Custer's Last Stand

Last weekend we drove to the nearby Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument, better known as the location of "Custer's Last Stand."  The Visitor Center has an interesting little museum to explore, including a short documentary on the battle and the events leading up to it. 

The site has a trail where you can walk through ground hard fought and lost during the battle.  The surrounding field is littered with headstones where both U.S. and Native American fighters fell.  There is also a memorial for the horses that Custer and his men killed to provide protection during the bloody 2 hour stand off.

In the last few decades, historians have taken a kinder view of the Indian tribes who fought this war, and there is a monument dedicated to the braves who sacrificed their lives defending this piece of land that had been promised them.

Later we drove to the location of several other skirmishes.  The photo below shows the location of the Indian encampment (on the field in the background), the wooded area where several U.S. companies was repelled and the bend in the Little Big Horn River where the troops then crossed and attempted to make their way up the ravine to take the high ground.  Most of these soldiers, led by Major Reno and Captain Benteen, survived the battle since many Indians stopped skirmishing to attack Custer and his troops a several miles away.

We learned so much at this battlefield.  George Armstrong Custer was a bold and brash soldier, which served him well in the Civil War.  His bravado, however, was bound to fail sooner or later.  His luck gave out on a rolling hill in the wild west.  Unfortunately, he took over 250 men with him, including 4 members of his own family (2 younger brothers, a brother-in-law and a nephew).

While the Native Americans won the battle, this victory over Civil War hero Custer was the beginning of the end.  America, joyously celebrating its 100th birthday, was horrified at the loss.  The discovery of gold in the region certainly motivated Americans dealing with a depressed economy to push for settlement.  This and the nation's increasing appetite for land repelled most local Indian tribes a few years later.  Only the Crow, who allied themselves with Custer and his troops, have a reservation on this land now.