Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

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Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
Little Bighorn memorial obelisk.jpg
Memorial obelisk
USA Montana relief location map.jpg
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Location Big Horn County, Montana, US
Nearest city Hardin, Montana
Coordinates 45°34′13″N107°25′39″W / 45.57028°N 107.42750°W / 45.57028; -107.42750
Area765.34 acres (309.72 ha) [1]
EstablishedJanuary 29, 1879 (1879-January-29)
Visitors332,328(in 2016) [2]
Governing body National Park Service
Website Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument preserves the site of the June 25 and 26, 1876, Battle of the Little Bighorn, near Crow Agency, Montana, in the United States. It also serves as a memorial to those who fought in the battle: George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry and a combined Lakota-Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho force. Custer National Cemetery, on the battlefield, is part of the national monument. The site of the connected military action led by Marcus Reno and Frederick Benteen is also part of the National Monument, but is about 3 miles (4.83 km) southeast of the main site. [3]

Contents

History of site

The geography of the site is complex, consisting of dissected uplands, rugged bluffs, the Little Bighorn River, and adjacent plains. Vegetation varies widely from one area to the next. [4]

Memorials

The first memorial on the site was assembled by Captain George K. Sanderson and the 11th Infantry. They buried soldiers' bodies where they were found and removed animal bones. In his official report dated April 7, 1879, Sanderson wrote:

I accordingly built a mound out of cord wood filled in the center with all the horse bones I could find on the field. In the center of the mound I dug a grave and interred all the human bones that could be found, in all, parts of four or five different bodies. This grave was then built up with wood for four feet above ground. The mound is ten feet square and about eleven feet high; is built on the highest point immediately in rear of where Gen'l Custer's body was found ...

Lieutenant Charles F. Roe and the 2nd Cavalry built the granite memorial in July 1881 that stands today on the top of Last Stand Hill. They also reinterred soldiers' remains near the new memorial, but left stakes in the ground to mark where they had fallen. In 1890 these stakes were replaced with marble markers.

The bill that changed the name of the national monument also called for an "Indian Memorial" to be built near Last Stand Hill.

Markers honoring the Indians who fought at Little Big Horn, including Crazy Horse, have been added to those of the U.S. troops. On Memorial Day, 1999, the first of five red granite markers denoting where warriors fell during the battle were placed on the battlefield for Cheyenne warriors Lame White Man and Noisy Walking.

The Indian Memorial (2001–2003) was designed by John R. Collins and Alison J. Towers, who won a national competition in 1997 set out by Congress. Constructed of sandstone, it takes the form of a circular low wall that is topped with sculptor Colleen Cutschall (Oglala and Sicangu)'s bronze figure procession Spirit Warriors. [8] Then-Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell spoke at the dedication of the monument:  "[...] Come back sometime early in the morning after a rain when the fog is laying in the valleys and things are quiet and the moon is waning, and perhaps all you can hear is the sounds of nature. If you're here by yourself during that time, I know you'll feel like Indian people feel when they're here." Nighthorse Campbell is descended from one of the Cheyenne leaders who fought General Custer. [9]

The warriors' red speckled granite memorial markers dot the ravines and hillsides, just as do the white marble markers representing where soldiers fell. Since then, markers have been added for the Sans Arc Lakota warrior Long Road and the Minniconjou Lakota Dog's Back Bone.

On June 25, 2003, an "unknown Lakota warrior marker" was placed on Wooden Leg Hill, east of Last Stand Hill to honor a warrior who was killed during the battle, as witnessed and reported by the Northern Cheyenne warrior Wooden Leg.

The battlefield is the final resting place of the western historian and author Stanley Vestal, a professor at the University of Oklahoma.

