<P> Six unnamed Native American women and four unnamed children are known to have been killed at the beginning of the battle during Reno's charge . Among them were two wives and three children of the Hunkpapa Leader Pizi (Gall). </P> <P> The 7th Cavalry suffered 52 percent casualties: 16 officers and 242 troopers killed or died of wounds, 1 officer and 51 troopers wounded . Every soldier of the five companies with Custer was killed (except for some Crow scouts and several troopers that had left that column before the battle or as the battle was starting). Among the dead were Custer's brothers Boston and Thomas, his brother - in - law James Calhoun, and his nephew Henry Reed . </P> <P> In 1878, the army awarded 24 Medals of Honor to participants in the fight on the bluffs for bravery, most for risking their lives to carry water from the river up the hill to the wounded . Few on the non-Indian side questioned the conduct of the enlisted men, but many questioned the tactics, strategy and conduct of the officers . Indian accounts spoke of soldiers' panic - driven flight and suicide by those unwilling to fall captive to the Indians . While such stories were gathered by Thomas Bailey Marquis in a book in the 1930s, it was not published until 1976 because of the unpopularity of such assertions . Although soldiers may have believed captives would be tortured, Indians usually killed men outright and took as captive for adoption only young women and children . Indian accounts also noted the bravery of soldiers who fought to the death . </P> <Ul> <Li> <P> Red Horse pictographic of dead US cavalrymen </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Red Horse pictographic of dead US cavalrymen+ 2 Indian Government scouts (?) </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Red Horse pictographic of dead US cavalrymen </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Red Horse pictographic of dead US cavalrymen & dead cavalry horses </P> </Li> </Ul>

The painting on the left depicts the battle of little bighorn in 1876