Custer's Last Stand | The Wild West | BBC Documentary

[Music] Custer's last stand June 18 76 366 men at the 7th cavalry attacked an Indian village numbering 2,000 Braves two-thirds of the soldiers lost their lives and George Armstrong Custer became a byword for vainglory and fool hardness but the latest historical research shows an astonishing truth custom stood poised to win against all the odds and his actions far from food were based on a brutally simple and far from glorious plan [Music] [Music] the Battle of the Little Bighorn has always looked like a massacre the soft rolling hills of Montana are covered in the gravestones of the fallen but Michael Donahue who's been working at the battlefield for nearly 20 years is convinced that's a misleading interpretation of the events of that fateful Sunday in June 1876 he studied every document and every piece of archeological evidence relating to the battle and he believes that all of it points to the fact that Custer was on the verge of winning a remarkable victory the traditional view of what happened here at Little Bighorn is that George Custer was completely overwhelmed from the very beginning for some reason another which has always been kind of a mystery he went off to this hill down here which is extremely exposed position was surrounded cut off it's kind of an old fatalistic idea but recent archaeology and other things have told us along with Indian accounts that much more occurred beyond Custer Hill ironically until recently the winners of this battle never got to tell their side of the story the newspapers reported it as a massacre and the Indians were readily demonized they didn't read the newspapers they don't know how the press American press world press was treating this how they were being called savages and how they had massacred his 7th Calvary they didn't know that all they knew was theirs so they were being pursued everything that follows is based on written accounts Indian pictograms and oral testimony and an exhaustive court of inquiry which was set up in the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the early summer of 1876 Custer and the seventh were part of a huge army sent to force the Sioux and their allies onto the reservations and putting Custer in charge of this operation showed that the American government meant business George Custer was a rock star of his period people knew who he was he wanted people knew who he was he wore a red scarlet tie and and a Velveteen jacket a sailor's collar with stars on it a big floppy hat he wanted his men to see him in combat he wanted to be a leader he wanted to bump them up his men loved him in the Civil War they said they would follow him to hell and back he was he was a natural leader of men especially in combat in all there were 750 men with Custer scouring the desolate emptiness of the Great Plains in search of one of the biggest tribes of Indians in the West gentlemen a lot of Indians waiting for us on each of your men to carry 100 rounds of carbine 24 rounds of pistol ammunition rations 15 days per men our TAC coffee sugar 12 days bacon and another 50 rounds of ammunition per man on a meal train sir get them on the wagons we can carry for more than 15 days worth of supplies sir foot wagons supply wagons sir we're not using wagons all we take is to be packed on the meal train any questions sir 15 days supplies without wagons chasin Indians Colonel not cattle gotta be quick got to be mobile wagons will slow us right down if you wish to carry more supplies you may each of you is responsible for your own company's packing do not hold me back I will not have a single Indian say that he has scared the seventh Cavalry you're worried about rations carry more salt maybe living on horse meat before we're through sure general we'll talk in the morning mr. Kellogg some of the officers seem unhappy I repeat that correct me if I'm wrong is that what you're gonna tell your readers mr. kiler lucky your side sir mark Kellogg a small-town reporter for the Bismarck Tribune was the only journalist on Custer's last campaign his dispatches would be reprinted in the New York Herald the Army had been forbidden by the president from taking reporters with them but Custer knew the value of publicity Custer was used to having those people around him who could report on what was happening there was even a word of a big careers of lecture at some point and Custer's life and he knew from his own experiences in the past that the press could really help him out with his career out here you want to catch Indians you have to travel as they do fast and light this is their country they know it tell you readers this seven cameras gonna get them what's the worst thing about finding him I must have seen some sights there breakfast why me not fighting white men it's not Union and Confederates brass warfare has rules not for the Indians tell you what's worse than how they fight they don't fight the Indian feels no dishonor of running away first sign of trouble they'll scatter damned Redskins only good Indian is a dead Indian not the common view mr. Kellogg gonna feel pardon me playing stupid if I was an Indian I'd rather live on the open plains and submit to the confines of a reservation now didn't you readers or I read that either My Orders are clear mr. Kellogg the Indians are to be subdued driven back to their reservation we may need it you can print that now a word for the most peculiar genius in the army the dashing Custer is ready for a hell whooping fray with the hostile Red Devils a mold of the village of scout lifters that comes within reach of Custer and his brave companions who would freely follow him into the jaws of hell Custer's reputation as a great Indian fighter was established eight years earlier at the Battle of the Ouachita the Washita River is in modern-day Oklahoma the Cheyenne had made their winter camp here when Custer attacked at door on the 27th of November 1868 most of the Warriors were killed and the village destroyed leaving Custer with the women and children unknown to custom there were thousands of Indians camped along the Washita that winter cut off from his supplies and heavily