Item Number JLGt070
- Matte print on photographic paper
- 10-3/4" X 13-3/4" actual photo size
- 1-3/4" soft white matte (all around)
- 2-3/4" rustic/finished pine wood frame (all around)
- 19-5/8" X 22-3/4" finished size
- Shipping weight = 6lbs.
- Price = $150.00 (Includes shipping!)
- To purchase, call: (518) 915-4949
Or, send an e-mail to: jeff@jlgardnerphotography.com

Here is more information off the internet about the actual battle, what led up to it and the aftermath:

"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."

"The move west began when the Civil War ended. An almost certain result was encroachment on the Indian domain. Settlers showed little regard for the sanctity of Indian hunting grounds or the terms of former treaties. The Indians resisted. In 1868, at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, representatives of the Lakota, Cheyenne and other tribes of the Great Plains signed a treaty with the U.S. government, in which a large area of western Dakota Territory and part of eastern Wyoming was designated a permanent Indian reservation. The government promised to protect the Indians "against the commission of all depredations by people in the United States."

"Just six years later, in 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the heart of the new Indian reservation. News of the strike spread quickly, and soon thousands of fortune seekers moved in on the region in violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty. The Army tried to keep them out, but to no avail. The peace agreement in 1868 was dishonored when the Lakota and Cheyenne, in growing defiance, began to leave the reservation. In December 1875, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs ordered them to return before January 31, 1876, or thereafter be regarded as hostiles to be "treated accordingly by the military force." When the Indians did not comply, the Army was called in to enforce the order."

"The Army's campaign against the Lakota and Cheyenne called for three separate expeditions-Gen. George Crook's force from Fort Fetterman in Wyoming, Col. John Gibbon's command from Fort Ellis in Montana and Gen. Alfred H. Terry's troops from Fort Abraham Lincoln in Dakota Territory. These columns were to converge on the main group of Indians concentrated in southeast Montana under the leadership of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and other war chiefs."

"Crook clashed with the Indians in March and again in June. Later, the Indians moved west toward the Little Bighorn. In mid-June, Terry and Gibbon met at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Rosebud rivers. Hoping to find the Indians in the Little Bighorn Valley, Terry ordered Custer and the 7th Cavalry up the Rosebud to approach the Little Bighorn from the south. Terry himself would accompany Gibbon's force back up the Yellowstone and Bighorn to approach from the north."

"The 7th Cavalry, numbering about 600 men, located the Indian camp on June 25. Custer, probably underestimating the fighting power of the Indian forces, believed it safe to divide his regiment into three battalions. By attacking immediately, he probably hoped to prevent the Indians from slipping away. One battalion of three companies under Captain Frederick Benteen was sent to scout the valley to the south. At the same time, a battalion of three companies under Major Marcus Reno and one of five companies under Custer marched along opposite banks of a small creek to attack the Indian village in the valley of the Little Bighorn."

"When near the Little Bighorn, Custer turned north toward the lower end of the Indian camp. Reno, with orders from Custer to cross the river and attack, advanced down the Little Bighorn Valley and struck the upper end of the camp. Outflanked by the defending warriors, he retreated in disorder to the river and took up defensive positions on the bluffs beyond. Here he was soon joined by Benteen, who had hurried forward under written order from Custer to 'Come on; big village, be quick, bring packs.'"

"Gunfire from the north caused men to scout in that direction seeking the whereabouts of Custer and his command. An advance company under Captain Thomas Weir marched downstream to a high hill, from which the Little Bighorn battlefield was visible. By this time, however, the firing had stopped. When the rest of the command arrived on the hill, it was attacked by a large force of Indians, and Reno ordered a withdrawal to the original position on the bluffs overlooking the Little Bighorn. Here, these seven companies entrenched and held their defenses throughout that day and most of the next, returning fire and successfully discouraging attempts to storm their position. The siege ended when all the Indians broke their great encampment and withdrew upon the approach of columns under Terry and Gibbon."

"In the meantime, Custer had ridden into history and legend. Vivid accounts of the battle by Indians who participated in it tell how his command was surrounded and destroyed in fierce fighting. But Custer's intentions and precise movements after separating from Reno's battalion have never been documented."

"In the battle, the 7th Cavalry lost the five companies that were under Custer, about 210 men. Of the other seven companies in the regiment, under Reno and Benteen, 53 were killed and 60 wounded."

"The Indian losses were no more than 100 men killed. The tribes and families scattered, some going south, some north. Most of them returned to the reservations and surrendered in the next few years."

"More than 125 years have passed, but the Little Bighorn battle continues to illustrate a part of what Americans have come to know as their Western heritage. Heroism and tragedy, brashness, and humiliation, victory and defeat—these are contradictions people still come to the battlefield to ponder."

"The battlefield and cemetery have been managed by the National Park Service since 1940. Park rangers are on duty year-round to help visitors understand the battlefield. Highlights of the tour are the visitor center, which houses many museum exhibits that illustrate and explain the battle; Custer Hill, a common grave and memorial shaft bearing the names of all the soldiers who died in the battle; Reno-Benteen Battlefield; Weir Point, the hill Captain Weir climbed hoping to locate Custer; Battle Ridge, where three of the five companies under Custer fell; and National Cemetery, a relatively small burial ground where soldiers killed in several Indian battles on the Northern Plains are buried along with servicemen of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam; and the newly established Indian memorial that recognizes and honors Indian participants of the Battle of the Little Bighorn."

"Each year in June the Custer's Last Stand Reenactment is held just outside Hardin, Montana."