One warm summer evening in 1876, during Sundance ceremony, a Lakota holy man had a vision after fasting and praying for several days. In his vision, he saw bluecoats riding on horseback, falling like grasshoppers into his camp. A voice spoke to him, saying, “I give these to you because they have no ears.” That holy man was Tatanka Iyotake, Chief Sitting Bull of the Hunkpapa Lakota, a Teton band of the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation).
Sitting Bull was a statesman, respected leader, and skillful warrior who earned many eagle feathers, essentially the highest honor one could achieve, in battle. He was a prophet and previously had other visions that came true.
And he knew what his vision meant. It heralded an Oceti Sakowin victory over their adversary, U.S. forces.
Sitting Bull’s vision occurred only a few weeks before the Battle of the Greasy Grass, also known as the Battle of Little Big Horn, or Custer’s Last Stand. Initially, the conflict was viewed as proof of Native savagery, and Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was exalted as a hero of the U.S. military. With the passage of time, however, the truth has been revealed, and it is more commonly seen as Indigenous victory over colonial violence and deceit, as it should be.
It all started less than a decade earlier, when Oceti Sakowin were promised the Black Hills in exchange for peace, in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. But, in 1874, an expedition led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer discovered gold in the region, and an offer to the tribe was made for purchase of the area.
When the Oceti Sakowin refused to sell the sacred Black Hills, what we call “the heart of everything” and know as the legendary birthplace of the Lakota people, the U.S. resorted to outright theft in breach of treaty law. Custer and his men invaded Lakota land and stole it, violating the Fort Laramie Treaty — which was, and remains, the law of the land, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Battle of Little Big Horn came two years later, in 1876. It is well known in the annals of history, seen as a moment of Native triumph amid centuries of genocide and violent pressure from invaders to relinquish their land, resources, and lives. But contrary to what colonial texts may have taught you, it was not the only time the Lakota defeated the U.S. Army. In fact, the Fort Laramie Treaty — the breaking of which caused the Battle of Little Big Horn — was forged because of a prior conflict, in the 1860s, Red Cloud’s War, when the War Department sent hundreds of U.S. troops into Lakota territory, forcing them to defend their lands and people. This invasion by the bluecoats occurred right after U.S. soldiers massacred hundreds of Cheyenne — our allies — at Sand Creek, just to the south. The battle was won then, too, by Lakota, Arapaho, and Cheyenne warriors, led by Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and High Back Bone, who lured U.S. Captain W.J. Fetterman into a trap and killed him, along with all 80 of his men. The Lakota fended off the military again just eight days prior to Little Big Horn, at the Battle of Rosebud, when 1,500 Lakota warriors led by Crazy Horse soundly defeated the U.S. Cavalry.
The Lakota were committed to maintaining their ways of life in the Black Hills, and they defended themselves with honor. The victory at Little Big Horn that followed was not a one-off, as history might have you believe. It was one of many, an event that exemplified their abilities as warriors, as they were forced to do time and time again as their lands were invaded and their livelihoods challenged.
The battle began just after sunrise on June 25. Sitting Bull was camped along the Little Big Horn River with other Lakota, Dakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. There were about 7,000 Natives there, and an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 were warriors. Most engaging in the battle were men, but some women, like Buffalo Calf Road Woman and Moving Robe Woman, were warriors too and known to be fiercely brave.
Women who were digging for turnips in the fields saw the soldiers first. The U.S. Cavalry attacked, fatally shooting one of the women, while the rest ran to warn the others along the riverbank.
Tasunke Witko (Crazy Horse) was swimming when word came, but he didn’t rush off to fight. Like the consummate Oglala Lakota War Chief that he was, he took time to prepare spiritually. He painted his face with hailstones and sent for a medicine man to call the ancestors to assist them. Crazy Horse then prayed and made a burnt offering before charging the enemy with other warriors, who had sworn allegiance to him. He had a gun, but according to witnesses who were there that day, he fought mostly with a war club.
Seeing Crazy Horse ride into battle roused the People. “Crazy Horse is coming!” they shouted. Joining him with a band of warriors elsewhere in the fight was Pizi (Chief Gall), a Hunkpapa Lakota Blotahunka, or war general, who had defeated Custer in a previous battle.
When Custer’s men first raided camps to the south at Little Big Horn that day, they murdered two of Gall’s wives and three of his children. Gall was incensed. For the remainder of the battle, he fought using only a hatchet to drive back the bluecoats.
Inkpaduta, an outlaw Wahpekute Dakota Chief, was also there. He was a friend of Sitting Bull’s and a relative of Rain-in-the-Face, another Hunkpapa Lakota Chief. Also among them was a 12-year-old boy named Black Elk, who went on to become an important visionary and the voice behind the historic text Black Elk Speaks. His insight into Lakota spiritual beliefs and ceremonies and vision of unity for all people, Native and non-Native alike, would go on to be read by millions.
Custer’s 7th Cavalry was overrun in less than an hour, and it was every man for himself. They fled so quickly that the soldiers dropped their loaded rifles, which were retrieved by Native warriors in hot pursuit. Custer and the men with him on Last Stand Hill were killed within minutes, and their flag was captured, marking Lakota victory in battle.
There were 268 U.S. casualties. In addition to Custer, all personnel in the five-company battalion under his immediate command were also killed. About 100 Natives died during the fight, including innocent bystanders.
After our victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn, the Oceti Sakowin were punished for humiliating the United States. Leaders like Sitting Bull, Gall, and Inkpaduta left the area, returning at different times with their bands. Crazy Horse refused to surrender to the U.S., and he was assassinated by a white soldier. After decades of war, starvation, and death, Red Cloud agreed to take his Oglala to Pine Ridge, where, 14 years later, the 7th Cavalry carried out the Wounded Knee Massacre, with its soldiers receiving Medals of Honor for committing the atrocity of slaughtering hundreds of Lakota, mostly women and children.
After the Oceti Sakowin sought justice through legal means, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in 1980 that the seizure of the Black Hills from the Oceti Sakowin for gold prior to Little Big Horn was a wrongful taking, in violation of treaty law, and ordered just compensation — but we still refuse to accept the money. The Black Hills are not for sale.
One hundred and forty-three years later, we Oceti Sakowin still celebrate our ancestors’ victory at Greasy Grass. We mark the occasion with wacipi (powwows), horse races, and other celebrations throughout Lakota territory.
The battle didn’t mark the end of the fight. Our lands and resources were stolen, and we were moved onto reservations, forcing us into poverty that continues to this day. Some say the federal government’s bitterness against the Oceti Sakowin continues because of Little Big Horn, since we defeated the U.S. government militarily on “American” soil. They haven’t forgotten. Let our continued valiant fight to exercise our tribal sovereignty, our demand that our treaties be honored, and our fight to stop them from forcing construction of fossil fuel projects in our homelands under the point of a gun serve as a reminder: We have not surrendered.
Happy Victory Day.
Related: Treaties Between the United States and Indigenous Nations, Explained
