetery for some of the fallen, but many were buried where they laid, now marked by grave stones across the battlefield.

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