"One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk"
~Crazy Horse~
"You are the White Eagle who has come to steal the road. The Great Father (the president) sends us presents and wants us to sell him the road, but the White Chief comes with the soldiers to steal it before the Indian says yes or no. I will talk with you no more. I will go now and fight you! As long as I live I will fight you for the last hunting grounds of my people."
~Red Cloud~
The following is from: montanagroups.com/p20.htm
"Battle of the Little Bighorn. A national monument with museum exhibits, an interpretive center, and ranger-led programs that commemorates the site of the Indian victory over Custer's 7th Cavalry."
"Montana's Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the Northern Plains Indians to preserve their ancestral way of life. Here in the valley of the Little Bighorn River on June 25 and 26, 1876, more than 260 US Army soldiers and attached personnel met defeat and death at the hands of several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. Among the dead were Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and every member of his immediate command."
"Although the Indians won this battle, they lost the war against the white man's efforts to end their independent plains culture."
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It is interesting to note that there were Native Americans fighting on both sides of this conflict. For some brief, but interesting, accounts of the battle from the Lakota and Cheyenne side of the conflict see the following page: www.snowwowl.com/histcuster.html
Here is one account from that page. It tells the story of Whirlwind, who was 16 years old.
"Whirlwind, a Cheyenne, charged after a war-bonnet Indian belonging with the whites. The enemy Indian bravely charged toward Whirlwind. The two men fired rifles at the same moment. Both of them fell dead. This was on the flat land just east of the river where the soldiers crossed."
There were no first hand accounts from the Custer side of the conflict.
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