Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

Upon arriving at the Visitors Center today, we walked in with the announcement of an orientation movie starting in 5 minutes in the theater, just in time.  Movie over, we just got through the exhibits, and the next announcement was for a narration given by a staff member titled Battle Talk.  The staff member is a retired high school history teacher, and his presentation was done well enough to be on The History Channel, very impressive.  The Battle Talk lecture was about the politics of the USA and Indians, and of the changing of the requests of the Indians, well before the military became involved, and then the military actions that led to the battle with little hope for Custer’s group.



The museum has many well done exhibits, expressing views from both sides.



After the orientation movie and the very well done Battle Talk lecture, Anne-Marie and I attended a walking tour of some of the monuments that were placed where the soldiers, and some of the Indians died.  Our guide is shown beside two red markers for the fallen Indians, this program is far from complete with only around 16 sites marked yet.  The marble monument with black on the face is marking where Custer fell, only the officers were marked with names, and the others were marked only as U.S. Soldier 7th Cavalry Fell Here June 25, 1876.  The markers dotted the ravines and ridges both, some solitaire, and some in small groups.

The white monument naming the soldiers involved, is marking a mass grave where they relocated the shallowly buried soldiers in 1881, and the granite monument was at the start of the self guided tour.



There is a Monument dedicated to the Indians lost in the battle, with a really neat metal sculpture.  The Custer National Cemetery is located on a flat area of the hill below where the battle happened, there are around 5000 Military Veterans buried here.  Anne-Marie is pictured on the right of both photos.

The final leg of our tour of the battlefield was the Reno-Benteen Entrenchment Trail.  This was a self guided walking tour, with markers indicating the actions of the troops, and their defenses, and the actions of the Indians.  Of special note, the Indians lost between 60 and 100 braves, and Custers group was about 210 men, Reno-Benteen lost 50 with 52 wounded.


This weekend is Little Big Horn Days in Hardin Montana, this is the town just outside of the Crow Indian Reservation. The highlight is the Custer’s Last Stand Reenactment on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  This is a major event for the community, as there are events planned from 9:00AM to 10:00 PM Wednesday through Saturday, and till 3:00PM Sunday.
Tomorrow is a travel day.  We will be moving the trailer to Sundance Montana for two nights, and from there we will be making a visit to Devils Tower National Monument.