The largest gathering of Plains peoples in the history of the nineteenth century had successfully defended itself against one of the most famous cavalry officers in the U.S.

Army.

But there was also mourning.

Warriors had died.

Specific men whose names were known, whose families were in the camp, whose absence was immediate and real.

The Lakota do not have precise casualty figures for Little Bighorn — the Indian fatalities were not recorded the way Army casualties were — but estimates suggest somewhere between thirty-six and one hundred Lakota and Cheyenne deaths, with a much higher number wounded.

Each death was a specific grief.