The Battle of Little Big Horn (Crow Agency, Montana)

"It was a terrible battle...a hard battle because both sides were brave warriors." (Red Feather, Lakota)

The first time I went to The Battle of Little Bighorn (sometime in the 1980's), it was called "Custer's Last Stand."

 

However, in 1991, Congress authorized the name of the area and National Monument to be changed from Custer Battlefield to Little Bighorn National Monument, signed into law by former President George W. Bush. (Public Law 102-201: "The public interest will best be served by establishing a memorial...to honor and recognize the Indians who fought to preserve their land and culture.")

 

An Indian Memorial was also designed to honor the Native American participation in Battle (before there was just the Memorial for the 7th Cavalry soldiers.)

The description of the Indian Memorial in the National Park pamphlet is better than on-line (unless I am just looking in the wrong place) but it describes the Memorial this way: "The circular earth and stone work is gently carved from the prairie...for many tribes, the circle is sacred and symbolic of the journey of life. A weeping wall symbolizes the tears of the Indian People and the suffering that resulted from their battle here on the Greasy Grass to retain their nomadic way of life. The interior walls commemorate the five tribes that fought there: Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow and Arikara." The Memorial's theme is "Peace through Unity", and it was dedicated in June, 2003.

 

Basically, this marks the location of a TERRIBLE battle (well, the same could be said about any battle, actually, couldn't it?), which took place June 25 and 26, 1876 near the Little Bighorn River, in eastern Montana Territory, when General Alfred H. Terry sent Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer to the Rosebud and Little Bighorn area, to force the Indians back onto their reservations.

 

As we've previously briefly discussed (see Blog December 8th, about Crazy Horse), there was ALOT of anger and discontent, as treaties were made and broken, with the Native Americans, resulting in the Indians losing much of their sacred ground (every time something good was discovered on their land....like gold, in the Black Hills.)

 

The National Park Services information pamphlet describes that this conflict against the "relentless invasion of the white man" "reached its peak in the decade following the Civil War, when settlers resumed their vigorous westward movement. These western emigrants, possessing little or no understanding of the Indian way of life, showed slight regard for the sanctity of hunting grounds or the terms of former treaties. The Indians' resistance to those encroachments on their domain only served to intensify hostilities." 

 

In 1868, a treaty was signed by the US Government and the Lakota, Cheyenne and other tribes of the Great Plains, designating a large area as permanent Indian reservation., promising to protect the Indians "against the commission of all depredations by people of the United States."

But...then... in 1874 someone struck Gold in the Black Hills, which was in the heart of the reservation AND the Lakota's sacred ground, and their treaty was ignored and their protection was ... gone? So, in an effort to protect themselves and their land, the Lakota & Cheyenne left their reservation and raided settlements and travelers along the fringes of their land.

 

When they did not comply with the order to return to their reservation, the army was called in.

 

Which gets us (eventually) to the Battle of Little Bighorn.

 

Once there, Custer divided his forces (of about 600 men, including officers) into three groups - one under his command, and the other two under Maj. Marcus Reno and one under Capt. Frederick Benteen. Benteen was to go to the South, and Custer and Reno were to go to the North. Custer and Reno then split up and Reno advanced down the valley

 

What they didn't know, though, is that in the meantime, Chief Sitting Bull (who was already recognized as a strong and accomplished warrior, protecting his Lakota people, his culture, and his land, and who considered the US Army as an invasion of Lakota way of life) had formed an alliance with other neighboring tribes (the Cheyenne, Arapaho and other Agency Indians) - and so they had alot more warriors than the U.S. Army calculated.

 

A large force of Lakota warriors intercepted Reno, and Reno was eventually forced to retreat. He was joined by Benteen, and after hearing heaving gunfire to the north, marched on to help Custer.

However, by the time they arrived, the firing at the "Custer battlefield" had stopped. Reno and Benteen soon found themselves under attack, as well, and were forced to withdraw.

The battle continued - the army held their defenses, and the siege ended with the Indians withdrew. (They withdrew, not because Benteen and Reno were winning, but because they heard that General Alfred H. Terry and Col. John Gibbon were coming; General Crook had been delayed in battle at Rosebud, by Crazy Horse (as previously discussed in the December 8 blog about Crazy Horse.)