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Custer National Cemetery

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Little Bighorn</span> 1876 battle of the Great Sioux War

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. It took place on June 25–26, 1876, along the Little Bighorn River in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana Territory. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of U.S. forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Armstrong Custer</span> United States cavalry commander (1839–1876)

George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Reno</span> United States career military officer, Union Army general (1834–1889)

Marcus Albert Reno was a United States career military officer who served in the American Civil War where he was a combatant in a number of major battles, and later under George Armstrong Custer in the Great Sioux War against the Lakota (Sioux) and Northern Cheyenne. Reno is most noted for his prominent role in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where he did not support Custer's position on the battlefield, remaining instead in a defensive formation with his troops about 4 miles (6.4 km) away. This event has since been a longstanding subject of controversy regarding his command decisions in the course of one of the most infamous defeats in the history of the United States military.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Benteen</span> United States Army officer (1834–1898)

Frederick William Benteen was a military officer who first fought during the American Civil War. He was appointed to commanding ranks during the Indian Campaigns and Great Sioux War against the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne. Benteen is best known for being in command of a battalion of the 7th U. S. Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in late June, 1876.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Man Runs Him</span> Crow warrior

White Man Runs Him was a Crow scout serving with George Armstrong Custer's 1876 expedition against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne that culminated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Custer</span> Soldier and brother of George Armstrong Custer

Boston Custer was the youngest brother of U.S. Army Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer and two-time Medal of Honor recipient Captain Thomas Custer. He was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn along with his two brothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gall (Native American leader)</span> 19th century Lakota chief

Gall, Lakota Phizí, was an important military leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. He spent four years in exile in Canada with Sitting Bull's people, after the wars ended and surrendered in 1881 to live on the Standing Rock Reservation. He would eventually advocate for the assimilation of his people to reservation life and served as a tribal judge in his later years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buffalo Calf Road Woman</span> Cheyenne warrior (c. 1844–1879)

Buffalo Calf Road Woman, or Brave Woman, was a Northern Cheyenne woman who saved her wounded warrior brother, Chief Comes in Sight, in the Battle of the Rosebud in June 1876. Her rescue helped rally the Cheyenne warriors to win the battle. She fought next to her husband in the Battle of the Little Bighorn nine days later. In 2005, Northern Cheyenne storytellers broke more than 100 years of silence about the battle, and they credited Buffalo Calf Road Woman with striking the blow that knocked Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer off his horse before he died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lame White Man</span> Cheyenne leader

Lame White Man, or Vé'ho'énȯhnéhe, was a Cheyenne battle chief who fought at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25, 1876, and was killed there. He was the only Cheyenne chief to die in the battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Bull</span> Native American warrior and chief

White Bull later known as Joseph White Bull was the nephew of Sitting Bull, and a famous warrior in his own right. White Bull participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876.

Garryowen is a private town in Big Horn County, Montana, United States. It is located at the southernmost edge of the land where Sitting Bull's camp was sited just prior to the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and the opening gunshots of the battle were fired only a few hundred yards from where Garryowen's structures stand today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Sioux War of 1876</span> Battles and negotiations between the US and the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne

The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of the war was the desire of the US government to obtain ownership of the Black Hills. Gold had been discovered in the Black Hills, settlers began to encroach onto Native American lands, and the Sioux and the Cheyenne refused to cede ownership. Traditionally, American military and historians place the Lakota at the center of the story, especially because of their numbers, but some Native Americans believe the Cheyenne were the primary target of the American campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosebud Battlefield State Park</span> United States historic place

Rosebud Battlefield State Park in Big Horn County, Montana preserves a large portion of the battlefield of the Battle of the Rosebud, fought on June 17, 1876. The battle is known by various other names such as The Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother by the Northern Cheyenne, and Crook's Fight on the Rosebud. A National Historic Landmark, the park is a day use facility offering hiking, hunting, picnicking and wildlife viewing. It is located 11 miles (18 km) south of Kirby, Montana on Montana Highway 314.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Weir (American soldier)</span> American soldier

Captain Thomas Benton Weir was an officer in the 7th Cavalry Regiment, notable for his participation in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand.

