The story of Custer’s Last Stand is far more complicated than the simple cowboy-versus-Indian narrative that has dominated American popular culture for generations. The battle, which took place in late June 1876 in what is now Montana, involved Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, a celebrated Civil War hero, and the Seventh Cavalry. According to the traditional account, Custer was ambushed and overwhelmed by a large force of Native American warriors led by Sitting Bull, resulting in a devastating defeat. That version of events, however, leaves out critical context.
The land where the battle occurred had been promised to the Lakota people “forever” under the Treaty of Fort Laramie. The Lakota continued to assert that claim, meaning the settlers the U. S. military was protecting were there illegally.
From this perspective, the Native peoples were defending their rightful territory, while the Army chose to side with settlers who were violating treaty law. Custer was not deceived or caught in a trap he didn’t see coming. He had sent out his scouts and was fully aware of a large encampment of men, women, and children along a river known to the Lakota as the Greasy Grass, which Western sources call the Little Bighorn. He had previously engaged in violent tactics, including at a battle in 1868 against the Southern Cheyenne, where he took prisoners, deliberately targeting women and children.
In his 1874 book, “My Life on the Plains,” he wrote that he captured women and children to destroy the morale and stamina of the warriors he faced. He aimed to repeat that strategy at the Little Bighorn. Understanding this background reframes Custer’s Last Stand as a successful resistance by Native peoples against what they saw as an attempted invasion. The Little Bighorn National Monument stands as a testament to this history.
But while there has long been a monument honoring the soldiers who died there, there has been no comparable recognition for the victors. The fight over how this history is remembered did not end on the battlefield. Custer’s lasting fame owes much to an aggressive media campaign. After the Civil War, Americans were eager for stories about military engagements, and the newspapers were happy to oblige.
Custer himself ghostwrote articles that were published under the name of a correspondent, exaggerating his own role. Some of these pieces were even published after his death, with editors noting his authorship. After Custer died, his widow, Elizabeth Custer, helped cement his legend by co-authoring a series of books about him. His image was further popularized through Wild West shows and early silent films, with Errol Flynn famously portraying him on screen.
By the time public education expanded and textbooks began telling this story, Custer had already reached legendary status. In the 1920s, the American Book Company, a leading textbook publisher, attempted to release a history book that left Custer out entirely. The author argued that the battle was not historically significant and did not change military outcomes or the course of westward expansion. But booksellers in the northern plains insisted the textbook would not sell without Custer in it.
History textbooks should not be confused with actual works of history, a distinction that matters because for many people, they are the only historical literature they ever encounter. Textbooks are crafted to deliver a specific perspective, particularly when it comes to American history. As a result, they often overlook uncomfortable contradictions, just as they tend to avoid confronting the fact that many of the Founding Fathers who advocated for liberty were themselves slaveholders. This pattern extends to Native American history.
One descendant recalls that her great-great-grandmother, a young girl of about 16 at the time of the battle, witnessed Custer’s attack. The story was passed down to her through her grandfather. Growing up in South Dakota and attending public school, she never encountered these narratives in the classroom, and for years she did not connect her own family’s history with the curriculum she was being taught. The way significant events like Custer’s Last Stand are portrayed in textbooks has helped shape American identity, often at the expense of Native peoples and their sovereignty.
The book at the center of this discussion raises the question of whether Custer truly deserved the central role he has been given in the national story.