Battle of the Little Bighorn, or Custer’s Last Stand, (June 25, 1876) Battle at the Little Bighorn River, Montana Territory, U.S., between federal troops led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and Lakota and Cheyenne warriors led by Sitting Bull. The U.S. government had ordered the northern Plains tribes to return to designated reservations and had sent troops under Gen. Alfred H. Terry to enforce the order. Terry hoped to surround an Indian encampment at the mouth of the Little Bighorn, but a party of 210 soldiers led by Custer launched an early attack and was entirely slaughtered. About 50 followers of Sitting Bull died. Government troops subsequently flooded into the area and forced the Native population to surrender.
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