outnumbered Custer's position looked desperate how long an hour I reckon [Music] battle formation but all the hostages at the front yes sir forward march Custer was taking a huge risk but it paid off the Indians didn't attack using the women and children as a human shield meant that Custer escaped almost certain defeat we truly believed that that women were closer to the Creator to God and men could ever be we believed that men had to go seek visions in order to find their purpose in life where women because they were givers of life creators of life were more holy more spiritual and men could ever be and so we revered women these are the captured women and children they were photographed at the time and Custer held him hostage until the Indians along the Ouachita went back onto the reservation he stumbles upon this idea of hostage taking as part of the frustration of dealing with these people how do you get them to go the reservation you can't just surround him and force them and Custer said he would try to manipulate the image using constant use that a small group of wars be worth as many as a hundred lawyers if he used him the right way basically so the idea of hostage taking was something that's going to he's going to learn after the Washita [Music] but Custer's triumph at the Washita came at a price a detachment of troopers led by major Joel Elliot were cut off and surrounded the massacre was reported in the newspapers body's major Elliot and his men were found in a small circle their heads been battered in some had been entirely chopped off some had their Adam's apple cut out of their throats some of their hands and feet cut off the glaze scarcely two miles from the scene of Custer's triumph I'd wash it off why did help not come to our missing comrades driven wild by the capture of their women and children the tribe of Indian fiends circled major Elliot and his men while Custer's soldiers scarce two short miles away rested ate slept such is the story Custer's trying wash it off who wrote this what have you did what did you if I ever find out I swear up with them now sir I guess I'm the man you're after for saying how I see it sir come on panting you don't matter than newspapers I didn't do right the friends who write to the newspapers you know right you got that have you got that I've got that I've got that sir sir [Music] Colonel Frederick Benteen was a career army officer like Custer he'd fought with distinction in the recent Civil War his loathing for his commanding officer whom he believed was little more than a glory hunter would fester away for the next eight years and they're vicious em natee would have grave consequences at the Battle of the Little Bighorn after Washington a fragile peace broke out in the West under the Treaty of Laramie land which the American government thought was worthless was handed over to the tribes of the Great Plains but in 1874 Custer inadvertently helped to blow that treaty apart he led an expedition into the sacred Sioux lands of the Black Hills in modern-day South Dakota and discovered gold thousands of prospectors poured into the territory in the hope of making their fortunes the American government now wanted the land back but the Indians weren't about to sell it or give it out without his struggle conflict was inevitable [Music] the Indians began gathering on the Great Plains in the spring of 1876 they were led by the Great Sioux medicine man Sitting Bull whose courageous defiance of the demands of the American government made him a focus for his people's resistance the Sitting Bull was a a warrior first and foremost in his life I mean he was like any other young man who needed to achieve status in his life and did so through war touching his enemies and that's why they made him chief to begin with [Music] [Music] gustas demands for speed started to pay off slowly but surely the troopers began to catch up with the Indians they came across new evidence of their presence nearly every day but the day before the battle they found something that deeply troubled Custer's chief scout Mitch Boyer he knew what these seemingly innocuous Buffalo skulls signified Sundance the Sun dance is an ancient spiritual ritual a ritual reserved exclusively for men and this was probably the most important Sun Dance in Native American history it was performed by Sitting Bull painted in ceremonial yellow to represent the Sun and orbed with symbols Sitting Bull was looking for spiritual guidance a vision of the future to reassure his people in the face of the coming conflict the ritual started with the removal of a piece of flesh then more and more until the great Chiefs arms ran red oh gosh [Music] he then danced and danced and danced accompanied by the leaders of the tribes for two whole days [Music] finally his vision came we Scott yeah you know the news guys are teaching you only trouble after sink you must be about you know Crocky protected like what dark where that is fire I'll be alone did she touch makuta we took you in no time I eat the yellow Oh Kakashi okichi Turkey no [ __ ] is all I guess [Music] [Applause] but the vision came with a dire warning oh sure are talking all [Applause] some will warn the people that when they die in camp you are instructed not to take anything from them nothing part of war is that you take their guns you take their ammo you take their clothing you've these become trophies booty of war and all all armies have done it and so it was standard practice but he warned the people do not take anything from these soldiers when they die in our camp or great misery will befall our people this vision was so powerful that the Indians felt compelled to carve it on deer medicine rock which towered above the growing Indian village for the tribes on the plains there was an umbilical link between the spiritual world and the natural world the vision wasn't a work of Sitting Bull's imagination but a prediction of the future he was given these dreams these prophecies that came true time and time and time again and so when he did this Sun Dance and they heard of his vision it truly was a rallying point because they knew he's had visions before and they've come true and