On June 26, 2876, near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, General George Armstrong Custer ordered his soldiers to drive back a large army of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. The battle pitted two larger-than-life antagonists against one another: Sitting Bull, the charismatic and politically savvy leader of the Plains Indians; and George Armstrong Custer, one of the union's greatest cavalry officers, a man with a reputation for fearless and often reckless courage. By day's end, Custer and nearly a third of his army were dead. This "American Experience" follows Custer from his memorable, wild charge at Gettysburg-one that turned the tide of the battle-to his lonely, untimely death on the windswept plains of the west. Why, time and again, did the supremely ambitious son of a blacksmith ricochet from triumph to disaster, from battlefield heroism to impetuous escapade? In the end, Custer's reputation as one of the most charismatic and contradictory American leaders of the 19th century was saved by the wife he adored, who almost single-handedly turned the Battle of the Little Bighorn into one of the most iconic events in American history.

Special features: further reading; related books and websites; map, interactive: Custer today; photo gallery: Lt. Col. George Custer. Title from container. Release date: Jan. 24, 2012. Originally broadcast as an episode of American Experience in 2012. Purchased for : AV RIGHTS for CLASSROOM USE.