New Light on the Last Stand

By J.D. Reed

Custer's battlefield yields clues to old mysteries

On the afternoon of June 25,1876, with guns blazing and sandy hair shining, Lieut. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, along with some 220 of the troopers under his command, was massacred near Montana's Little Bighorn River. The secrets of his last stand against more than 2,500 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors were buried with him. There were no white survivors to tell the tale, but plenty of folks back East were ready to propel Custer directly into legend as a straight-shooting hero. The years have only served to embellish the myths and mysteries.

Now 30 archaeologists, historians and war buffs are braving rattlesnakes and ticks to help set the record straight about perhaps the least documented shootout in U.S. history. They are brandishing metal detectors and trowels in a foot-by-foot survey of the historic ground. One reason there has never been a thorough investigation of the battlefield is that until last August it was covered by two-foot-tall stands of buffalo grass. A careless smoker changed that, starting a fire that denuded the site. Since digging began two weeks ago, 550 artifacts, from an Army boot to several limb bones, have been unearthed.

The headstones that dot the battleground are supposed to mark the site where each soldier fell, but some may be inaccurate, positioned later for dramatic effect. With so few clues, there are all sorts of unanswered questions: Did Custer die on the gentle hill where his body was found, or by the river as Indian tales say? Did the last troopers, as Indian veterans claimed, commit suicide to avoid being tortured? "The myths around Custer and the battle have become much bigger than the facts," says Vine Deloria, a Sioux author. "This could help set the record straight."

The discoveries so far have revealed fresh details. Hundreds of shells from the troopers' Springfield carbines and the Indians' Henry .44-cal. rifles have been numbered, bagged and plotted on maps. The shells have established previously unknown skirmish lines and indicated that by battle's end Indians were using Army ammunition taken from dead soldiers.

Investigators plan next to focus on the fate of the 37 men of E Company who died in battle. Many experts believe Custer sent them to protect his left flank. Others claim they were rushing from the slaughter through a gulch called Deep Ravine. Mounds exposed by the fire will be excavated. Any skeletons found will be examined for powder burns, which might indicate suicide.

Montanans are used to Custer controversy. The Crow Indians, who hold most of the 9,000 privately owned acres slicing through the battlefield, leased land for the 1969 filming of Little Big Man, which portrayed Custer as a grandiose madman. Monument boosters who prefer a more sober-eyed version of the hero are trying to raise $8 million to buy the land.

The results of the current cataloguing, scheduled to continue into next month, will eventually be published. Will they offer definitive answers? Unlikely. "We will create some new questions," thinks Montana Archaeologist Richard Fox. "We'll be putting more fuel on the fire." Custer, who could handle newsmen as well as horses, might have enjoyed the smoke signals.

--By J.D. Reed.

Reported by Richard Woodbury/Little Bighorn

With reporting by Richard Woodbury