The Battle of the Little Bighorn was fought among the ridges, steep cliffs, and ravines of the Little Bighorn River in south-central Montana on the 25th and June 26, 1876. The tribes were the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, fighting in the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment. In 1868, many Lakota leaders agreed to a treaty creating a large reservation in the western half of what is now South Dakota. . Lakota leaders such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse rejected the reservation system. Traveling bands who did not want to abandon their nomadic ways and hunting grounds did not honor this treaty and moved to areas outside the reservation, which brought them into contact with settlers and enemy tribes outside the limits of the treaty. Tension between the United States and the Lakota conflict intensified in 1874, when Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was ordered to make an exploration of the Black Hills within the boundaries of the Great Sioux Reservation. This exploration was to locate future military post sites, natural resources and map the area. Geologists discovered gold deposits at this time and the news caused an invasion of miners and contractors into the Black Hills, in direct violation of the 1868 treaty. The United States negotiated with the Lakota a price of purchase for Black Hill, but were rejected. In the winter of 1875, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs issued an ultimatum requiring all Sioux to report to a reservation by January 31, 1876. This ultimatum was ignored by the tribes and at that time it was handed over to the military. The military believed that the Indians would flee to the reservations and that the few Indians they encountered would be quickly taken care of by a superior force....... middle of paper ...... "hostile" from various tribes surrendered and the Black Hill was taken by the U.S. government without any compensation to the tribes. Indians would be forced to live on reservations, once able to support themselves, but were now dependent on the government. The long-term effects were government-fueled hatred of Indians. The key to the victory of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse was caused by the failure of the army. Orders were not obeyed, during an investigation into the distortions of the battle and the untruths told by Reno and Benteen about the Battle of Little Bighorn are so numerous and so obvious that almost all they say said becomes suspicious. Custer's mistake was to divide his forces in the face of a numerically superior Indian force. The reason was to prevent the Indians from fleeing; This couldn't have been further from the truth.