Split in Three at Noon, Overrun by 5:30: How Custer Lost the Little Bighorn (1876)

At five past noon on June 25, 1876, George Armstrong Custer stood on the divide above Reno Creek and split the 7th Cavalry into three. He knew the Lakota had seen him. Two hours later he sent Major Marcus Reno to charge the village and told him he would be supported by the whole outfit. Reno charged. Custer turned the other way, into the bluffs. By half past five, Custer and every man in his five companies were dead. This video follows that day on the real ground, hour by hour. The clock runs, and five times it stops so you can see the order that was given: Custer splitting the regiment, Custer sending Reno in, Reno halting short of the village, Benteen riding on without the packs, and Reno waiting on the hill while the firing went on to the north. After that come the siege of Reno Hill, the village moving south, and what General Terry's men found on June 27. Chapters 0:00 June 25, dawn: the village and the Crow's Nest 0:35 The real ground 0:45 Order 1: wait, or strike now 1:00 Down Reno Creek 1:40 Order 2: the lone tepee 1:55 Two banks, one river 2:37 Order 3: charge, or dismount 2:52 The valley fight 3:29 Order 4: "Bring packs" 3:44 The retreat 4:23 Order 5: the sound of firing 4:38 Custer's field 5:35 Weir Point 5:59 The siege of Reno Hill 6:53 June 26: the village leaves 7:08 June 27: Terry arrives 7:35 By June 27 Terrain: real elevation data for the Little Bighorn valley and the Wolf Mountains (terrain tiles, USGS), with the river, Reno Creek and the battlefield landmarks from OpenStreetMap. Modern roads and towns are left out. Times follow Robert Utley's National Park Service handbook Custer Battlefield and Paul Andrew Hutton; the witnesses' clocks disagree by twenty or thirty minutes, so some in-between times are worked out from marching distances. The village layout and the route Custer took along the bluffs are approximate. Figures are shown about three times life size, and one figure stands for about one person.