Bighorn Deceit

Starting in 1873, Grant looks for ways to get the Indians to break treaty so the country can take the Black Hills. The events that lead to the Little Bighorn, including Custer’s actions, are followed through the eyes of a private. In a true East V. West scenario, Grant decides only a defeat will unite the country again. Grant did not talk about the Little Bighorn in his autobiography, and blamed Custer for his death. In this movie, I adapt a German soldier’s story as the fictional element, and dialog is created to reflect what was happening at the time. Otherwise the events in this movie are completely true and verifiable. Henry, the German soldier who was my grandfather’s great-uncle, is a real element that is completely mine. He tells how the army never tried hard to catch the Indians, in part because they don’t break the treaty; they are “good people.” His army movements form a pivotal part of the plot that Grant conjures to get his army, or miners, attacked. Grant and his generals feel that the Sioux and other tribes will not be able to honor the Fort Laramie treaty -- if they attack any white settlers, they will lose the Black Hills forever. The Indians know this, and no verifiable attack can be found. So Grant offers to buy the Black Hills, but at such a low price the Indians just laugh him off. Henry, in the meantime, has made friends with Custer. Custer shows an affinity for peaceful Indians, and takes Henry along in his exploration of the Black Hills in 1874, looking for gold. The country is going through a financial crisis, forming the main reason for Grant’s growing impatience. When the Indians turn down Grant’s final offer in late 1875, Grant tells the generals they will pull out of the Black Hills and no longer protect the miners who are trespassing there. Let them kill just one white, and we’ll have our war. When that doesn’t work, Grant makes a demand. All Indians leave the area by the end of January 1876 or be deemed hostile and subject to attack. But the agency Indians just laugh at him. Henry loses the friendship he’d developed with a Cheyenne girl when they realize the army wants war. From here, we see the steady collapse of relations between Grant, the Indians, and Custer, who buys into the belief that there will only be about 500 Indians who would fight. Custer did not expect to be surrounded at the Little Bighorn, and makes a last ditch play for women and children to hold as hostage, sealing his doom. The story is bookended by Henry writing in his journal about what really happened there, and at the end, tossing his journal into the fire.