here's another vision of a great victory and it rallied the people together Custer's Scouts had found the general location of the village and the soldiers began closing in on the morning of the 25th of June 1876 little been seen take Humvees HD and K and head to the left Wow you sure you mean that's it I may come across the satellite camp or some with respect should we not keep the regiment together sweep the ridges on the left gonna Benteen if you find anything let me know this village is as big as you say you'll need every man we have been team you have your orders yes [Music] the indian village was huge at least 2,000 Warriors Indians arrived from the reservation to take part in summer hunting and some of them came armed with guns given to them by the reservation agents guns that were supposed to be used to kill Buffalo guns that could be used by the Indians to defend themselves from the people who handed them out as the Indians settle into their huge camp on the Little Bighorn River Custer is eating up the miles and is now very close [Music] oh look Sioux Indian up ahead let's talk pitstop they rode away fast major Reno looks like the village is on the move take three companies move as rapid as you deem prudent than attack you're behind us in support major Reno you're leading the charge where's Colonel Benton major Reno you have your orders lead the charge let us keep together [Music] Custer's command is now split into four bringing up the rear is the slow-moving mule train carrying the extra packs of ammunition Benteen is scouring the hills to the west and custer is preparing to follow reno into the valley ready for battle mr. Kellogg I guess you leave the charge just kill on what Oh the Spurs haven't snow I got him off one of the scouts I think you may be safer at the back that's what he said but I'm expecting developments our styles let's go [Music] we had to see what was going on with these sixty walls were they a decoy or were there three thousand warriors of that Ridge he had to find out the one thing about George Custer here he makes a fatal mistake he does not tell Reno he's faring off the path so Reno is still expecting cutter to fall into battle into the valley Custer doesn't catch up with the Indians but the chase leads him to the top of this Ridge from here he gets his first look at the size of the village below him big village sir take a look women and children warriors no warriors could be on a buffalo hunt fast a lot of carcasses yesterday [ __ ] go on to the next ridge see what else you can see yes sir gentlemen we're gonna capture this village in one piece cross river take the women and children hostage and the waters returned and won't touch us [Applause] where's Colonel banty let's go get him boys finish this up and head for home to the river [Music] [Music] as Custer rides off to find a way across the river Reno and his 90 men are in the valley getting ready to attack [Music] [Applause] [Music] protect us what Custer doesn't know is that the village is sleeping late and there are hundreds of Braves waking up for the fight the highest honor that any warrior to achieve was to be the first to touch their enemy in battle and so when they got him on the battlefield it was on you could almost not control these young warriors they wanted to win honor so bad they wanted to touch an enemy and so they would normally be the first out in battle one of them was crazy the zoo's most famous fighter [Music] Wow we are knowing present you know you know Kevin July which company now rock okay hello oh well scale look now I bet the people junkies up in are sketchy alone oh look [Music] 900 against 90 man down there we're just overwhelming odds most of the men who were with me no agreed that if he charged another hundred yards he would not have been a man left in those three companies they would have survived the fight down outflanked and outnumbered he retreats to a nearby wood Reno's charge may have failed but it does have the effect of forcing the women and children to flee from the fighting Custer now has them in his sights and thinks he can find a way across the river at this point he sends 40 men known as the gray horse company to find the crossing and it looks like he has the women and children at his mercy [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] there are only a handful of warriors to repeal Custer's advance party but there's a problem Custer couldn't have anticipated his troopers couldn't cross because the ground was exceptional at bogey at the renal court of enter in 1879 there was mixed testimony whether it was crossable here many of the people that testified say that it was very quick sandy and boggy on the other side and we've been very difficult to cross the river right here where Custer tried to even Benteen who said he could cross the river anywhere said that it was quicksand right here some of the inn and accounts also talk about quicksand and bog and mayuri's soil on the other side under attack in the woods Reno decides to make a run for the top of this hill a third of his men will lose their lives in the ensuing bloodbath the chaos of Reno's retreat across the river and up to the sanctuary of the hill was captured in Indian pictographs drawn in the year after the battle while Reno's troopers are being cut to shreds Custer sends a messenger to Benteen who is still on his scout to the left [Music] come on big village be quick brain packs be quick this is the message that Custer sent to Benton a hastily scribbled note which seems to demand an urgent response when Benton received it he was only half an hour away from Custer if he broke into a gallery but the colonel was in no rush [Music] the house all right yes sir [Music] again we don't know exactly what was in been teased head we know that perhaps maybe in the back of his mind which of course we can't read but perhaps he was thinking well Custer's we're only cut Raptor to hang for himself as been team belatedly makes his way to the battle Custer is still in headlong pursuit of the women and children as he tries to find a Ford across the river this is where the women and children were going and this is the path that