The Battle of the Greasy Grass/Little Bighorn

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In June of 1876, the U.S. government’s plan to pressure the Lakota and Cheyenne people onto reservations came to a dramatic and violent end with a battle that would become enshrined in American memory. In the eyes of many Americans at the time, the battle of Little Bighorn represented a symbolic struggle between the civil and the savage. Known as the Battle of the Greasy Grass to the Lakota, the Battle of Little Bighorn to the people who suppressed them, and as Custer’s Last Stand in the annals of popular culture, the event continues to captivate students of American history.

In The Battle of the Greasy Grass/Little Bighorn, Debra Buchholtz narrates the history of the battle and critically examines the legacy it has left. In five concise chapters, bolstered by government documents, newspaper articles, and eyewitness accounts, Buchholtz shows how the battle continues to shape the way we understand indigenous peoples, the Wild West, and the history of America.