Little Big Horn

We left Glacier Park on June 4th We were headed towards Hill City, South Dakota with some stops along the way, as it was a rather long trek, but we were able to fit in some neat stops. On the way down the mountain road we had to stop several times for the horses and their baby colts as one of the colts kept running beside the RV. In addition, a little further on their were a bunch of cows and their calves standing in the middle of the road with Moma daring us to get anywhere near her babies!! So we just sat and waited till they decided it was time to move on and let us by! We spent the night in Big Timber, MT headed for Devil's Tower via a short stop at Little Big Horn, the site of Custer's "Last Stand".

The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the Northern Plains Indians to preserve their ancestral way of life. Although the Indians won that battle they subsequently lost the war against the military’s efforts to end their independent, nomadic way of life. In this valley in June of 1876 more than 260 soldiers and attached personnel were killed by several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne Indians. Several tombstones are placed where the individual fell during the battle, be him Indian or 7th Cavalry. It is quite tranquil and moving to stand on this hill overlooking miles of valley and river seeing what they must have seen. It is like a trip through time. You learn a lot of history here about what really happened from the military, the Indians and the European versions of what brought all this about. There are parts of all of this history that you can see that in some ways history is repeating itself. For instance the Buffalo/Bison; no one ever thought that thousands upon thousands of these noble creatures would become almost extinct. Historically it's been claimed that the Indians killed them for food, shelter, clothing, etc and we killed them for profit and greed. In reading diaries of the time and more extensively on the matter, one can see that there was a plenty of waste on both sides but the bottom line is the Anglos definitely destroyed a way of life and way too many buffalo herds were decimated. And then there was the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in the heart of the new Indian reservation and of course the treaty was violated in favor of the lust for fortunes. The country was in the midst of a major depression due to the over-extension (and greed) of the banks in rail, causing many to be unemployed and in the Army who had no other potential employment...need I go on? Anyway, on the grounds is also the Custer National Cemetery which reminds one of Arlington National Cemetery with the rows and rows of white tombstones. Buried here are those known and unknown veterans of our nation’s wars from this battle up to the Vietnam War to include women and children from isolated frontier posts, Indians, scouts, and Medal of Honor recipients.

We were both so moved by all of this and came away with a deeper understanding of this historic battle and campaign as well as a look into all of the lives of those who played an important part in the history of the centuries-long conflict that began with the arrival of the first Europeans in North America. Actually prompted us to read a couple of books on the topic... What more can you say about a place that inspires you to read up on the events leading up to it? Only that it was a good day and that we were glad we'd stopped on our way to Devil's Tower!