The Gold Regions of the Black Hills, Showing the Scene of the Massacre of General Custer’s Troops

One of the first published accounts of the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand.

This map of the western half of the United States was published in the July 22, 1876 edition of Harper’s Weekly magazine. It shows a tenuous situation between white settlers and Native Americans, with forts, reservations and towns competing for limited (though ample) space. Transportation routes, including the recently completed Transcontinental Railroad (1869) are shown in black. Also available on the map are lines of troop movements of the United States Army, on the march during the Great Sioux War.

Perhaps the most famous engagement of that war, the Battle of Little Bighorn, had taken place less than a month before publication. The accompanying text describes the battle and is surprisingly even-toned for an American publication during the Indian Wars. It credits the Sioux’s vigorous attack for their ultimate victory, and gently chides Custer for dividing his forces. However, the title of “The Montana Slaughter” and tales of Indians mutilating and stripping the dead echoed sentiments that propelled Custer to an almost mythological status for his “heroic last stand against a savage foe.”