logo
episode-header-image
May 2024
1h 3m

452. Custer's Last Stand: The Battle of ...

Goalhanger
About this episode

“You and I are going home today, and by a trail that is strange to us both…”

The Battle of The Little Bighorn is one of the totemic moments of American frontier history. However, it is also mysterious, with the exact events of that blood-soaked day difficult to trace. On the 22nd of June, George Custer marched out with vague orders to drive the vast gathering of the Lakota and their allies, under the leadership of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, towards General Terry’s force, advancing from the South. Custer, keen as ever for a charge, was hoping to score a considerable defeat over the Native Americans in time for the 4th of July centenary. Then, on the evening of the 24th of June, Crow scouts reported that the Lakota’s trail had been found, and Custer launched into action. Marching his men through the night, they arrived at the encampment the following morning, shocked to discover a camp of thousands. At 3pm, the first force attacked, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in all its horror and gore, had begun…


Join Dominic and Tom they explore one of America’s most mythologised battles, separating fact from fiction, as they build up to George Custer’s last stand.




EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!



*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*


Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!



Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com



Twitter:

@TheRestHistory

@holland_tom

@dcsandbrook



Producer: Theo Young-Smith

Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett

Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Yesterday
594. The First World War: The Invasion of Belgium (Part 1)
Following the declaration of war in 1914, how did the outbreak of the First World War unfold? What were the earliest military engagements of this terrible, totemic event? Who were its key political players and how did they respond? What was the attitude to the war in Germany? Wer ... Show More
1 h
Aug 20
593. The Fight of the Century
Why did two men - John Heenan and and Tom Sayers - illegally meet in a field in Hampshire, in 1860, to brutally fight one another, captivating Britain in the process? What can the fight tell us about the nature of Britishness in the 19th century? Was this the birth of boxing? Who ... Show More
57m 19s
Aug 17
592. Mad Victorian Sport
How and when was football invented, and what are the origins of football clubs? What is the connection between public hangings, highwaymen, and early sporting events? Which is the most historically important sporting ground in the world? When was the first cricket test match play ... Show More
56m 35s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2023
The Hundred Years War
For the last several decades, Jonathan, Lord Sumption - former senior judge and medieval historian - has been crafting a monumental, five-volume history of the Hundred Years War, widely considered to be the definitive account of the conflict. The final volume, titled Triumph and ... Show More
39m 43s
Aug 2022
Welcome to American History Hit
Join Don Wildman twice a week for your hit of American history, as he explores the past to help us understand the United States of today. We’ll hear how codebreakers uncovered secret Japanese plans for the Battle of Midway, visit Chief Powhatan as he prepares for war with the Bri ... Show More
3m 12s
Apr 2024
The Battle of El-Alamein Explained
Fought in the second half of 1942, the Battles of El Alamein were a series of climactic confrontations in Egypt between British Imperial and Commonwealth forces and a combined German and Italian army. Intended as a last-ditch attempt by the British to halt Axis gains in North Afr ... Show More
41m 58s
Jul 2024
164. How the West was Won: The Truth Behind the Westerns
A whole genre of movies is based on a relatively short period of nineteenth-century American history. But what is the real story behind battles between Native Americans and white settlers during westward expansion? In the aftermath of the Mexican-American War, settlers flooded to ... Show More
49m 56s
Jul 2016
Mitchell Yockelson, “Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in WWI” (NAL Caliber, 2016)
In Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I (NAL Caliber, 2016), National Archives historian and forensic archivist Mitchell Yockelson reappraises the American Expeditionary Force’s performance under the command of General Joh ... Show More
58m 22s
Apr 2023
How Horses Conquered America (Twice)
Horses have been a bulwark of American culture and society for centuries. Think of cowboys in the Mid-West or Native Americans riding bareback on the Great Plains. But new, ground-breaking archeological evidence has emerged to suggest horses were present in the Americas more than ... Show More
25m 18s
Jun 2024
The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan
With a sinister hierarchy of "grand wizards" and "dragons," hooded Klansmen concealed their identities as they unleashed a reign of terror on Black Americans and other minorities across America for almost a century. Dan is joined by Professor Kristofer Allerfeldt from the Univers ... Show More
37m 59s
Jun 2024
[2/2] Spartacus, le gladiateur rebelle - Au Cœur de l’Histoire Antique
Retrouvez les destins exceptionnels qui ont fait l’Antiquité dans le nouveau livre de Virginie Girod, Au Cœur de l’Histoire Antique, paru aux éditions Perrin. Disponible dès maintenant en librairie, avec deux récits inédits !Découvrez la suite du récit sur l’Antiquité romaine con ... Show More
14m 55s
Feb 2017
David Curtis Skaggs, “William Henry Harrison and the Conquest of the Ohio Country: Frontier Fighting in the War of 1812” (JHU Press, 2014)
Though best remembered today for his brief tenure as the ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison’s most significant contribution to American history was his service as a general in the War of 1812. In William Henry Harrison and the Conquest of the Ohio Countr ... Show More
57m 31s
Nov 2022
54 History of Everything: The Last Stand of The Tin Can Sailors
The nonfiction book The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour is the first full narrative account of the Battle off Samar, which the book's author, James D. Hornfischer, calls the greatest upset in the history of na ... Show More
1h 13m