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After the
Indians had annihilated
Custer's troops, the
Lakota
and
Cheyenne advanced on the remaining U.S. troops under Benteen and
Reno, who had finally ventured toward the audible firing of the
Custer troops. For the next 24 hours the
Indians and soldiers fought a hard battle until the U.S. lines
were finally secured when additional troops under
General Terry began to approach from the north. As the
troops were fortified, the
Indians began a retreat to the south.
By the time
Terry arrived, the
Indians had removed their own dead and wounded from the field. However, the bodies of the
soldiers remained lying where they died,
many having been stripped of their clothing and mutilated. For
some, identification of the bodies was impossible. Though the
wounded were given treatment, but six would later die of their
injuries.
Custer
was found near the top of the hill, where today stands a memorial
inscribed with the names of the U.S.
soldiers who fought in the
battle. He had been shot in the temple and in the left chest,
but his body was left unmutilated, some believe because he was dressed
in buckskins rather than a uniform. 210 men died with
Custer while another 52 died serving under Reno. All were given
hasty burials. Only an estimated 60
Indian warriors died in the battle.
The massacre, having occurred right before
the nation's centennial birthday, substantially changed the mood
against the Indians. The U.S. Army responded by increasing the
number of soldiers in the area in an effort to "crush the
Indians" and take revenge for those who died in the
Battle
of the Little Bighorn.
It was to be three years later before the
battle became the subject of an army court inquiry in 1879. During the
investigation, Reno's, Banteen's, Terry's and
Custer's actions were all carefully scrutinized. Testimony
suggested that Reno was a drunk and a coward, while Banteen was
criticized for disobeying
Custer's orders. Another contributing factor was
General Terry's late arrival on the scene. However, the
primary contribution to the U.S. defeat is blamed on faulty
intelligence and poor communication. Both Reno's and Benteen’s
subsequent military careers were cut short.
In the same year as the
military investigation, the
Little
Bighorn Battlefield was designated a national cemetery administered by
the War Department. Two years later, in 1881, a memorial was erected
over the mass grave of the Seventh Cavalry
soldiers, U.S.
Indian
Scouts, and other personnel killed in battle. In 1940, jurisdiction of the
battlefield was transferred to the
National
Park Service.
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