The Great Sioux Massacre The Great Sioux Massacre The Great Sioux Massacre is a 1965 film directed by Sidney Salkow in CinemaScope using extensive action sequences from Salkow's 1954 "Sitting Bull". In a fictionalized form, it depicts Custer as an incompetent warmonger, and the Indians as his victims, and covers events leading up to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Custer's Last Stand It stars Joseph Cotten, Philip Carey and Darren McGavin. The film begins at Board of Inquiry over the Battle of the Little Big Horn; specifically examining the conduct of Major Marcus Reno. Captain Bill Benton (perhaps inspired by Frederick Benteen)
George Armstrong Custer A roommate noted, "It was alright with George Custer, whether he knew his lesson or not; he simply did not allow it to trouble him." Under ordinary national conditions, Custer's low class rank would result in an obscure posting, but Custer had the "fortune" to graduate as the Civil War broke out. All officers were needed. Like the other graduates, Custer was commissioned as a second lieutenant; he was assigned to the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment and tasked with drilling volunteers in Washington, D.C. On July 21, 1861, he was with his regiment at the First Battle of Bull Run