Near this place, officers and soldiers fighting with the 7th United States Cavalry against the Sioux Indians fell on June 25 and 26, 1876. Those who died on the battlefield included brevet Major General G. A. Custer, captains, lieutenants, assistant surgeons, soldiers, Arikaree Indian scouts, and civilians. About 220 soldiers, scouts, and civilians are buried around the base of the memorial. White marble headstones scattered over the battlefield mark where the slain troopers were found and originally buried. In 1881, they were reinterred in a single grave on this site, while the officers’ remains were removed in 1877 to various cemeteries throughout the country, and General Custer was buried at West Point.