Details Native News Online Staff June 25, 2024
This day in history. Today is known as Victory Day to many Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho people.
On this day, June 25, 1876, the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho banded together and annihilated General George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry. Many people know this as General Custer’s Last Stand and refer to what happened that day as a massacre.
The Hunkpapa, Miniconjou, Itajipco, Oglala, and Sahiela Lakota tribes, along with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, fought and won against racism.
This was the only time an American flag was captured on Turtle Island, and it remains the property of the Lakota. Over the next few decades, General Custer and his troops came to be seen as iconic, even heroic, figures in American history.
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However, Native Americans have a completely different view of General Custer. General Custer was known to hunt down Native women, children, and elderly people, which was his tactic when pursuing an attacked camp. Tribal victories were used as a means to keep the tribes oppressed. The death of General Custer and his troops intensified efforts to forcibly relocate Native peoples to reservations.
Most of the declared “enemies” surrendered within a year of the battle, and the Black Hills were lost to the U.S. government without compensation. Mount Rushmore was to be built in the Black Hills, sacred ground to the Lakota people.
Some call it a massacre, others a victory.
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