Windolph, 98, was the last cavalry survivor from the Battle of the Little
Bighorn. The last survivor, an Indian named Dewey Beard, would die in 1955.

The debacle, on a grassy hilltop in Montana, has captured the imagination for
generations. When the news reached civilization, two weeks after the battle, the
public was shocked: how could the country's greatest cavalry leader be bested by
a horde of savages? It was so unthinkable that early speculation was that
renegade white men must have directed the mindless Indians.

Now, 129 years after the battle, the names of the participants are legendary
General George Armstrong Custer, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Captain Frederick
Benteen, Captain Myles Keough, Two Moons and Rain in the Face.

A lot has happened in the intervening years, with the Indians, first seen as
wanton savages, slowly gaining recognition as people struggling to retain their
way of life; and the Custer myth growing tall, only to be cut down to size.

Still many questions remain, that can never be answered. And one certainty
haunts the Montana plains it was a disaster that didn't have to happen. For like
the sinking of Titanic in 1912, Custer's Last Stand was a slow unraveling of
events, where if any one had happened differently, the ultimate doom would have
been avoided.

The Paha Sapa
The roots of the Sioux war of 1876 began in 1866, when the military built the
Bozeman Trail, constructing forts across the heart of Sioux Country. Led by Red
Cloud, the Sioux fiercely resisted. The white men wasichus wanted to take the
Black Hills, the sacred Paha Sapa, where the Sioux believed their ancestors
lived with the gods.

For the only time in the history of the Indian wars, the United States
surrendered to the Indians and, in the Treaty of Fort Laramie, promised the
Sioux they could keep the Black Hills "as long as the grass shall grow."

But soon rumors began to circulate that gold was in the Black Hills.

The Laramie Treaty said that no white man would be allowed to enter the Black
Hills without the Sioux's permission; and also that none of the Sioux land could
be sold unless a majority of Indian men signed off.

The army broke the treaty in 1874 when it decided to see if there was gold. An
expedition, led by Custer, was sent to the Black Hills to explore. The
charismatic general announced to the world that there was "gold from the
grassroots down."

It was then set: the U.S. government wanted the Black Hills. Miners and gamblers
rushed to the Black Hills, to towns like Deadwood, which boasted such residents
as Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Wyatt Earp. And although the 1868 treaty
spelled out that the army would keep white men out of the Paha Sapa, the
government did nothing to enforce it instead offering to buy the Black Hills for
$6 million. One mine alone, which founded the Hearst fortune, among others,
earned its investors more than 100 times the amount offered by the government.

The Sioux attitude was summed up by Crazy Horse, who said, "One does not sell
the ground upon which the people walk."

Congress issued an ultimatum in December 1875, giving the "hostiles" until Jan.
31, 1876 to report to the nearest reservation post. It was an order that would
have been impossible to meet even if the Sioux wanted to meet it. But the Sioux,
who were living on land promised them under the 1868 treaty, were in no mood to
let their sacred hills be stolen.

The Fighting 7thCuster
He graduated last in his class at West Point. He was the youngest general in
U.S. history. He was a polarizing figure in his own time, garnering either
unabashed adoration from followers, or intense hatred.

His reputation has been tarnished today, but George Custer was a legitimate war
hero for his heroic exploits during the Civil War. He had a dozen horses shot
out from under him as he led his men into battle. Unlike other commanders of the
era, who sat safely behind the battlelines and issued orders, the golden-haired
Boy General said his headquarters would be at the head of the charge.

He was dashing, fearless and his one battle plan was to "ride to the sound of
the guns." Here, his recklessness gave birth to a phrase popular in the 19th
century Custer's Luck. It referred to someone who did everything wrong, only to
have it turn out right. Time after time, Custer charged foes that outnumbered
his own, yet always managed to win the day.

It was in this war that he attained his brevet rank of general. A brevet rank is
temporary, but as was the custom of the time soldiers, as a courtesy, were
referred to by their brevet ranks. At the time of his death, Custer's legitimate
rank was lieutenant colonel a rank that had remained unchanged for 15 years.

Following the Civil War, the army became a refuge for ne'er-do-wells,
adventurers, and wanted me seeking to hide. Many, like Charles Windolph, were
immigrants. Custer became second in command of the 7th U.S. Cavalry; however the
commander, Col. William Forsythe, preferred his desk to horseback and virtually
left command to Custer.

A master publicist, Custer had built up his own reputation, and now, by,
extension did the same for the 7th. To the public, the 7th became known as the
country's best Indian fighters; in truth the record was shabby, with its
greatest "victory" being a dawn massacre against the peaceful Cheyenne village
of Black Kettle at the Washita River.

