Alliance Tribes plan 150th Anniversary of Battle of Greasy Grass

RAPID CITY – The Battle of Greasy Grass, which took place June 25, 1876, represents one of the last significant military efforts by Great Plains tribes to defend their traditional lands and ways of life against westward expansion and government policy. In the history books, it is called the Battle of Little Bighorn. Dubbed Custer’s Last Stand, it was a major victory for the alliance tribes and a devastating defeat for the U.S. Army and Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.

Planning for the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Little Big Horn 2026 has been underway at the battlefield site at Crow Agency for some time with construction of a new visitor’s center which is supposed to be open in time for the anniversary. The Friends of the Little Big Horn National Park Foundation have been working with the Northern Cheyenne Tribe to ensure that the tribe’s history is being portrayed thoroughly and accurately .

This week, Oglala Sioux Tribal Chairman Frank Star Comes Out invited all tribal presidents, chairs, and representatives to attend an upcoming planning session next month in Wyoming. The invitation was sent to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Flandreau Sioux Tribe, Yankton Sioux Tribe, Santee Sioux Tribe, Arapaho Tribe, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, National Park Service Little Big Horn National Monument, and the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Executive Director asking them to join the Oglala Sioux Tribe as they take the initiative to set up the first meeting of the Sioux Tribes, Northern Cheyenne Tribe and Arapaho Tribe for planning purposes.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Ryman LeBeau told Native Sun News Today by email that the planning committee will meet periodically throughout the year to get ready for the anniversary. “We want our people to be part of it. There will be trail rides through the parks, starting at the CRST owned Lone Tipi going north, into the Reno-Benteen Park (Crow lands) and on to the Battle of Little Big Horn, retracing the path that our ancestors took to defeat the United States.”

“This is an opportunity for leaders to portray the importance of this event to not only us, but to our youth and generations to come, and the rest of the world. We want our children to know who they are,” said Lebeau. “Growing up no one told me that one of our relatives was the battle and learning this was significant to me.”

Gay Kingman, executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association (GPTCA) said they would like to gather all of the tribes that were in the battle. “We call them the Alliance – because we were aligned with these other tribes there at Little Big Horn – and come together for the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary. It was such a victory for our people, and we don’t want to forget it. All of us are descendants of the people who fought and were victorious at Big Horn. We are trying to impress upon our young people the importance. Many of us carry the names of those who fought there and died or fought there and lived.”

Kingman said it’s time that the truth of this history is told. The story that remains of the battle one-hundred-fifty years later has been mythologized – Indians were brutal savages, uncivilized and disorganized when in reality numerous tribal leaders efforts were strategically and tactically coordinated and resulted in defeat of Custer. Custer has been mythologized as a hero and his actions as heroic, when in reality he violated the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie which had guaranteed the Lakota “absolute and undisturbed use and occupation” of the Black Hills. He entered the Black Hills on a ruse to map a route to connect with the road to Fort Laramie and find a sight for a new military post. Their unofficial purpose, however, was to confirm rumors of the presence of gold. According to the South Dakota State Historical Society, two civilian miners who were sent to check for traces of gold in the streams and found some in French Creek. Custer swiftly returned to Fort Lincoln to report the gold find and immediately, thousands of miners rushed to the Black Hills. The military threw up its arms saying it was impossible to keep them out.

“We can’t lose sight of what happened there,” said Kingman, “and we want to tell the real story about what happened there. We were fighting for our homeland, just like we are today. You know, we fight for our sovereignty. It’s always a constant effort in order to protect what we have.”

LeBeau agreed this is an opportunity to correct the record. “We want to correct the Realbird Family Reenactment because it is not portrayed correctly, as the Crows were not there.”

The Crow had a long-standing alliance with the United States and were seeking to protect their territory from the tribal alliance. Crow scouts had been enlisted by the U.S. to gather intelligence on the alliance tribes.

The Richard Real Bird family initiated their own reenactment of the battle in 1992. According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, efforts by the Real Bird family to collaborate with the City of Hardin were unsuccessful. Their event was established as an alternative to the annual Custer’s Last Stand Reenactment organized by the Hardin Area Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture outside the reservation. The Real Bird reenactment takes place near Garryowen and is intended to address and amend prevailing historical narratives by providing a more accurate account. In June, about 600 people attended the first day of the three-day Real Bird event.

LeBeau also said the park service has been sharing the account of the battle, mostly from a non-Indian point of view. “No one from the Sioux Tribes are brought in to provide our information.”

The planning meeting is scheduled for September 18-19 in Casper, Wyoming. The agenda includes input from elders, a battle history review, a national parks presentation, and forming a task force. LeBeau noted some sessions will be public and others private, and online viewing is uncertain. Further details will be shared as planning progresses.

(Contact Marnie Cook at cookm8715@gmail.com)

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