Chapter Chronology

Quiz for Visualizing History: “Custer’s Last Stand”

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question

1. Although there are many differences in the way Amos Bad Heart Bull’s pictograph and the lithograph by a white artist depict the Battle of Little Big Horn, both of these illustrations

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. The Battle of Little Big Horn took place in 1876, yet both the lithograph and pictograph were created years later. The lithograph was made by a white artist in 1889, and Amos Bad Heart Bull’s pictograph was created from recollections of the artist’s elders who had fought in the Battle—unlike Amos Bad Heart Bull, who was just a child at the time. Both images thus share in common a temporal distance from the action.
Incorrect. The answer is b. The Battle of Little Big Horn took place in 1876, yet both the lithograph and pictograph were created years later. The lithograph was made by a white artist in 1889, and Amos Bad Heart Bull’s pictograph was created from recollections of the artist’s elders who had fought in the Battle—unlike Amos Bad Heart Bull, who was just a child at the time. Both images thus share in common a temporal distance from the action.

Question

2. How does the lithograph's depiction of the use of guns at the Battle of Little Big Horn differ from Amos Bad Heart Bull’s pictograph?

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. A close examination of the lithograph reveals that virtually every single person firing a gun is white; there is one Indian man firing a gun (on the far-left edge of the image) and one Indian man on the ground holding a gun in his hand (in the bottom-right corner). This depiction contrasts sharply with the way guns are depicted in the pictograph, in which the only people who are firing guns are Indians. This stark difference illustrates how a single event can be interpreted very differently.
Incorrect. The answer is c. A close examination of the lithograph reveals that virtually every single person firing a gun is white; there is one Indian man firing a gun (on the far-left edge of the image) and one Indian man on the ground holding a gun in his hand (in the bottom-right corner). This depiction contrasts sharply with the way guns are depicted in the pictograph, in which the only people who are firing guns are Indians. This stark difference illustrates how a single event can be interpreted very differently.

Question

3. The white soldier who was separated from Custer’s group during the Battle of Little Big Horn thought he heard the sound of victory dances coming from the Lakota camp, but a different source—a Cheyenne warrior—reported that what the man actually heard was

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. Different interpretations of the Battle of Little Big Horn began with the battle itself. For example, what a white soldier thought was the sound of Indian victory dances was actually, according to a Cheyenne warrior, the sound of songs to mourn the men who had been killed in battle. This incident illustrates how one event could be interpreted very differently by white and Indian observers.
Incorrect. The answer is d. Different interpretations of the Battle of Little Big Horn began with the battle itself. For example, what a white soldier thought was the sound of Indian victory dances was actually, according to a Cheyenne warrior, the sound of songs to mourn the men who had been killed in battle. This incident illustrates how one event could be interpreted very differently by white and Indian observers.

Question

4. Why did the lithograph artist show that Custer’s troops were dramatically outnumbered while Amos Bad Heart Bull suggested that the Indians were outnumbered?

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B.
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D.
Correct. The answer is c. By depicting the Indian warriors as grossly outnumbered and yet still handily defeating the American soldiers, Amos Bad Heart Bull suggested that the Indians who fought at the Battle of Little Big Horn were extraordinarily capable warriors. Amos Bad Heart Bull’s pictograph may not be as accurate in this respect as the lithograph, as the essay suggests, but its depiction is no less powerful in shaping how a viewer would think about the battle.
Incorrect. The answer is c. By depicting the Indian warriors as grossly outnumbered and yet still handily defeating the American soldiers, Amos Bad Heart Bull suggested that the Indians who fought at the Battle of Little Big Horn were extraordinarily capable warriors. Amos Bad Heart Bull’s pictograph may not be as accurate in this respect as the lithograph, as the essay suggests, but its depiction is no less powerful in shaping how a viewer would think about the battle.

Question

5. This essay supports which of the following historical arguments?

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. These two records of a single historical event have many differences, and a viewer who saw just one of them would get a very different impression of the war than if she viewed the other one. These pieces of art demonstrate an important fact of historical research: the way an event is remembered or recorded can vary drastically from person to person.
Incorrect. The answer is a. These two records of a single historical event have many differences, and a viewer who saw just one of them would get a very different impression of the war than if she viewed the other one. These pieces of art demonstrate an important fact of historical research: the way an event is remembered or recorded can vary drastically from person to person.