September 16, 2021

LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT

I-90 Frontage Rd, Crow Agency, MT 59022

“Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument preserves the site of the June 25 and 26, 1876, Battle of the Little Bighorn, near Crow Agency, Montana, in the United States.” - Wikipedia

The visit to the Little Bighorn Battlefield has probably made me more reflective than any other site I’ve visited so far. It seems that I have been encountering Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer quite often in my travels, starting with his house at Fort Abraham Lincoln in Mandan, ND, a story about how he and his troops had camped near what is now Theodore Roosevelt National Park while searching for the Sioux Indians. In Custer, SD, I learned about his expedition into the Black Hills and the theories about why he was really there. And today, near the Little Bighorn River, I was at the place he lost his life. It was a cold (below 70°), mostly cloudy morning, as I listened to a park ranger’s presentation explaining the events surrounding the June 25, 1876, battle. I felt the ranger’s presentation did a good job of trying to be unbiased in telling the story, no one was the good guy or the bad guy, though I did sense the ranger felt the U.S. government under the direction of President Grant, acted callously in ordering Custer’s 7th Calvary to round up the “rogue” Indian tribes and force them onto a reservation. After explaining all of the strategies and orders given by Custer, in the end the ranger said the battle was simply a numbers game…Custer had about 270 troops to go up against 1000-1500 warriors. The presentation ended with the ranger telling us the battle didn’t really change anything for the U.S. government, but it had a significant impact on the Native Americans, because after the battle the Nataive American elders knew their lives would never be the same because they would soon be facing retaliation for what happened at Little Bighorn, and they were right.

White and red markers are scattered all around the battlefield memorial. The white markers indicate where a soldier died, red markers indicate where warriors died. The soldiers were originally buried where they died, however, some of the graves started wearing away, so years later the remains of the soldiers were buried together and a monument was erected above the grave. The remains of generals were relocated to cemeteries around the country, Custer is buried at West Point. The warriors were given ceremonial burials by their family members.

Also a part of the battlefield monument is Custer National Cemetery, where approximately 5000 veterans and their dependents from the Spanish American War, World War I and II, the Korean War, adn the Vietnam conflict are buried. The cemetery is officially closed to new interments.