Blogs from Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana, United States, North America

We've begun our long return trip to Des Moines, and we're continuing our sight-seeing on the way. Our first stop after leaving Helena is the Little Bighorn Battlefield. It's a little confusing where to begin at this National Monument, and so, if you have the time, I'd recommend doing one of the tours led by someone from the Apsaalooke (Crow) nation. It was hot and sunny when we arrived, so we skipped the hour long tour because we didn't think the kids would handle it too well. We started out from the visitor's center and went up to Last Stand Hill, where the battle ended. From there, we worked backward. So, learn from my mistake! Instead of hoofing it from the Visitor's Center, drive to the other end of the historic site, at the Reno-Benteen Battlefield. ... read more

"It was a terrible battle...a hard battle because both sides were brave warriors." (Red Feather, Lakota) The first time I went to The Battle of Little Bighorn (sometime in the 1980's), it was called "Custer's Last Stand." However, in 1991, Congress authorized the name of the area and National Monument to be changed from Custer Battlefield to Little Bighorn National Monument, signed into law by former President George W. Bush. (Public Law 102-201: "The public interest will best be served by establishing a memorial...to honor and recognize the Indians who fought to preserve their land and culture.") An Indian Memorial was also designed to honor the Native American participation in Battle (before there was just the Memorial for the 7th Cavalry soldiers.) The description of the Indian Memorial in the National Park pamphlet is better than ... read more

Thank goodness we were able to sleep late this morning and no one came knockin' on the door to kick us out. That drive last night was exhausting and we were so tired and the extra sleep this morning was great. We eventually got out of bed and began our daily routine. Soon we were ready to leave the rest area in Crown Springs, Montana and head over to the Chico Hot Springs in a small town called Pray. On the drive over to Pray, Tim spotted a little coffee drive-thru so we pulled in to get him a cup of joe. As we were walking over to Poppy's Coffee Barn we spotted a place called the Old Saloon and thought we would check it out. The nice lady at Poppy's told us how incredible the ... read more

Day 7. Sunday September 6, 2009 Well, here we are in Hardin, yet. This is our last day of avoiding the holiday weekend traffic, which didn’t really materialize. Yesterday afternoon, two big rigs from Texas pulled in with a show of dust and Midland accent. They weren’t the type to cook out doors like we do. So they went into town for supper while we enjoyed grillin’ fare. Yesterday, we went to see the Little Bighorn Battlefield which is about fifteen miles from our campground. It serves as a National Monument and a National cemetery. There is a little bit of everbody buried there. The story of the Battlefield serves as a good reminder of the difficulty native North Americans had with illegal immigrants encroaching on tribal lands. Back in 1868, the Fort Laramie treaty designated ... read more

Not much to say today. Spent most of it driving across Montana back towards Wyoming. Went via cowboy town of Billings and ended up at Little Big Horn. Saw where those nasty redskins massacred those poor cavalry boys and General Custer. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and the gang picked them off over two days, until they got Custer at his last stand on top of the hill where the monument is. Still chilly and snow about the place. It is a pain really, all nuisance value as there isn’t enough to ski in or hire a snowmobile, which are for hire everywhere. ... read more