Chip Cochran, age 11, of Billings, Mt., for his question:

WHAT WAS CUSTER'S LAST STAND?

Although it is commonly known as Custer's Last Stand, the famous American military action fought on June 25, 1876 is more properly called the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 had led to an influx of white prospectors into Indian territory and to attacks on the prospectors by the Sioux, under chiefs Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Rain in the Face.

In 1876 the army planned a campaign against the hostile Indians, then centered in the southeastern Montana Territory. Custer's regiment of 655 men formed the advance guard of a force under Gen. Alfred Howe Terry.

On June 25, Custer's scouts located the Sioux on the Little Bighorn River. Unaware of the Indian strength, estimated to have been between 2,500 and 4,000 men, Custer disregarded arrangements to join Terry and prepared to attack at once.

Custer formed his troops into a frontal assault force of about 260 men under his personal command and two flanking columns. Cut off from the flanking columns and completely surrounded, Custer and his men fought desperately, but all were killed. Later Terry's troops relieved the remainder of the regiment