Custers Last Stand

Welcome back to Retaking History! I’m Mr. Borchers—

—and I’m Mr. Eckstaine. Today, we’re heading to the rolling plains of Montana in the summer of 1876. It’s a story you’ve probably heard before, at least in part: Custer’s Last Stand. But was it really a last stand, or just a tragic mistake?

 Exactly. The Battle of the Little Bighorn has been told and retold in movies, textbooks, even myths. But what really happened on that June day, when the U.S. Cavalry met the combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho? And why does this battle still echo in American history classrooms almost 150 years later?

 Stick with us for the next 20 minutes as we pull apart the myths, look at the choices of men like George Armstrong Custer, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse, and uncover what this clash tells us about the Old West.

And along the way, we’ll probably make a few references that will make you wonder if Marvel should make a Disney+ spinoff about Custer called Captain Bad Decisions.