Custer follows he does see the non-combatants fleeing down through the valley as a matter of fact there is an account by Crazy Horse crazy or said he looked like Custer was going straight for the women and children down across the river there and all of his movements seemed to indicate exactly that so he's the only offensive to the very end and there's a chance at George Custer can win the Battle of Little Bighorn if he captures some of these non-combatants might be a bit tight getting down here sir you're right but can't cross you need to find someplace for the rough well here comes the unmanned you [Music] [Music] there are places to cross the river and the Indians know exactly where to find them and they pour across to take the fight to Custer [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Custer is now retreating up the hill away from the failed attempt to cross the river he's still in control but things are about to get even worse for the general all of his horses are scared away by Indian warriors and women waving blankets Custer's undoing at en was losing his horses he lost his mobility he lost half his ammunition and there's no hope for success he was on the are fencing the immediate was turned to the defensive [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] mark Kellogg's notebook will be found later on the battlefield by the time this reaches you we will have met the Red Devils with what results remains to be seen I go with Custer and will be at the death Custer's force falls back to this Ridge he is now defending his position and waiting for help and been team to arrive the Indians fighting Reno have left to engage Custer [Music] RINO's men are using the respite to tend to their wounded their commander is starting to fall apart [Music] these red men giving you a long time where's Custer raising his horses somewhere why did that wash it off turn it off we're the glory left Elliot's man to be ripped apart colonel it's Custer perhaps it must be we need to support him Buzzard lieutenant Harte son he's a dear friend of mine I have to find him major Reno this is your command colonel fantine sir if Custer's spot in the whole village now he needs a whole regiment you said so yourself boy son major Reno's on command here Reno was absent for a crucial half hour looking for many Hodgson's body while he was looking for Hudsons body George Custer was fighting for his life Custer leaves his position on the ridge to clear Indians from the area now known as Last Stand Hill he has about 30 men with him [Applause] Indian accounts of the battle tell of Crazy Horse's bravery in single-handedly attacking the line of soldiers Crazy Horse had already done that short how brave he was and so he had those young warriors hiked up ready to go lord [Music] [Music] the three companies that Custer left behind on the bridge when he went down to the river overrun and wiped out it was a very steady skirmish line around the edge of this Ridge they will find cartridges next to me and at least 40 cartridges so there was a sustained fight here I was some volley fire cussed acun ow see that if help doesn't come he has little hope of survival [Applause] we have to go we have to you'll train in here yet we've got ammunition we don't need to wait for the mule train ghetto custom needs you sir sir I'm going we're is just three miles from Custer on Last Stand Hill at a gallop he could be there in 15 minutes [Music] [Music] Dave [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Flay it's Custer let's go sir [Music] I'm weird you better get back and save you man Sahel the place to fight he needs the Indians attacked Reno and Benteen over the course of the next day but they held out and survived the carnage of the Big Horn to tell their side of the story at the court of inquiry [Music] no one who was with Custer survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn all 210 of them were killed [Music] it was the greatest Indian victory in the history of the West but for sitting boy who took no active part in the battle what happened as the smoke was clearing on Last Stand Hill salad the trial did not listen to what city will had told him and they took everything they could and after that we know that they chased us to the four corners of this country and to Canada as well and great ministry has befallen our people ever since even to this day news of Custer's improbable defeat spread across the country I like to compare some times to the death of John F Kennedy when people heard about that they couldn't believe it was true how could George Custer with this train force well armed soldier force be defeated by Aboriginal people of the plains it was just unbelievable to most of people they were shocked Congress immediately would begin to beef up everything the number of men in the field they would perform what we call Custer's Avengers to send these people out to try to come out here and to try to force these people to the reservation once and for all the 60 Indian warriors who died that day are commemorated by this battlefield sculpture [Music] within months most Indians who fought at the battle were back on the reservation [Music] a year later Crazy Horse the great Indian hero of the Bighorn turned himself in and was killed in a scuffle with guards Sitting Bull escaped to Canada but later returned to the United States he had a part in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show re-enacting the Battle of the Little Bighorn he died a reservation Indian [Music] [Music]

Channel: BBC Documentary

Views: 1,718,905

Rating: 4.687871 out of 5

Keywords: bbc documentary, documentary bbc, bbc, bbc documentary wild west, wild west documentary history channel, wild west custer's last stand, wild west custer, custer's last stand, bbc wild west documentary, history documentary, wild west, old west, last stand, custers last stand documentary, civil war, custers last stand

Id: YPjTFXpAZ_g

Length: 48min 39sec (2919 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 09 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Dwall09]

Damn that’s actually pretty cool. Wonder what other small roles he’s been in prior to RDR2.