Moving Robe Woman’s story is remarkable enough on its own documented terms.

It requires no embellishment, and none has been added.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BATTLE

The Little Bighorn River runs roughly north to south through a wide valley in what is now southeastern Montana, not far from the Wyoming border.

In 1876, this was unceded Lakota and Cheyenne territory — the hunting grounds that the Fort Laramie Treaty had recognized as belonging to the Plains peoples for as long as the buffalo ran.

The valley is wide enough at the point where the great camp was established to accommodate the sprawling circle of tipis — six or seven distinct tribal circles stretching for miles along the western bank of the river.