
1876, Custer's Last Stand
In 1876 the US began a series of policy changes toward the Black Hills and the Sioux indians living there which was destined to end poorly for both the US troops and the Native Americans involved. Although the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty expressly allowed the Sioux to use hunting lands not contained within the boundaries of the Black Hills reservation, General Custer and the 7th Cavalry Regiment was sent to Little Bighorn to "round up hostiles" and force them back onto the reservations, since the federal government now classified as "hostile" any native american who did not stay within the reservation agencies to live off of the federal rations and provisions payouts.
Custer and his menentered into battle with the combined forces of Lakota Sioux and the Cheyenne and met with massive defeat at Little Bighorn, called 'the Battle of Greasy Grass' by the Native Americans, and what popular history now terms "Custer's Last Stand". The battle was won for the Native Americans, but not the war.
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