The Battle was only 2 days long, but Custer and his entire company were killed (about 210 men), Reno and Benteen lost about 53, and about 100 Indians also died.

Mrs. Spotted Horn Bull (of the Lakota tribe) is quoted: "Since the Sioux first fought the men (white men) who are our friends now, they had not won so great a battle...so it was that the Sioux defeated Long Hair and his soldiers in the valley of the Greasy Grass River, which my people remember with regret, but without shame."

 

Despite the overwhelming victory, this marked the beginning of the end of the Indian Wars, and Sitting Bull exiled to Canada. Later, due to hunger and cold, he eventually was forced to return to Fort Buford, Montana, and surrendered.

 

After spending time here and there at various Forts, he and his band were allowed to return to the Standing Rock Agency, in 1883. From there, In 1884, Sitting Bull was allowed to leave the reservation and joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (see my blog of November 27th, 2012 - "Nebraska, the Cornhusker State"). He was with the show for 4 months, and then returned, again, to the Standing Rock Agency.

 

Because of Sitting Bull's enthusiasm for his culture and people, by 1890, the government started to fear an uprising, and decided to have him arrested. A group of Sioux rallied around him to prevent the arrest. A shoot-out followed and Sitting Bull was shot in the head... an all too familiar story...

 

....


Back to the Little Bighorn Battlefield site: You are allowed to tour around the Battlefield, but you must stay on the designated areas.

 

Markers are scattered around the site, and they are placed where bodies had fallen. The white markers represent soldiers and the brown markers represent Indian warriors.

There's also a Visitors' Center and the National Cemetery. There is an entrance fee (at the time we were there, it was $10 per vehicle.)  http://www.nps.gov/libi/index.htm

 

You should go.

....

Sunday, we are going to be visiting the Montana Grizzly Encounter, in Bozeman, Montana.

Nebraska, The Cornhusker State

Are you sick of me talking about the heat? The day we arrived in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the thermometer in our car registered 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius)! - of course, that was in a parking lot, after the car had sat for a bit (the store, Camping World, let us bring the puppies into the store with us), but that's HOT!!! We were tired. We were sick of the heat. We were on our way home and wishing we were already there. (Now, as I write this, it's winter, and it's cold & snowing, and I can't remember what I was complaining about in the summer...no...I remember ... I love summer, but I'm like Goldilocks - "too hot, too cold, just right".)
 

Last time we were in Nebraska, we were on a one way road trip from Calgary to Halifax (mentioned in my Jolly Green Giant blog, Oct. 17, 2012). We went into Nebraska just to say we were there, and I bought a postcard IN Nebraska that says on the back: "There's a reason it's called a plain state. Road-weary pioneers just gave up and stayed."

 

But, despite the intriguing sales pitch, I read somewhere that there was, in fact, a "Big Ball of String" reason to go to Nebraska - Chimney Rock.

 

We stayed at the West Omaha KOA (http://koa.com/campgrounds/west-omaha/), and I got caught up on laundry. (I have had interesting visits with other travellers in the laundry rooms at the KOA's. The people in this one were reading a murder mystery romance book out loud, to pass the time. I was torn between leaving the laundry room (which was like a sauna) and staying and listening to the story!! I did leave, though, because, for one thing, I realized that I wouldn't get to hear the end anyway...and the other compelling reason is that we were having pizza delivered.)

 

Yes! Made-to-order pizza and delivery is actually something that THAT particular KOA offered/offers! It was great! (Technically, I was right beside the kitchen when I was doing laundry, and could've picked it up, but didn't want to miss out on the experience of having the pizza delivered to the Airstream!

 

That night, a miracle happened. The temperature dropped to a tolerable mid-90's range. It was aMAZing!!! Who could've guessed that one of the biggest highlights of a 8000+ km road trip was going to be the temperature cooling down!!

 

That morning, we headed west - towards Chimney Rock. First things first, though - with "cooler" temperatures, we celebrated by finding the closest Starbucks, which happened to be in Lincoln, Nebraska. The one we chose had no parking, but we didn't care - Peter circled the block while I picked up our coffee. Mmmmmmmmm. (I had a venti white mocha with a shot of raspberry.)

