Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

In a prelude to the battle of the Little Big Horn, George Armstrong Custer attacked a Cheyenne village on the Washita River in Oklahoma on the bitter cold morning of November 27, 1868. Cheyenne chief Black Kettle, who had survived the Sand Creek Massacre only four years before, died with many of his tribe in the attack. The battle proved to be a model for both Custer's behavior and the U.S. Army's relationship with Plains people for years to come.