One of the most gruesome scenes after the Battle of Little Bighorn came when U.S. soldiers returned to the battlefield days later to recover the dead. Under the blazing Montana sun, the remains of Custer’s 7th Cavalry lay scattered across the hills — stripped, mutilated, and blackened by the heat. Many Lakota and Cheyenne warriors had carried out ritual mutilations on fallen soldiers — a common Plains custom meant to prevent the enemy’s spirit from fighting in the afterlife. Custer’s body was fo