The discovery of gold in the Black Hills triggered the Sioux to fight The discovery of gold in the Black Hills triggered the Sioux to fight. In 1874 an expedition of the Seventh Cavalry led by George Armstrong Custer was sent into the Black Hills, which was sacred Sioux land. The army was tasked with protecting railway surveyors and to find out if there was gold in the area. This broke the Second Fort Laramie Treaty – they were trespassing on Native land. Custer reported that the hills were filled with gold and from that moment the Black Hills were invaded by miners. In 1875 General Crook found over 1,000 miners there, The US army was unable to prevent this influx of miners and the government was unwilling to do so. Some miners were attacked by the Sioux. The government offered the Sioux $6 million to buy the Black Hills or $400,000 a year for the mineral rights (rent the land for mining). The Sioux found this offer ridiculous because the Black Hills were sacred to them because they believed it was were their nation had begun. The government offer was rejected. The relationship between the Sioux and the government got worse. In December 1875 all Sioux were ordered to return to their reservation (away from the Black Hills). It was impossible to move during the winter even if the natives had wanted to. There were approximately 7,000 Indians with the chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse near the Black Hills. They were there to protect the Black Hills from settlers and miners and because Sitting Bull has a reputation as a great leader and had refused to do what the white people ordered. By February 1876 the army was ordered to treat all Indians outside the reservation as hostile. General Philip Sheridan planned and ordered a three-pronged attack. Three army groups would surround the Sioux and force them away from the Black Hills and onto their reservation or fight them. General Crook (1049) would head north from Fort Fetterman, Colonel Gibbon (450) would head east from Fort Shaw and General Terry and Custer (1000) would head west from Fort Abraham Lincoln. The three-prong attack plan had two major weaknesses. First, there was no effective communication between Terry (east) and Crook (south). Second, there was no serious attempt to find out how many Indians the army might be facing. It was wrongly assumed that the Indians would have about 800 warriors, which the army could have easily defeated. This estimate was provided by the supervisors of the Sioux reservation (Bureau of Indian Affairs).

The attack started well. However, on 17 June 1876 it began to go wrong The attack started well. However, on 17 June 1876 it began to go wrong. General Crook’s group (south) stopped for a coffee break on the Rosebud Creek. While the officers were playing a game, Chief Crazy Horse discovered them and led a full-frontal attack with about 1,500 warriors. By the end of the day, Crook had lost 28 men killed and 63 wounded. He had lost 25,000 rounds of ammunition and was forced to retreat south. Meanwhile, Crazy Horse joined Sitting Bull on the Little Bighorn. He lost 36 killed and 63 wounded. 4 days after the Battle of Rosebud, Gibbon (west) and Terry (east) joined forces on the Yellowstone River. General Terry divided his forces. The infantry was ordered to march along the Yellowstone to Bighorn and Custer was ordered to approach Bighorn from the south. Custer was offered 180 extra men and Gatling guns but he refused to take them. Custer rode south but then disobeyed orderes. Instead of going around the Wolf Mountains, he rode through them. By marching through the night and driving his men and horses hard, Custer arrived at the Little Bighorn a day early and a day before the rest of the army. The Indians camped there were not expecting an attack but Custer’s men and their horses were exhausted. On the afternoon of 25 June, Custer reached the camp of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse on the Little Bighorn. Although Custer’s scouts warned against an attack, Custer ignored them and decided to attack. Custer may have been afraid that the Indians would escape. He wanted a glorious victory. Having decided to attack, Custer split his forces. He sent Major Reno (125) to attack the south of the Sioux camp. Captain Benteen (125) was sent to attack the south. Custer (260) went further north to cross the river and attack the camp. Major Reno’s attack was stopped by the Sioux and he retreated across the river, taking up a defensive position. Reno was then joined by Benteen and his men. They were surrounded and suffered many casualties. They were ordered by Custer to support him but they did not. They claimed that they could not carry out Custer’s order because they were under attack and unable to move.

It is not clear what happened to Custer and his men because there were no survivors form his force. The evidence that is available suggests that Custer failed to cross the river. He turned back and made for higher ground but was overwhelmed by Crazy Horse's attack. Without support from Reno and Benteen, Custer and his men were totally outnumbered. Some of Custer’s men may have panicked and tried to surrender or run away. Others fought until the end. The only survivor was a Crow Indian scout who disguised himself as a Sioux warrior. The Indians had the advantage of superior numbers. They had about 2,000 warriors against 600 army men. Some of them were better armed than the soldiers. The warriors had Winchester repeating rifles, supplied by traders, while the soldiers were armed with Springfield single-shot rifles. Half the Indian forces defended their camp and the others followed Crazy Horse in order to surround Custer and his men. News of the defeat reached the rest of America on 4 July – the hundredth anniversary of the USA’s independence. The public reacted with shock and every effort was put in to supporting the army campaign that followed. Two new forts were built on the Yellowstone River and 2,500 army reinforcements were sent west. After the Battle of Little Bighorn, the Indians split up into their bands. These bands were followed and attacked by the army throughout the autumn and winter. One by one, the bands gave in and returned to the reservation. Most were on the reservation by autumn. Crazy Horse and his followers rode into the reservation and surrendered on 5 May 1877. The day before this, Sitting Bull and his followers had escaped into Canada. The armed resistance of the Sioux was over. With the Sioux defeated and the Northern Pacific Railroad nearing completion, the destruction of the Northern buffalo herd began. By 1882 an estimated 5,000 hunters and skinners were at work and by 1883 the Northern herd had been destroyed. The Indians would now rely on the government for food. After the destruction of the Northern herd, the government followed a deliberate policy of destroying all aspects of Indian culture. Through a series of laws, the Sioux were forced to sell the Black Hills, the Powder River country and Bighorn Mountains were put under military rule. The reservation was split into smaller reservations which split the Sioux into smaller groups. The Sioux weapons and horses were taken from them. Never again were the Sioux able to fight in any great numbers against the army. At first, the rations on the reservations were given to the chief to distribute but that policy later changed. Heads of families were encouraged to get their own food – this weakened the power of chiefs. In 1885 the government took full control of legal matters.