George Washington Manypenny newspaper business to become manager of the state public works. In 1876 Manypenny was appointed chair of a special commission to investigate the issues that led to the Sioux outbreak that year, which included the defeat of the American forces under George Armstrong Custer at the battle of the Little Bighorn. In 1880 he wrote "Our Indian Wards" which detailed a variety of wrongs perpetrated on the Indians, along with recommendations for reforms. George Washington Manypenny George Washington Manypenny (1808-1892) was the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the United States from 1853 to 1857. Manypenny was born
George Armstrong Custer agencies (reservations) or be considered "hostile". At that time the 7th Cavalry's regimental commander, Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis, was on detached duty as the Superintendent of Mounted Recruiting Service and in command of the Cavalry Depot in St. Louis, Missouri, which left Lieutenant Colonel Custer in command of the regiment. Custer and the 7th Cavalry departed from Fort Abraham Lincoln on May 17, 1876, part of a larger army force planning to round up remaining free Indians. Meanwhile, in the spring and summer of 1876, the Hunkpapa Lakota holy man Sitting Bull had called together the largest ever gathering of