Lieutenant Colonel George Custer led the 7th Cavalry into a battle he believed to be minor in 1876. On June 25 his troops discovered a massive encampment of Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho near the Little Bighorn River in Montana. Ignoring warnings from scouts, he split his forces into three battalions to attack from different directions. Leaders such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse rallied a coordinated defense that overwhelmed the separated units and dealt a crushing defeat to the