Why the Crow allied with Custer

 

The Crow tribe allied with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the U.S. Army during the 1876 Great Sioux War primarily because of long-standing intertribal warfare with their traditional enemies: the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho.

For decades, these powerful groups had raided Crow lands, stolen horses, and pushed into prime buffalo hunting territories in the Powder River country and Bighorn region—territories guaranteed to the Crow by the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. The Lakota expansion threatened the Crow's survival and way of life, creating deep enmity.

Crow leaders, including visionary chief Plenty Coups, saw alliance with the United States as a strategic way to counter this existential threat, gain military protection, and preserve their territory against stronger rivals. The Crow were generally at peace with Americans and viewed the U.S. Army as a lesser danger compared to ongoing Sioux and Cheyenne incursions.

Traditional Crow warriors exemplified the fierce independence and martial culture that drove their decision to fight alongside the Army:

By siding with Custer, the Crow aimed to expel the Sioux from their reservation lands. After the broader defeat of the Lakota, Crow chief Plenty Coups noted his people could finally sleep without fear of raids—a direct outcome of this pragmatic alliance in a complex era of survival.

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