When Benton was a young boy living in Neosho, Missouri, he became fascinated with the poster Anheusher-Busch published of Custer’s last battle.  In 1943, two years after he quit teaching at the Kansas City Art Institute, Benton produced this large oil painting based on the subject that attracted him during his childhood.  The principles Benton taught his painting students are clearly at work here: the strongly modeled figures are obviously based on a preliminary clay model study, and each form in the composition is paired with a mirror-opposite form to balance it.  Notice also that the cloud is in the shape of a buffalo to symbolize a major area of conflict during this time.