Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana

Most people know that George Armstrong Custer had his "last stand" at the Little Bighorn. The Little Bighorn River is a small tributary of the much larger Bighorn River that starts in Montana and runs into Wyoming (the Bighorn River is itself a tributary of the Yellowstone River). The Battle of the Little Bighorn occurred in 1876, and was part of the Great Sioux War. A full description of the conditions leading to this battle, and of the battle itself, is far too complex for a brief opening to a small gallery of photographs from my visit there in the fall of 2018. However, I think even a brief description is needed to go with the photographs. So I will attempt to do so here. I do recommend the book _A Terrible Glory_ by James Donovan to delve deeper into this topic. It is a well researched book on the battle and the conditions and events leading to it. Very briefly, and with apologies to any real historians that might read this... Through a series of various treaties between the US government and multiple Native American tribes of the west (which were really nothing but a shell game to remove natives from lands for settlement or the retrieval of valuable commodities), multiple conflicts arose which eventually saw several different tribes band together to try to preserve their way of life as nomadic hunters. One of the most famous of these conflicts was the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as the Battle of the Greasy Grass by Native Americans (their name for the same river). This battle was an armed conflict between the 7th Calvary of the US and multiple tribes united under Sitting Bull (principally northern Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Oyate - Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota). In December 1875, the US government ordered these tribes back to their reservations. Any Indians refusing to do so would be declared "hostile" and returned by force. Thus began the Campaign of 1876, in which the US military strategy was for three separate expeditions (under Crook, Gibbon, and Terry) to converge on the Indians who were amassing under Sitting Bull at the Little Bighorn river in southeastern Montana. Crook was defeated by a large combined Lakota-Cheyenne force and was forced to retreat in the Battle of the Rosebud (another river). Terry and Gibbon met on the Yellowstone River (near the mouth of the Rosebud) and Terry (who did not know that Crook was already knocked out of the campaign) sent Armstrong and the 7th Calvary to approach the Little Bighorn valley from the south while he and Gibbon would continue up the Yellowstone and approach the valley from the north. Custer located the large Indian camp at dawn on June 25, 1876 (Indian scouts working with the 7th Calvary, mostly Crow who are enemies of the Lakota in particular, located the camp). By the time the village was discovered, the village contained nearly 10,000 Indians (with 1,000 - 2,000 warriors). Custer feared he would be discovered from afar and would lose the element of surprise. Likely underestimating the size of the enemy force, Custer divided his command and ordered an attack. He was soundly defeated. The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument commemorates this battle. It was preserved as a national cemetery in 1879, became the Custer Battlefield National Monument in 1946, and was ultimately named the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in 1991 in recognition of the multifaceted cultural perspective and to present a more balanced historical perspective of the battle and its context. Interestingly, a wildfire in 1983 destroyed much of the vegetation in the area allowing for a more significant archeological dig. White granite markers denote locations where bodies of 7th Calvary soldiers were found. In most cases, there are no names on the markers. There is a monument on Last Stand Hill to the 7th Calvary, engraved with their names. The enclosure below this monument contain markers for multiple soldiers, including Custer himself. In 1999, red granite markers were added to the site to note where Native American warriors fell. As a result, the entire memorial site is a series of grassy hills with a river passing through them, dotted with a bunch of white, and a few red, markers where people were found. Final numbers of dead and wounded are not known on the Native American side - estimates range from 60 to 100 (the Native Americans removed their dead and placed them in tipis and on scaffolds on the hillsides). On the US military side, 263 were killed (including Custer) and 60 wounded. This was a significant battle in the sad history of Native Americans in the US, and was the last significant military victory the Indians would enjoy. Wounded Knee would effectively be the tragic bookend to this sad and disturbing chapter of US history. (Note that the location of the monument is Garryowen, Montana. The name is from Custer's favorite song, an Irish tune that Custer would have played during his various campaigns).