Battle Over Black Hills Gold: Custer’s Last Stand

The battle commonly called “Custer’s Last Stand” was the Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought June 25–26, 1876, in the Little Bighorn River valley of present-day Montana—not North Dakota. It pitted the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Custer against a Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho alliance led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The conflict stemmed from the Great Sioux War of 1876 over control of the Black Hills (in Dakota Territory) after gold was discovered there. Custer and his entire command were killed.