The Most Famous Pictures of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

 

The first widely distributed artistic rendition of the Battle of the Little Bighorn was called “The Battle on the Little Big Horn River:  The death struggle of General Custer.”  Using a wood engraving based on a drawing by W.M. Cary, The Daily Graphic: an Illustrated Evening Newspaper, published in New York, was able to portray the scene of battle as early as July 19, 1876. 

The newspaper, which was the first in America to publish daily illustrations, may have been the first in print, but the depiction was not accurate.  Custer is seen standing on a boulder, waving a saber, in a double breasted coat with a sash, which made him look more like a desperado or a pirate than a soldier.

Many regard Edgar S. Paxon’s “Custer’s Last Stand” as the best pictorial representation of the battle.  Arriving in Montana in 1877, the artist spent twenty years researching, and eight years painting the monumental work, interviewing nearly one hundred men on both sides including the Sioux chief Gall.

From these interviews Paxson, in his effort to achieve historical accuracy, made detailed journals about the equipment, attire, and physical location of each man on the battlefield.

The painting now resides at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming.

In 1884 the artists Cassilly Adams completed a painting he named “Custer’s Last Fight.”  The painting was sold to John Ferber the owner of a saloon in St. Louis, Missouri, where the picture was prominently displayed.  The brewer Adolphus Busch acquired the painting and the saloon in 1892 when Ferber went broke.

Busch commissioned Otto F. Becker, to produce lithographs based on the painting to be used as advertising.  The first advertising prints appeared in 1896 with a run of fifteen thousand prints.  There have been eighteen subsequent editions with over one million copies having been produced. The original Adams painting was destroyed by fire on June 13, 1946.

This painting has been criticized for having many historical inaccuracies, including what appears to be a Zulu warrior rushing at Custer.

The renowned artist of the American Old West, Charles M. Russell produced the lithograph “The Custer Fight” in 1903 depicting the battle from the view of the Native American combatants.

"The Battle of Little Bighorn" was painted by Kicking Bear in 1898 at the request of the western  artist Frederick Remington.   Kicking Bear fought at the Little Bighorn.  His drawing is a significant view of the battle as seen by Native Americans.

Custer’s Last Stand Re-examined