Friday, September 3, 2010

LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT – HARDIN, MT

A marker for a fallen Private on a hill overlooking the Little Bighorn River We first visited Hardin, Montana in June of 2004 to take in the reenactment of the famous battle that cost Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer his life, the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  Before attending the reenactment (which was not held on the actual battlefield), we visited Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument – and I forgot my camera!  

We both found the battlefield monument strikingly interesting so, since we were passing so close by on our way to Yellowstone National Park, we decided it was time for another visit.  We checked into Grandview Campground (click here to read our review and see photos) after our repairs were completed on Wednesday, looking forward to a trip to the battlefield on Thursday.  

The markers on Last Stand Hill, overlooking the Little Bighorn Valley.  Custer's marker has the black face, near the middle. The battlefield at Little Bighorn is heartbreakingly poignant.  One of the last armed conflicts between the Indians of the northern plains and the U. S. Army, 260 soldiers and 60-100 Indians died here during a two-day battle in June of 1876.  After the battle ended, Cheyenne and Lakota families removed the bodies of their dead to be treated in accordance with their customs.  The following day, Army soldiers buried the bodies of Custer and his soldiers in shallow graves where they had fallen.

The following year, the remains of 11 officers and two civilians were moved to cemeteries in the east (Custer’s remains to West Point).  Five years later, in 1881, the remains of the rest of the command were reburied in a mass grave around the current large memorial marker.   Nine years after that (and 110 years ago), in 1890, the Army erected 249 markers across the battlefield in the positions where Army soldiers had fallen and died – and for me, those markers provide the emotional impact of the battlefield today.   A century later, in 1999, the National Park Service began erecting red granite markers at known Cheyenne and Lakota warrior casualty sites.

The memorial marker at the common burial site lists the names of the Army's fallen. Now, amidst golden, rolling hills,  white “headstones” and the occasional red granite memorial ignite the imagination.  On “Last Stand Hill”, the markers for Custer and his command are grouped tightly together, where they fought and died behind the bodies of their dead horses, overlooking the Indian encampment in the Little Bighorn Valley.  Looking down the deep ravine from Last Stand Hill, a straggling line of white markers dramatize the futility of escape.  In the distance, small groupings of headstones where soldiers died.. back to back?  Running in a group?  There’s a group of two, side by side… friends?  And sometimes a lone marker, silhouetted on a slight rise, or hidden in a narrow gulch, isolated and alone.

I couldn’t help but think of Gettysburg, another battleground story so eloquently depicted by the memorials.  There, the somber memorials are often grand and ornate.  Here, they are so simple, so humble, so illuminating.  The battle at Little Bighorn came 13 years after Gettysburg, 11 years after the end of the Civil War.  In that decade, westward movement and settlement put continual pressure on the nomadic Indians of the plains; the victory of the Indian tribes at Little Bighorn was one of their last.  Most of the Lakota and Cheyenne surrendered within the next few years, their way of life no longer sustainable.

Marker of an Army private. Warriors' markers

An isolated headstone marks the passing of a U.S. Army soldier.

Markers of two Cheyenne warriors, “Died while defending the Cheyenne way of life.”

During our visit, the deep blue sky was half-filled with puffy white clouds and a constant breeze rustled the tall, dry grasses.  As usual, walking even a short distance from the road (on paved walkways) took us away from the crowds near the Visitor Center, parking lots and turnouts.  Standing near an isolated headstone, overlooking the Little Bighorn River, it was easy to imagine the heat, the dust, the noise of gunshots and war whoops, of frightened horses and soldiers.  Now it is all quiet, peaceful, somber, sacred.

Worth a visit, if you have a chance.

18 comments:

  1. I almost feel like I am there with you. Your post is very moving and so well written. We will certainly be sure to visit this sacred site soon.

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  2. I agree, the Little Bighorn Battlefield is well worth a visit. I found it especially interesting to hear the contrasting perspectives of that historical event from the NP Service visitors center multimedia presentation, vs the presentation by the local native american indians who conduct their own tour of the battlefield.

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  3. Great post, Laurie. It brought back a lot of memories of our visit to the Little Bighorn Battlefield in 2007. Looks like you had very similar weather to us as well as a very similar reaction to the historical surroundings.

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  4. It was May of 1992 when I first walked on the ground at Little Bighorn. It was a quiet day with few people around & I felt the presence of it's saddened history. I have come across a few 'special' places in my travels & have always felt that battleground was one of them. Gettysburg in 1980 moved me as well. Stayed one night at a Motel in Hardin while visiting Little Bighorn & that very night watched Johnny Carson's farewell show............

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  5. Thank you Laurie for taking us to a place that we have never seen. Your thoughts add insight to the story that I read so long ago. Perhaps their deaths weren't in vain, but the Indians didn't
    accomplish as much as they first had surmised. So many thoughts, as you stand looking in the current tranquility. A thing to wonder about at best! Why do we need a war?

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  6. A moving location, and post. :)

    By the way, if the markers were erected in 1890, then it was 120 years ago. Time flies when you're having fun. :)

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  7. Oh my gosh, is it 2010 already?? Ha-ha... I knew that, it's math I have a problem with. :)

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  8. To read more about the Indian-Cavalry battles of the early west, I suggest the "Plainsmen" series by Terry C Johnston. If you're like me and love this type of history you can't wait to finish the book so you can start the next one, (there are 16 in the series, more were planned but unfortunately Terry died in 2001)but when you finally get to the last book you don't want it to end.
    It's a fascinating history of the end of the Indian Nations and the Calvary that caused it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plainsmen_Series

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  9. Robert loves visiting places like this. The sacredness of this place comes thru in your post. Kathy :)

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  10. Gosh, I would love to visit that battlefield. Even in photos, it strikes me as a very poignant, sad and sobering place.

    Thanks for sharing it with us.

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  11. Judy and Emma already caught the math error I was going to note. Good for them. I'm inspired to put this on our 'bucket list' for future travels. It seems like spirits still live there, and I'd like to experience them as well. What a wonderful history lesson! Thanks.

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  12. Will have to go back and visit again. Not only was I not "into" photography back then, but those red markers didn't exist.

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  13. Nicely written, Laurie. It's an awesome place and you captured 'the feeling' of the place well. Jan

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  14. Excellent post and pictures, Laurie. Through the pictures and your eloquent writing, I sensed the sadness and sacredness of this park. We'll definitely have to follow in your footsteps and visit this battlefield.

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  15. Well written, Laurie. Thank you for your moving word description.

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  16. Great post! This battlefield has been on my list to see for over 20 years and it just seems I never get there.

    We are in West Yellowstone for a week of exploring the Park, maybe I will get to the battlefield on the way out.

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  17. Great blog Laurie. I felt almost with you. Looks like I have another place to add to our list. I really appreciate sites like that. Thanks for sharing.

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  18. Told with such eloquence~gee I hope I spelled that right! We visited here when our sons were still at home with us; they are now 36 & 33. That day there was an American Indian docent, I guess she would be called, telling their version of the story and I'm so thankful that we got to hear it. Of course, we already knew the other, but hearing her tell that was priceless for us. And as you say, standing up there looking down and simply looking and listening, and knowing, is a great history lesson.

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