Great Sioux War of 1876 Col. George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry were ordered out from the main Dakota Column to scout the Rosebud and Big Horn river valleys. On June 25, 1876, they encountered a large village on the west bank of the Little Bighorn. The US troops were seriously beaten in the Battle of the Little Bighorn and nearly 270 men were killed, including Custer. Custer split his forces just prior to the battle and his immediate command of five cavalry companies was annihilated without any survivors. Two days later, a combined force consisting of Colonel Gibbon's column, along with Terry's headquarters
1st Minnesota Volunteer Cavalry Regiment 1st Minnesota Volunteer Cavalry Regiment The 1st Minnesota Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the "Mounted Rangers," was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was mustered in at St. Cloud, St. Peter, and Fort Snelling for one year's service between October and December 1862, and the men were mustered out between October and December 1863. The 1st Minnesota Cavalry served entirely in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory, guarding the frontier against the hostile Sioux Indians. The 1st Minnesota Cavalry lost 2 officers and 4 enlisted men killed in action or died of wounds