The Wolf Mountains, el. 4,842 feet (1,476 m), sometimes referred to by local people as the Rosebud Mountains, and also known to the Crow Native Americans as the Wolf Teeth Mountains, are a mountain range east of Lodge Grass, Montana in Big Horn County, Montana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Bailey Marquis</span> Author and physician

Thomas Bailey Marquis was an American self-taught historian and ethnographer who wrote about the Plains Indians and other subjects of the American frontier. He had a special interest in the destruction of George Armstrong Custer's battalion at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which became his lifelong obsession. Marquis' body of work is valued by historians for his recording of the life stories of several Plains Indians and his writing on their way of life, particularly those involved in the Custer fight, notably Wooden Leg in A Warrior Who Fought Custer. Marquis carried out this research at a time when few were interested in the Indian version of events, even though no American soldiers survived the Custer fight. Marquis' work is thus both unique and unrepeatable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Swan</span> Native American who served in the U.S. Army

White Swan (c.1850—1904), or Mee-nah-tsee-us in the Crow language, was one of six Crow Scouts for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the Crow Indian Reservation, White Swan went with Major Reno's detachment, and fought alongside the soldiers at the south end of the village. Of the six Crow scouts at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, White Swan stands out because he aggressively sought combat with multiple Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, and he was the only Crow Scout to be wounded in action, suffering severe wounds to his hand/wrist and leg/foot. After being disabled by his wounds, he was taken to Reno's hill entrenchments by Half Yellow Face, the pipe-bearer (leader) of the Crow scouts, which no doubt saved his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Half Yellow Face</span> Crow leader

Half Yellow Face was the leader of the six Crow Scouts for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. Half Yellow Face led the six Crow scouts as Custer advanced up the Rosebud valley and crossed the divide to the Little Bighorn valley, and then as Custer made the fateful decision to attack the large Sioux-Cheyenne camp which precipitated the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. At this time, the other Crow Scouts witnessed a conversation between Custer and Half Yellow Face. Half Yellow Face made a statement to Custer that was poetically prophetic, at least for Custer: "You and I are going home today by a road we do not know".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerard Baker (National Park Service)</span> American National Park Service ranger

Gerard Baker is an American retired National Park Service (NPS) ranger. In his more than 30 years with the NPS, he served as the superintendent of Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and Mount Rushmore. A registered member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and the highest ranking Native American in the history of the NPS, Baker incorporated Native American perspectives at Mount Rushmore and headed the Corps of Discovery II project to commemorate the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His tenure at Little Big Horn was marked by conflicts with admirers of George Armstrong Custer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Sutteer</span> American National Park Service employee

Barbara Ann Sutteer (Booher) is an American retired National Park Service (NPS) employee. Sutteer worked for the Federal Aviation Administration and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Alaska for 17 years before being appointed the superintendent of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the first female and first Native American to serve in that position. Sutteer's work at Little Bighorn contributed to a more balanced presentation of the events that took place there, as well as increasing Indian representation in park employees, museum exhibits, and the stories told by park interpreters.

References

  1. ↑ "Listing of acreage – December 31, 2011" (XLSX). Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved May 14, 2012. (National Park Service Acreage Reports)
  2. ↑ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  3. ↑ Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument website Archived June 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Sandy, John H. (2017). "Characterization of Geographical Aspects of the Landscape and Environment in the Area of the Little Bighorn Battlefield, Montana" . Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  5. ↑ National Register of Historic Places in Big Horn County, Montana
  6. ↑ Lovett, Francis (1998). National Parks: Rights and the Common Good. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. p. 64. ISBN   0847689778.
  7. ↑ www.nps.gov
  8. ↑ Dupré, Judith (2007). Monuments : America's history in art and memory (1st ed.). New York: Random House. pp. 50–51. ISBN   978-1-4000-6582-0. OCLC   70046094.
  9. ↑ Dupré, Judith (2007). Monuments: America's History in Art and Memory (1st ed.). New York: Random House. p. 51. ISBN   978-1-4000-6582-0. OCLC   70046094.
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