Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

 

On the afternoon after finishing the Montana Marathon, we drove an hour or so east of Billings, and visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. This is the location of Custer's famous last stand, which he didn't fare well in, nor did his men.

When I was a kid, we had this record, 40 Funky Hits, and it has this song on it, Please Mr. Custer, which is  about a guy who doesn't want to go to this battle. My Dad, an ex-marine, used to talk a lot about battles, and every now and then General Custer came up. Later, when I was in college studying Northwest history, the professor went on about how wonderful his visit was to this battlefield. That always stuck with me, and so I wanted to check it out. The only window of time was in the afternoon, after the race, but the driving is very easy in Montana on the freeway. Little Bighorn is 934 miles away from Mt. Vernon, says the map. I didn't want to miss my chance, as I don't know when we'll be bakc this way. It was totally worth it, at least for me.

That said, it's not like a whole lot was going on at the momument. Some people were wandering in ($25 entrance fee, I think, yikes), but it was quiet and the Visitor Center was closed. But there was something about the big sky, the grave markers, and the quiet that was moving.

The site has a cemetery, which is a lot like Arlington, and holds veterans of wars up to the Vietnam War, if I'm not mistaken. Then there's Last Stand Hill, where the U.S. soldiers were surrounded, with white markers placed where soldiers fell. There's a big memorial there, with Custer's name on the top. Markers are placed throughout the monument grounds. Most of them are white, saying "U.S. Soldier, 7th Calvary, Fell Here, [Date]."  There are also brown markers where some Cheyenne warriors fell. It is a solemn place.

We saw a herd of horses, that we think were wild. Wild horses, we'll ride them someday, not. Beautiful.

Afterwards, we visited the Crow Restaurant and Gift Shop, run by the Crow tribe. The food was very good--the "World's Best Indian Taco" for me. While there, we spoke at length with tribe members about Covid, treaties, and other things. I appreciate how cordial and informative they were. I took Native American law in school, and it was a challenging course--very non-intuitive, due to all the treaties and odd Supreme Court decisions. One gentleman there spoke at length with me about some of these. It was a memorable afternoon. 

There's more to this trip, but I've decided to string it out in a few posts, so I can have a few more thoughts and pics to look back at here, whenever I do. Wishing well to my friends.