On June 25, 1876, five companies of the 7th Cavalry under the command of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, about 225 men, perished after attacking an Indian encampment on the Little Bighorn River. It was a running battle that started at Medicine Tail Ford, near the north end of the encampment, and ended about a mile and a quarter up the bluffs at what is now called Last Stand Hill. The fighting was fierce but the
numbers and terrain greatly favored the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho fighting that day.
The army’s campaign against the Lakota and Cheyenne called for three separate expeditions to converge on the Indians concentrating in southeastern Montana under the leadership of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
Gen. Crook was to move from the south, Col. Gibbon from the west and Gen. Terry from the east. On June 17, Crook’s advance was repelled at the Battle of Rosebud, some 20 miles southeast of where Custer was killed. On June 21, Gibbon and Terry met on Yellowstone River at the mouth of Rosebud Creek, about 50 miles northeast from where the Battle of the Little Bighorn would occur. Hoping to find the Indians in the Little Bighorn Valley, Terry dispatched Custer and the 600 odd men of the 7th Cavalry up the Rosebud to approach the Little Bighorn from the south. Terry and Gibbon would proceed back up the Yellowstone and Bighorn Rivers and approach from the north. Custer set out on June 22.
At dawn three days later, he located the Indian camp. Believing he had been discovered, and fearing the camp would disperse, he decided to attack.
Custer divided his command into 3 battalions, retaining five companies (C, E, F, I and L) under his command and assigning three each to Maj. Marcus Reno and Capt. Frederick Benteen. A twelfth Company is detached to escort the pack mules carrying supplies and ammunition. Benteen was to scout the bluffs to the south while Custer and Reno headed toward the camp in the valley. When they neared the river, Custer turned north toward the lower end of the encampment while Reno was to cross the river, advance down the valley and attack the upper end of the camp. As Reno rode in, a large force of Lakota came out of the camp to meet him. Reno formed a skirmish line and attempted to make a stand but the Lakota flanked him, forcing a disordered retreat to the timber along the river. Believing his position untenable, Reno continued his retreat across the river. It becomes a rout as pursuing warriors ride in among the troopers, killing 40 soldiers as they retreat to the bluffs above the river.
In the meantime, Custer, unaware that Reno has been routed, has sent a message to Benteen to move up quickly and bring the packs. Accounts seem to indicate that Custer advanced on the lower end of the camp at Medicine Tail Ford with two companies while the remaining three stayed up on a ridge a mile or so above the ford.
At first only a small force meets Custer but as Reno is routed, more warriors turn to fight Custer’s force, forcing him to retreat up to the ridge reuniting with the other companies, who are also under fire. A first stand is made by Co. L at Calhoun Hill but the position is soon over run and the soldiers retreat north along the ridge toward a position held by Capt. Myles Keogh’s I Co. A devastating charge by Crazy Horse cut down retreating soldiers of C and I Cos. as they try to join Custer who is now on Last Stand Hill.
Custer and 41 of his men shoot their horses for breastworks and make a stand, apparently hoping that Reno and Benteen will come to their aid.
There is much controversy still as to whether Reno and Benteen could have ridden to Custer’s aid.
They were dug in on a hill about 5 miles to the south of Last Stand Hill. They could hear the intense gunfire to the north. Capt. Thomas Weir lead his Company about a mile from the Reno/Benteen position to a hill top in an attempt to find Custer’s position. From this vantage point, now called Weir’s Point, Weir would have been able to see Last Stand Hill. He was forced off the hill and forced to return to where Reno and Benteen were dug in by attacking Lakota.
Perhaps if the entire command had dashed the 5 miles to Last Stand Hill, Custer would have been saved.
But Reno had lost 40 men retreating to the bluffs and there were many wounded who had to be protected along with the packs other support personnel. And Custer’s battalion was being destroyed in detail. Given the distance, terrain and disarray of Custer’s Companies, I think it is unlikely that Reno and Benteen could have ridden to the rescue.
The sights were the men of Custer’s five companies fell are marked by white marble markers and easily cover a square mile of the battlefield. The soldiers were originally buried where they were found. They were later re-interred in one grave at the site of the 7th Cavalry Memorial on Last Stand Hill. 11 officers were returned to the east and are buried in various cemeteries. Custer is buried at West Point.
Reality abruptly thrust itself upon me this morning when my alarm screamed into my not deaf enough ears signaling that it was time to rise and shine. Gone was the sleep until you wake and Homer chirping in the shower (ok that was the first day, after that the hearing aids stayed out until any danger of Homer caterwauling was safely over). No more chicken fried steak with sausage gravy at the local Mom and Pop diner for breakfast. Served up in its place was a 7 a.m. arrival at the jail to interview the previous evening’s misbehavers before their arraignment in Syracuse City Court at 9:30 a.m. Instead of chatting up the waitress about local sights and the river levels, it was chatting with ne’er-do-wells about their chances of release. 
Instead of picturesque vistas, it was the garbage burning steam plant on Rock Cut Road and I-81 construction (no missed photo ops there). Instead of text messages saying, “sounds like your having a great trip”, it was an email with distressing news about a dear friend (although a follow-up to that same email contained something that brought great joy to my heart—thanks Jillian). Yet memories of my trip with Homer are still fresh in my mind and help me realize that this is why we travel, to get a break from our day to day routines and help us remember how precious our time with one another is and how lucky we are to live in a time when technology allows us to take our loved ones along.
It was proclaimed the first national monument under the “new” Antiquities Act in 1906 by Teddy Roosevelt, whose face became a national monument in 1941 about 125 miles to the east. 
