He was attacking the camp of a chief who had just been at Fort Cobb seeking protection.

Custer’s behavior after the attack added further complications.

His abandonment of Major Elliott’s unit — men who had pursued escaping Cheyenne and been surrounded and killed while Custer withdrew — was viewed by many of his fellow officers as cowardly and dishonorable.

The subsequent cover-up of Elliott’s fate in Custer’s official reports added dishonesty to the charge.

Custer’s later death at the Little Bighorn in 1876, along with 268 of his men, has shaped how he is remembered in ways that have sometimes obscured the specific character of his actions at the Washita.

The romantic mythology of Custer’s Last Stand — the brave commander dying with his men on a hilltop — has been used to rehabilitate his reputation across multiple generations of popular history.