How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 7, 1876
St. Louis, July 7, 1876. Vol 2. No. 49. Folio. 8 pp. Disbound; creasing from old folds; very small printed tag mounted at top right ("Sec. of State").

With another issue of the same paper, dated July 5, 1876, bearing the same mounted stamp.

The front-page column reads in part: "Gen. Custer Attacks Sitting Bull in His Camp...Who Massacre Him and His Entire Force...How Awful the News was Received in this City."

In late 1875 the Grant administration sent an official notification to all tribes in the Dakota Territory that they were to report to designated reservations no later than January 31, 1876 or be deemed "hostile." Few acceded to this order. In the spring and early summer, Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull called a large gathering of Plains tribes together to create a united encampment of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho on land already belonging to the Crow, who sided with the United States Army to expel them from their lands. On June 25, the 7th Cavalry, led by General Custer, came upon their encampment. Upon realizing his position had been discovered, he ordered his men to attack. What followed was nothing short of a massacre which ended with over fifty-two percent of the 7th Cavalry dead, including Custer himself. This engagement became known as the Battle of Little Bighorn, or "Custer's Last Stand."