The Little Bighorn

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We chose a two day stopover in Garryowen, MT (population of 2) not for the night life but for the close proximity to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, more commonly referred to as Custer’s Last Stand. We spend a warm afternoon walking and driving the hills and valleys where the battles were fought and tracing the path of the battles by the markers where the bodies of the 7^th Cavalry soldiers and Indian Chiefs were found. We were privileged to hear an outstanding presentation by a true historian and Interpretative Ranger, Steve Adelson. He told the story of the battles and we learned about the true clash of two great military men, The Lakota Chief Sitting Bull and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. If you have ever been to the Civil War sites at Antietam or Gettysburg it is fascinating how these hallowed grounds where so many fought and died is eerily similar and the story of great warriors eerily familiar. Custer, the 7^th Cavalry Commander, was carrying out orders to move the Cheyenne and Lakota Indians back to the reservations and the great Indian Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were fighting to maintain their lands and their ancestral way of life. By treaty the government had ceded a large area of land, including the Black Hills, to the Indian tribes. When gold was discovered on those sacred lands thousands of gold seekers swarmed the hills in violation of the treaty and the Lakota and Cheyenne left their reservations to defend their land, beginning new raids on travelers and settlers. This could not be tolerated by a government that wanted the gold from the Black Hills and the tribes were ordered back to the reservations or they would be treated as hostiles “by the military force”. This setup the faithful meeting between approximately 7,000 Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho camped on the Little Bighorn River with 1500-2000 warriors and the 600 officers and men, including Major Reno and Capt. Benteen, led by Lt. Col. Custer on June 25 and 26, 1876. There are many good books (a signed copy of one which we now own, thank you Steve) written about the running battles describing who fought where in which canyon, along which rolling hill and around what bend in the Bighorn River so I will not even try to explain the battle in this post. I would only like to add my impression that this a terrible way for a great American military man and Civil War hero like George Armstrong Custer to be remembered. In the end this was a great victory for the Indian tribes but it would be their last as they split apart and scattered through the hills, some retreating all the way to Canada, only to eventually return to the reservations, losing their nomadic way of life along with their ancestral lands. What could be identified as George Custer’s remains were reinterred and buried at West Point, NY. It was a great stop for us as we learned the true story of Custer’s Last Stand and gained some respect for the Indian tribes that only wanted to keep what was rightfully theirs to begin with. From there we sadly left Montana and moved to Ellsworth AFB Fam Camp in Rapid City, SD where we again have the familiar sounds of colors in the morning, taps in the evening and the sounds of freedom throughout the day.

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