While there is some debate regarding The Battle of the Greasy Grass, it was definitely an infamous event that caused indigenous peoples to be seen as primitive “obstacles” to progress rather than as individuals. Negative feelings towards Native Americans and a positive view of Custer were the results, and this pressured White Americans to want the Native Americans sent to reservations so they couldn’t resist as much as possible. As explained by Thomas Powers to the Smithsonian magazine in 2010, the Native Americans have a vastly different view of how the events unfolded, including how they were the battle’s true victors. As Powers says in his book, the Natives who were there weren’t planning for a fight, and it was Custer and his men who attacked them. There were also Native Americans working for the soldiers who were intruding on their land, and there were small times of quiet between battles, with the tension strong They were going about their daily lives when some women noticed them coming over the river, and provided a warning. While both had horses, the Natives had advanced weaponry they used to shoot the men on horses and sought refuge in areas such as Calhoun Hill. Naturally, this was not a display of savagery, but instead, a way to trick the white men and show they were serious about getting the invaders off of their land. The Natives lost many relatives, but because of the suppression and ignorance of native accounts of the battle , it became tradition to paint Custer as a hero. Self-defensive actions were thus unjustly rewarded with bias and racism, and various history textbooks talk about Custer as a hero, leaving out the Native perspective altogether. By understanding that there were survivors, even if they were Natives, and that they were going on with their daily lives as always when the Battle began, it becomes clear that the Natives definitely had a reason for why they changed how they were resisting and allowed themselves to be sent to these reservations. It wasn’t necessarily a form of surrender, or because they had realized they were cowards. Instead, it was the fear that a disastrous event could happen again while they were just trying to get along in their society and rip apart families again, with no warning. This may have made the suppression of their ideas and beliefs easier and led to more of the prejudiced perspective because only one side was heard, but it’s great that this is now changing. Nonetheless, white Americans likely felt fear too, because they realized just how equally powerful the Natives were. This event is similar to events such as the American Revolutionary War from about a hundred years earlier, where the White Americans won against the British because of their powerful skills being underestimated, as well as the modern-day Russia and Ukraine War, which also is not happening in the way Russia expects. While both did not end the same as this, with Ukraine still resisting and having its own land, and the Americans successfully winning the country they were already calling home, it still shows a pivotal point that just because a country or people begin a battle, it does not mean they are going to win. In contrast, the Natives did not really have their own land anymore and were forced to go to land that could be nowhere near their home, but they were still the winners of the battle and the White Americans were too ashamed to reveal the truth. By getting alternative perspectives and knowing what really happened in these historic events, we can see the unpredictability of battle, especially when the opponents consider their opponents as uncivilized and dumb, when they are really anything but.