Custer's Last Stand

After breakfast at camp, we left for the two-hour drive to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.  It was a nice day for a drive even though the sky was hazy with smoke.  The temperatures didn't seem as high as predicted and we were comfortable.    We arrived at the monument a little after 10.  We had been here before with the kids many, many years ago.  We found many changes had been made.

The first and biggest change was the name.  When we were here, it was called Custer Battlefield National Monument.  In 1991 the name was changed to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.  The park is on the Crow Indian Reservation and now the tribe has some control over the monument.   For a fee, the tribe provides an hourly bus tour of the battlefield.  All who work at the bus concession are Crow Indians.  This was another change.  That tour was not available the last time we were here.   We did not take the bus; instead, we opted to drive the five-mile loop on our own, stopping at designated points through the park.

This hill is the site of "Custer's Last Stand."    Here Custer and 41 of his men shot their horses for breastworks and made a last stand.  Custer's brother, Tom, was among those killed here.   

The marker in black is Custer's marker.

There is Custer National Cemetery located on the grounds of the park.   A few soldiers from the 7th Calvary whose remains were found in later years are buried here.  As old military forts throughout Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas were closed, the remains of those in their cemeteries were moved to Custer National Cemetery.   Major Reno who led one of the battalions against the Indians is buried here.  There is also unknown soldiers from the battle buried here.  

The remains of the horses that were killed during the battle, were recovered and buried near this marker.

Another change was the addition of markers for some of the Indians who died in the battle.  There are a few red markers scattered across the field of battle.  The Calvary lost approximately 300 men and the Indians between 60 to 100 men,

Also new is an Indian Memorial.

In 1948 there was a gathering of the living warriors of the battle.  Pictures of  nine were taken and others were listed below.

Most of the white markers scattered across the rolling hills of the battlefield were marked as being the spot where a soldier of the Seventh Calvary fell in battle.

Two more Indian markers.

In the middle of this picture is the Little Big Horn River and the Indians were encamped on the other side when they were engaged in battle by Major Reno and his men.  This engagement results in the Battle of the Little Big Horn and death of General George Armstrong Custer.

The field of battle through the haze of smoke.
Although there had been some changes from the previous visit, the story of the battle remained the same.  Although in 1983, there was a grass fire that consumed the entire battlefield.  When the fire was finally put out, historians, archaeologists and government rangers step by step walked over the entire battlefield.  Many artifacts of the battle and a few skeletal remains were found that had been lost as the land recovered from the battle and new ideas as to how the battle progressed was formulated.  This new information did not change the fact that the Seventh Calvary suffered a great loss of life and the Indians fought in their last victorious battle.  Not too many years later, most of the Indians had been resettled to reservations.

We spent nearly three hours at the Monument.  When we left there  we drove back to Red Lodge for a late lunch/early supper.  We ate at the Red Lodge Cafe.  The dancing Indians in lighter red are in neon and actually dance across the bottom of the teepee.  Carol had grilled tilipia and I had the always delicious Reuben sandwich.  This looked like an interesting town so we plan to come back Sunday and walk the streets.  Tomorrow we will drive the Bear Tooth Highway to Yellowstone.