Battle of the Little Bighorn river and were captured and almost killed by the Lakota who believed the hunters were scouts for the U.S. Army. Two Moon, a Northern Cheyenne leader, interceded to save their lives. The 7th Cavalry was accompanied by a number of scouts and interpreters: Native Americans United States Army, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, 7th United States Cavalry Regiment, Commanding. Estimates of Native American casualties have differed widely, from as few as 36 dead (from Native American listings of the dead by name) to as many as 300. Lakota chief Red Horse told Col. W. H. Wood in 1877 that the
Battle of the Little Bighorn the Little Bighorn averaged nearly a day, so his assessment appears to have been accurate. Custer planned "to live and travel like Indians; in this manner the command will be able to go wherever the Indians can", he wrote in his "Herald" dispatch. By contrast, each Gatling gun had to be hauled by four horses, and soldiers often had to drag the heavy guns by hand over obstacles. Each of the heavy, hand-cranked weapons could fire up to 350 rounds a minute, an impressive rate, but they were known to jam frequently. During the Black Hills Expedition two years earlier,