 

I had no expectations of the drive across Nebraska, and to tell the truth, we had planned to go through South Dakota and decided to go across Nebraska as sort of a whim, when we saw "Chimney Rock" in a brochure I picked up at a gas station, so I hadn't researched it properly.

I was very excited to discover that somewhere around Kearney, NE, we were on the Pony Express Route! (Which is also the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the California Trail!!) http://www.ponyexpressdoc.com/pages/the-pony-express

 

The first interesting place that we passed was the Great Platte River Road Archway, somewhere near Kearney. The Archway pays tribute to the pioneers who travelled along that route from 1843 to 1869, highlighting their perseverance and determination. (We didn't stop, and I had to Google it, to find out what it is...but a piece of history I hadn't expected to see out there! http://www.archway.org/)

 

The next place we came across was an original Pony Express Station, in Gothenburg. In its hay-day, it was actually at another area in Gothenburg, but was moved to a new location (Ehman Park) in 1931. It is now a museum and a post office, so OF COURSE, I had to mail myself a Pony Express postcard from the Station! (They have a leather mail bag hanging on the wall beside the door, into which you just drop your mail.)


For those of you who don't know all about the Pony Express, the link above is pretty informative, but if you don't have time to look it up, here's a few details in summary:

 

The Pony Express was a relay system of horses and their riders, who carried mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California (and back again), from April 1860 through October 1861. It was the fastest way to deliver mail at that time, taking an average of 10 days from one end to the other (almost 2000 miles), but the fastest time recorded was 7 days, 13 hours, and carried Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address. Riders typically rode 75-100 miles before another rider took over, and horses usually were changed out every 10-15 miles.

 

There were between 100-200 Pony Express Stations enroute (I've read "over 100", "approximately 165" and "184 stations" - so, I don't really know) ~ this is one of them!

After that, and back out on the highway, we passed a sign for Buffalo Bill Ranch...

 

Technically, I "know" about Buffalo Bill (who's real name is William F. Cody), but not really. Apparently, he's mostly famous because of his acting troupe "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" (which is portrayed in the movie Hidalgo http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317648/), which performed all over the US and Europe.

 

A few other things for which he is known:

• He got his nickname because he killed over 4,000 buffalo within 18 months (so says reports), apparently for food for the Kansas Pacific Railroad workers (1867-1868)
• He was a Pony Express rider when he was around 14 years old, in 1860
• He was an advocate for Women's Rights, including the right to vote. In 1898, he's quoted as saying: "Set [it] down in big black type that Buffalo Bill favors woman’s suffrage.…Mind you, I believe in marriage and children and home, but I’m not one of the kind that think that God made women to do nothing but sit at home in the ashes and tend to babies...If a woman can do the same work that a man can do and do it just as well she should have the same pay."
• Although he was involved in the Indian Wars, he had a high regard for the Indian tribes around him and credited them with fighting to protect their families and ways of life. He was close friends with many - in fact, when Sitting Bull was introduced to the US people, Buffalo Bill was always beside him. Chief Red Fox is quoted as saying after Buffalo Bill had died: "In my imagination, I can see his noble spirit winging over the lofty peak, and I bow my head in memory of one who always impressed me with kindness and compassion, and enriched me with the deeply entrenched integrity of his character."
• Guest starring on his show "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" (and/or personal friends of his) include the likes of: Sitting Bull, Annie Oakley, Wild Bill Hickok (who was shot & killed in Deadwood - the subject of a future blog, since we did visit his grave site on the previously mentioned 1-way roadtrip of 2005), and Gustave Eiffel (who designed the Eiffel Tower!!!)

There are thousands of articles about him, and I just read probably...30, but here's a couple... http://www.biography.com/people/buffalo-bill-cody-9252268 and http://www.buffalobill.org/

After all of that...I know you'll be shocked to know that we didn't even stop at the Buffalo Bill Ranch. Another regret, but I didn't know what we were missing. We'll have to go back. Hopefully, we'll just be passing that way - I don't think I want to make a special trip to Nebraska. (That being said, this was my 3rd time in the State, and thought I'd only be there once, for 2 minutes, just to say "I've been there".)

 

I feel that I've talked enough today. I really thought we'd make it all the way to Chimney Rock, but I didn't realize I'd have so much to talk about!

 

So, Sunday! We'll start with Chimney Rock!