But Custer's record with his superiors was also shabby. His graduation at West
Point had been interrupted by a court martial for failing to break up a fight
while he was officer on duty. Then, in 1867, he was suspended without pay for a
year for abandoning his men in the field and unduly harsh discipline for
deserters.

As 1876 neared, the Boy General now 39 sensed his military career was ending.
For 15 years he had not gotten a higher rank. Custer may have been planning a
change in careers from soldier to president of the United States. The outgoing
president, U.S. Grant had done just that. Some historians suggest that Custer
was in a hurry to win a major Indian battle in time for the Democratic
convention set for July in Philadelphia.

Road to Disaster
Custer nearly missed the Little Bighorn. When Congress held hearings on the
Indian Ring, which included the president's brother, Custer testified against
the ring, charging them with cheating the Indians. In retaliation, Grant ordered
the 7th into action without the general. Custer begged his supporters Gens.
William Sherman and Philip Sheridan to intercede. The old soldiers swayed Grant,
who relented, but insisted that Forsythe lead the 7th in the field. The plan was
for three battalions to converge at the Little Bighorn on June 26, and catch the
Indians between them. Gen. Alfred Terry was in overall command, with the other
groups to be led by Forsythe and Gen. George Crook. But Forsythe only too to the
field so far, before letting Custer take over.

Unbeknownst to Terry and Custer, the army's plan had already begun to crumble.
On June 17, on the banks of the Rosebud, Crazy Horse defeated Crook, forcing his
retreat. As Custer prepared to cut loose on his own, he made the first two of
his fatal blunders. Terry offered to let Custer have several companies of
infantry, another 500 men or so. Custer turned them down, saying the infantry
would slow his cavalry. Terry agreed, then offered him four Gatling guns. Again
Custer demurred, saying the wagons with the guns would also hamper his
movements. Either the infantry or those machine guns would have certainly led to
a different ending on June 25.

On his own, Custer marched his men ragged. He ignored reports from his own
Indian scouts that they found a trail indicating far more Sioux than the army
realized. In this, Custer was using what was considered military intelligence at
the time. The army did not believe that Indians would ever stand and fight a
pitched battle, they felt the warriors were cowards and would run.

The 7th reached the Little Bighorn area worn and exhausted late on June 24. But
soon his Indian scouts reported Indian sign just ahead. Custer decided to march
forward, planning to rest his men on the 25th. But early that morning his Indian
scouts reported seeing the huge Sioux village.

Custer could not see it, but his scouts assured him it was the biggest they had
ever seen. Then Custer's hand was forced. A mule had dropped some supplies and
when troops went back to get them, they found three young Indians had already
come upon the prize. The Indians were reported rushing toward their village to
spread the warning. Custer decided to attack. His favorite Indian scout, Bloody
Knife, told the general, "Today, you and I ride home on a road we do not know."

Here he made yet another blunder, dividing his outnumbered men into four groups.
Sending Major Reno, who had no Indian fighting experience, to attack one end of
the village, Custer planned to strike from the other end.

Custer's Last Stand
Custer, with 216 men, rode off. He still had no precise idea of where the Sioux
and Cheyenne village was, or any guess as to how many warriors he faced. The
entire 7th Cavalry consisted of less than 700 men, and some estimates say the
Indian warriors numbered from 5,000 to 10,000.

The last any survivors saw of Custer, he was waving his hat in the air as he
extorted Reno on. Then Custer led his men toward Medicine Tail Coulee. What he
didn't see was Reno's retreat as the Indians met his charge head-on. Reno was
soon pinned down.

Custer led his men down the coulee and into his last mistake. He emerged in the
middle of the village, not at the end. Indians swarmed toward him, as the 7th
slowly fought its way back up the coulee.

Their fate was sealed as they regained the hills, only to be met by the fierce
charge of Crazy Horse. Custer ordered his men to dismount where every fourth
soldier held the horses for himself and three comrades. It further lessened the
effect of his fighting force.

Littered atop Custer Hill were the bodies of the general, his brothers
twice-Medal of Honor winner Captain Tom and Boston, a nephew Autie Reed and a
brother-in-law Captain Calhoun. The rest of the 7th would join up with Reno and
dig in as they fought off the Indians until about midday on the 26th, when the
village decamped as General terry approached. Charles Windolph was among the 24
soldiers who won Medals of Honor. He had acted heroically, suffering a wound in
the buttocks on his way to becoming the last white man standing from the Battle
of the Little Bighorn.

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