On the afternoon of June 25, 1867, an overwhelming force of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians quickly mounted a savage onslaught against General George Armstrong Custer's battalion, driving the doomed troopers of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry to a small hill overlooking the Little Bighorn River, where Custer and his men bravely erected their heroic last stand. So goes the myth of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In truth, however, "Custer's Last Stand" was neither the last of the fighting nor a stand. Using both innovative and standard archaeological techniques, combined with historical documents and Indian eyewitness accounts, Richard Allan Fox, Jr. replays this battle in astonishing detail. Through bullets, spent cartridges, and other material data, Fox identifies combat positions and tracks soldiers and Indians across the battlefield. Guided by the history beneath our feet, and listening to the previously ignored Indian testimonies, Fox reveals scenes of panic and collapse and, ultimately, a story of the Custer battle quite different from the fatalistic versions of history. According to the author, the five companies of the Seventh Cavalry entered the fray in good order, following planned strategies and displaying tactical stability. It was the sudden disintegration of this cohesion that caused the troopers' defeat. The end came quickly, unexpectedly, and largely amid terror and disarray. Archaeological evidences show that there was no determined fighting and little firearm resistance. The last soldiers to be killed had rushed from Custer Hill.

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Calgary, 1988. Revision of thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Calgary, 1988. Includes maps of: General Representation of the 7th Cavalry Regiment Movements on 24-25 JUN; Custer Battlefield and Reno-Benteen Battlefield; Study Area; Study Area Topography; Custer Battlefield Sectors and Topographic Features (2); Distribution of Marble Markers; Distribution of Indian Bullets; Distribution of .45-caliber Springfield Carbine Bullets; Distribution of .45-caliber Colt Bullets; Distribution of Indian Cartridge Cases; Distribution of .45/55 Cartridge Cases; Distribution of Colt .45 Cartridge Cases; Individual Indian Positions and Pathways Represented by .50-caliber Cartridge Cases; Individual Indian Positions and Pathways Represented by .44-caliber Cartridge Cases; Individual Indian Positions and Pathways Represented by Cartridge Cases of Miscellaneous Calibers; Individual Positions and Pathways Represented by Springfield Cartridge Cases; Locations in the Study Area; Calhoun Coulee Sector Depicting Artifact Distributions and Marker Locations; Greasy Grass Ridge Sector Depicting Indian Cartridge Cases and .45/55 Bullets; Greasy Grass Ridge Sector Depicting .45/55 Cartridge Cases and Indian Bullets; Calhoun Ridge Sector Depicting Indian Bullets and Marker Locations; Henryville Sector Depicting .45/55 Cartridge Cases and Indian Bullets; Henryville Sector Depicting Indian Cartridge Cases and .45/55 Bullets; Individual Trooper Positions and Pathways in the Henryville, Calhoun Hill, and Keogh Sectors; Skirmish Line A-B and Associated Bullets at Calhoun Hill; Skirmish LIne C-D and Associated Bullets at Calhoun Hill; Calhoun Hill Markers and Their Relationships to Skirmish Lines A-B and C-D; Close-up of the Cluster of .45/55 Cartridge Cases; Keogh Sector Depicting .45/55 Cartridge Cases, Indian Bullets, and Marker Locations; Keogh Sector Depicting Indian Cartridge Cases and Marker Locations; Western Slope of Custer Hill Depicting .45/55 Cartridge Cases, Bullets, and Marker Locations; Area East of Custer Hill Depicting Indian Cartridge Cases, .45/55 Cartridge Cases, and .45/55 Bullets; Distribution of Metal Arrowpoints in the Custer Battlefield; The Flats Sector Depicting the Distributions of .45/55 Bullets and Indian Cartridge Cases; South Skirmish Line Sector Depicting Indian Bullets and .45/55 Cartridge Cases (2); Custer Battlefield Portion of Walter Mason Camp's Map; Stanley Vestal's Sketch Drawn during an Interview with White Bull, ca. 1932; Wing Movements and Positions from Medicine Tail Coulee Environs to the Point of the Left-wing Delay on Cemetery Ridge; Custer Battle Drawn by Lt. William Philo Clark from Indian Testimony in 1877; Custer Battle Compiled by Capt. R. E. Johnston from Testimonies Taken in 1876; Wing and Company Movements and Positions at Custer Battlefield following Cessation of the Left-wing Delay on Lower Cemetery Ridge; Capt. Henry Freeman's Sketch of His Observations at Custer Battlefield; Custer Battle Sketch Prepared in 1906 for Eli Ricker by Red Hawk; Custer Battalion Wing Movemewnts from the High Bluffs to the Custer Battlefield Area before the Left-wing Delay on Cemetery Ridge; Custer Battlefield Vicinity Prepared by Eli Ricker on the Basis of His Interview with Standing Bear in 1907; Custer Battlefield Vicinity Drawn by Flying Hawk during an Interview with Eli Ricker in 1907. Some copies are University of Oklahoma Press paperback,1993, xviii, 411 p., ill., maps, 23 cm.

Foreword / W. Raymond Wood -- Glances Forward and Back -- Models, Methods and Patterns -- Fieldwork, Burials, and Distributions -- Prelude -- The Calhoun Episode -- The Keogh Episode -- The Cemetery Ridge Episode -- The Custer Hill Episode -- The South Skirmish Line Episode -- Defeat: Causes and Factors -- Fate, Blame, and Strategy -- The Whereabouts of Custer -- Conclusions.