General Custer's Last Stand - Research Paper Example

Those that were left would pass down the story of the battle from generation to generation, until it became a legendary part of history. The main controversies leading to the battle were a band of what was considered to be renegade Sioux Native Americans and the fact that the settlers were once again pressing in on the lands previously given to the Sioux. A treaty was signed in 1868 and the Great Sioux Reservation was created; it included the Black Hills, lands considered sacred to the tribe2.

Custer himself, however, had led expeditions into the country in 1874 and discovered rich reins of gold, which, of course, were wanted by everyone other than the Sioux3. Complicating things were a band of Sioux that had never considered themselves reservation Native Americans, and lived freely on buffalo hunting grounds4. Led by Chief Sitting Bull, these Sioux were finally issued an ultimatum, which was to move to the reservation by January 31, 1876, or be considered hostile and have military action taken against them5.

The stage was set for a spectacular finish, and the Native Americans would not go quietly. Accounts of Custer himself are conflicted. His own writings depict that he believed Native Americans were hostile, and that they would break any treaty made before the ink was dry from their marks6. However, there are other accounts that portray him as friendly towards the Native Americans, wishing nothing more than to be considered a frontiersman7. It cannot be denied that he had clashed with Native American tribes before, as he had achieved victory over Cheyenne tribe at the Battle of the Washita in 18688.

He had also done battle with Sitting Bull, as well as Sioux Chief Crazy Horse in 1873, when guarding railroad workers’ surveying land for new tracks at the Yellowstone River9. Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull would once