August 19 – Stacie continued her therapy program in the morning (although she was drinking tea instead) while Dave holed himself up in the business lounge (a closet with phone lines) and downloaded numerous updates from Microsoft to patch the hole that the lovsan virus was exploiting. We also located a Ford dealer about an hour away and made arrangements for an oil change. We left the Resort and drove to Big Timber where the truck was serviced. When the truck was done we looked around the town and enjoyed lunch in a historic hotel. Our original plan was to arrive at Devils Tower today, but it was becoming evident that we wouldn’t make it. While zipping along the highway we saw a sign that made reference to the Little Bighorn battlefield. A quick check of the map confirmed that we were going to drive right by it (since we couldn’t use the east entrance from Yellowstone our routing had changed significantly). We couldn’t pass up a chance to see the battlefield which was less than a mile from the highway and once again our treasured National Parks Pass got us in for free.
We arrived just in time to catch a ranger
talk on the equipment that the soldiers involved in the battle were carrying.
The majority of their equipment was left over from the Civil War and due for
replacement. Believe it or not they were wearing wool clothing in June.
Immediately after the equipment talk there was a battle talk. This talk was
fascinating for two reasons. Our talk was given by a ranger of Crow descent
and her explanation of why the battle occurred was quite different than what
history has taught us. While it’s always been said that Custer’s actions were
part of a campaign to return rebelling Indians to their reservations, all of
the broken promises and broken treaties aren’t mentioned. The Indians had good
reason to stay off the reservations as the government had promised to
provide
them with housing and food but rarely delivered. Additionally, the ultimatum
for all Indians to return to the reservations was issued in the middle of
winter (when snow prevented messengers from getting through) and the Indians
were only given one month to return (again travel wasn’t possible in the
winter). The other revelation was that the story from our school
days
that Custer was attacked and all of his men were killed isn’t accurate. Custer
had been sent to meet up with two other Army units and “use his discretion” on
any Indians he encountered (the ultimatum had decreed that any Indian not on a
reservation by the deadline would be considered hostile). In the days before
the battle one of the units he was to meet up with had a skirmish and was
forced to return to a fort. Custer’s scouts (who were Indian) located a large
Indian camp, but warned him that it was a large camp and that he couldn’t
defeat them. Custer ignored the warning and ran his men and horses double time
through the night to get to the camp. In the process he had to cross a swampy
area. This area, while hard to cross, had fresh water, something the men and
animals hadn’t seen for a few days. The mules that were carrying all of the
supplies (including extra ammunition) refused to leave the swamp until they had
enough water. Custer left one of his regiments with the mules and pressed on
with only the supplies that each man carried with him. Custer split his forces
into three groups and tried to surround the Indians. Some of the forces met up
with the other Army unit that Custer was to meet. This unit was retreating
because they had tried to attack some Indians and had been outnumbered. The
commander of that unit ordered Custer’s men to stay with him and dig in to
repel the attack. This action took more than half of Custer’s men out of the
battle and denied Custer the ability to surround the Indians. Custer’s
remaining men fought the Indians and were forced to retreat to a hilltop. In
the end, Custer and the 200 men with him were killed. The men who had dug in
successfully defended themselves until the Indians moved out a day later upon
noticing a large group of reinforcements in the distance.
After the battle the entrenched men surveyed
the battle field and buried all of the dead soldiers where they had fallen and
marked the graves. A few years later another Calvary unit returned to the area
and removed the remains of the commanders to be buried on the East Coast. The
remains of all the soldiers were moved to the top of the hill where the last
stand occurred. Temporary markers were placed where each soldier had fallen.
A few years later stone markers replaced the temporary ones and a large
monument was placed on top of the hill to mark the mass grave. In a desperate
attempt to save his forces Custer had ordered that all of the horses be arranged
in a circle and then killed, creating a wall of bodies that the men could hide
behind. The Calvary unit that relocated the men’s bodies had a great respect
for the horses and buried the horse remains near the mass grave.
In June of 2003 a memorial to the Indians who
fought in the battle was dedicated. This memorial is a circular earthen work
and inside is a stone wall with the names of Indians who perished in the battle
and some information on their tribes. A small portion of the wall has water
trickling down it, a symbolic “weeping wall”. There is also a sculpture of
Indians on horseback.
Our stop at the Little Bighorn was an excellent
experience, but it put us even further behind. We
decided to drive until dark and then we found a small hotel in a small town
along the highway for the night. Not having to set up and take down camp saved
us time (and rested Stacie’s ankle).