Memorial Markers

Following the battle, the Lakota and Cheyenne removed their dead and buried them in lodges, scaffolds, and the hillsides. Surviving members of the 7th Cavalry hastily buried the soldiers, Indian Scouts, and civilians on June 28, 1876. In 1877, most officers’ remains were exhumed and reinterred in eastern cemeteries, and Lt. Col. Custer’s partial remains were reburied at West Point, New York. In 1881, Lt. Charles Roe erected a granite memorial shaft and reburied the remaining 7th Cavalry dead in a mass grave around its base. In 1890, the army placed 249 headstone markers across the battlefield in an attempt to show where Custer’s men had fallen. Total 7th Cavalry casualties were 210 in the Custer Battalion and 53 in the Reno-Benteen Battalions, while Lakota and Cheyenne casualties were estimated at 40 to 100.

Crow Agency, Montana · United States