A Clash of Cultures: Custer and the Great Sioux War of 1875-1876

Monday, 17 June 2013.  Well, we're currently getting ready to depart our Yellowstone's Edge campground tomorrow morning.  We'll have been here for five nights/four days and have thoroughly enjoyed not only Yellowstone Park but the whole Paradise Valley area.  Absolutely stunning landscape!  But more on that later -- along with tons of pics -- but first, a short side-trip to the Little Bighorn National Battlefield (LBNB) delayed us even getting to the Yellowstone area for a day. Before leaving Terry, MT, I noticed on our AAA travel maps that the battlefield was just a short detour from our route to Yellowstone.  Lynette got on the phone, made us a quick reservation at the 7th Ranch RV Camp near Garryowen, MT, while also pushing our reservations at Yellowstone's Edge back one day.  We were good to go.

I've always wanted to visit this battleground -- just something about it has always excited me.  As a history major in college, I was always fascinated by the "Why" of this whole episode in American history.  Most of you reading this blog entry are probably familiar with the story of Custer and the 7th Cavalry and their massacre in the Valley of the Little Bighorn River at the hands of several different Indian tribes.  But there's more to the story.  The Battle of the Little Bighorn continues to fascinate people around the world.  For most, it has come to illustrate a part of what Americans know as their western heritage.  Heroism and suffering, brashness and humiliation, victory and defeat, triumph and tragedy -- there are some of the things many people conjure up when thinking about the American west. The LBNB memorializes the tragic events surrounding one of the Native American Indians' last armed efforts to preserve their ancestral way of life.  In the end, on two hot days in June 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lt Col George Armstrong Custer and attached personnel of the US Army (including civilians and Native American scouts for the Army) died fighting a couple thousand Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors.  While the Indians may have won the battle, they lost the war against the US Army's efforts to end their nomadic way of life.  The American Indians of the Great Plains would soon be no more.

I won't go into any detail in this blog concerning the battle, or should I say "battles," since there were several skirmishes within the five-mile long battlefield.  There are many books that go into great detail on the battle, the events leading up to the battle, the after-effects, and even role-playing strategies that depict different outcomes.  If you ever get the chance to visit you should do so.  The exit for the LBNB is off I-94, 50 miles east of Billings; the battlefield is 45 miles south on SR 47 via Hardin and I-90.  Believe it might provide some new perspective on not only this particular battle but the whole campaignthat the US Army waged against the Native American people.  I came away with a sort of spiritual awareness coupled with a sadness that this didn't have to happen. Or given in number of historical facts -- like gold being discovered in the Black Hill -- maybe it was an inevitable fate for America's Native population.

Here Fell Custer by Eric von Schmidt is considered by many historians to be the most accurate portrayal of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. 

The entire length of the battlefield area is littered with white grave markers, indicating where a soldier fell.  At Last Stand Hill, which is where Custer and the last 41 of his men met their fate, there are numerous grave markers, including one for Custer.  According to the most accurate accounts, this is approximately where he fell dead.  After the battle, Indian families removed their dead (estimated at 60-100) from the battlefield.  Two days after the battle, Custer and his command were hastily buried in shallow graves at or near where they fell.  In 1877, the remains of 11 officers and two civilians were removed to eastern cemeteries.  Custer's remains were reinterred at West Point.  In 1881 the remains of the rest of the command were buried in a mass grave around the Last Stand Hill Memorial (photo below) that bears the names of the soldiers, civilians, and Army Indian scouts killed in the battle.  In 1890 the US Army erected 249 white headstone markers showing where Custer's men had fallen. In 1999 the National Park Service (NPS)  began erecting red granite headstones at known Cheyenne and Lakota warrior casualty sites throughout the battlefield area. The NPS felt that erecting these markers gave an important, balanced historical reference and perspective of the fierce fighting that took place on those two hot June days in 1876.

Last Stand Hill Memorial

View of the Last Stand Hill Memorial as you walk up the hill.

Custer's marker along with others on Last Stand Hill

More markers at Last Stand Hill

Close-up of one of the grave markers

Looking back at the NPS interpretive center with the National Cemetery in the background.

Me posing at the Last Stand Hill Memorial

Grave markers for US Army Indian scouts

These two marker were off by themselves.  Maybe the troopers were killed trying to escape the battlefield.  These white markers can be seen all over the five-mile long battle area.

More grave markers with a herd of horses in the background.

                           

                           

Examples of the red granite markers erected for fallen Indian warriors.

In December 1991, President George Bush signed legislation to change the battlefield’s name from “Custer” to “Little Bighorn” Battlefield National Monument and to create the Indian Memorial “Peace Through Unity”.  Members of Indian tribes involved in the battle, historians, artists, and landscape architects oversaw the process.   Visitors inside the memorial see a view of the 7^th Cavalry memorial at Last Stand Hill through a “spirit gate” window. The spirit gate welcomes the 7^th Cavalry dead symbolically into the memorial’s circle. For many tribes, a circle is sacred, and it remains open for ceremonial events. The surrounding walls carry the names of those who fell here as well as the words of some who fought in the battle.

 A view of the circular Indian Memorial "Peace Through Unity"

Close-up view of the wrought iron sculpture that sits inside the Indian Memorial.  It is dedicated to the fallen Indian warriors at the Little Bighorn.

Memorial to the Arikara scouts for the US Army who were killed during the battle.

Native American art on display at the Indian Memorial depicting the fighting at Little Bighorn

Tribute to fallen warriors at the Indian Memorial.

More Native American art on display at the Indian Memorial

And more Indian art depicting the fierce fighting at the Little Bighorn

Lakota art on display at the Indian Memorial

Here's a couple pics of the Little Bighorn River as seen from the ridge and cliff areas where much of the fierce fighting occurred. 

The red building in the background is a now-deserted tourist attraction called Ft. Custer

Another view of the Little Bighorn River (bottom edge of photo) with I-90 in the background disappearing over the horizon.

Spotted these two antelope alongside the road that takes you throughout the battlefield area.

Another view of the numerous horses we saw along the battlefield tour route.

And lest you forget you're actually "in the wild," the NPS folks posted these signs throughout the entire battlefield area -- just a gentle reminder!