The Wild West

Custer's Last Stand (1x1)

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In 1869, George Armstrong Custer smoked the peace pipe that meant the US Army would fight no more against the Sioux Indians. Custer was glorious, glamorous and a national hero. But seven years later, triumph turned to tragedy. At the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, General Custer led a raid to exterminate the Sioux Indians - and died in the attempt. General Custer's death has given rise to a hundred myths. Was he killed by lance, arrow, tomahawk or bullet? Was he the first or last to die? Presenting a radical new picture of the battle, this episode creates an image of a driven man with dark secrets whose rivalries with his own officers would cost all of them their lives. Based on written accounts, Native American pictograms and the oral testimony of the survivors, this film reveals the dark secrets of Custer's earlier campaigns, and how they hold the key to understanding the Little Big Horn. It also reveals that although two-thirds of Custer's soldiers were killed, research shows he was close to a remarkable victory. For many years it was said that no witnesses survived the slaughter of Custer and his men. In fact, more than one thousand American Indians survived, and their long-ignored accounts are now proving to be highly accurate according to latest archaeology.