Reva, South Dakota Reva, South Dakota Reva is an unincorporated community in Harding County, South Dakota, United States. Although not tracked by the Census Bureau, Reva has been assigned the ZIP code of 57651. The community has the name of Reva Bonniwell, the daughter of a first settler. The Battle of Slim Buttes occurred here on September 9–10, 1876, in the Great Sioux Reservation between the United States Army and Miniconjou Sioux during the Great Sioux War of 1876. It marked the first significant victory for the Army since the stunning defeat of General George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in
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,