Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Lakota leader and medicine man, was the primary political and spiritual authority at the Little Bighorn encampment.

He had conducted a sun dance in which he had a vision of soldiers falling headfirst into camp — a vision interpreted as a prophecy of victory.

Crazy Horse led a significant portion of the Lakota fighters in the engagements against Custer’s force.

The specific details of the battle are disputed, since there were no surviving American military witnesses to the final phase of the fight and the accounts of Lakota and Cheyenne participants differ in specific ways.

What is established is that Custer’s direct command of approximately 210 men was wiped out and that the broader 7th Cavalry suffered severely.