On November 27, 1868, without bothering to identify the village
or do any reconnaissance, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong
Custer led an early morning attack on a band of peaceful Cheyenne
living with Chief Black Kettle.

Convicted of desertion and mistreatment of soldiers earlier that year
in a military court, the government had suspended Custer from rank
and command for one year. Ten months into his punishment, in September 1868, General Philip Sheridan reinstated Custer to lead
a campaign against Cheyenne Indians who had been making raids
in Kansas and Oklahoma that summer. Sheridan was frustrated by
the inability of his other officers to find and engage the enemy, and despite his poor record and unpopularity with the men of the 7th
Cavalry, Custer was a good fighter.

George Armstrong Custer
(December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876)