Battle of Little Bighorn, Westward Ho Part 7

We left South Dakota with the sun at our backs and drove across the southern Montana prairie under the occasional but watchful eyes of antelope and deer. Rt 212 west was our "trail ride" for the day. The road switched back & forth between four lane highway and simple two lane country road. We stopped for lunch on a country road stretch in a town who's name I can't remember but if you blinked you'd have missed it. We went into a roadside grocery store where they had a country deli. We loaded up for an in car picnic with homemade sandwiches, chips, soda, water and fried chicken. The gas station across the street pulled quadruple duty as a country craft shop, mini-mart, high school booster store and oh yeah, a gas station. I don't know who used the grocery store and gas station because there was literally no town here and nothing around for miles. In talking to people though you realize distance is measured differently out here. Driving 20-30 miles to get to school or a social event is a common occurrence. Homesteads themselves are separated by miles & miles of rolling prairie. Eventually we entered the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and the abutting Crow Indian Reservation where arrived at our destination.

The reason we went up to Montana was to see the place where Custer's Last Stand occurred; otherwise known as the Battle of Little Bighorn. This is a place of legend.

















Custer is a name out of my school boy history books. The Battle of Little Bighorn and June 1876 were highwater marks in the American West. The battle marked the last major Native American resistance against the unending encroachment of the Wasi'chu. (the Souix word for white people meaning greedy person). General George Custer led his 7th Calvary against a combined Indian force of Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho who were camped at a bend in the Little Bighorn River. The tribes utterly defeated and destroyed Custer and the US Army. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse became names of legend, as did Custer.

It was interesting to consider this event and the colorful history of the American West in contrast to where I live now. New England had been settled for 200 years by 1867. My town was 238 years old. Our cemeteries at Old Burial Hill and Waterside were already established and had generations of families installed. Boston and London were building the Victorian style cities we know today. The Sioux and other western tribes could not even have comprehended the tidal wave of change that was slowing choking off their way of life.

I've seen the location of the battle in films and on TV specials but you can't understand the location from seeing it that way. Standing on the rolling and golden brown prairie in August it feels like being on ocean swells. The swells are large enough to allow approaching armies, regiments, clans and tribes to hide out and hide from each other. The landscape felt so good and looked glisteningly beautiful. I wish I could have gotten on a horse and rode out to let it swallow me up.



















The battle occurred across a 7 mile stretch. The park service has put markers up in every location a fallen soldier or Indian was found. We didn't take the time to walk the trails that have been built. I wish we had. Since we were here I wanted to immerse myself in the landscape and the breadth of the clash. The markers really lend gravity to the site and give a human face to the triumph and tragedy.

Custer and his "Last Stand" soldiers from the 7th Calvary are remembered in a cluster of markers where they fell. They are just below the top of Last Stand Hill. A memorial stands at the top for all 200+ soldiers who lost their life there on Battle Ridge.




On the back side of the ridge is the Indian Memorial. The memorial honors the Native Americans who struggled to preserve and defend their homeland and traditional way of life. It also strives to rise above the the cultural conflict promoting Peace through Unity.




The site was amazing. I'm very glad we made the trek there. Historic, mythical, somber, spiritual, environmentally immense with it's amber waves of rolling prairie under brilliant blue skies and a scorching sun. Fascinating.