today marks the 132nd anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn (warning: pic heavy)

fishwax

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Wed Jun-25-08 09:35 PM
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today marks the 132nd anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn (warning: pic heavy)

Edited on Wed Jun-25-08 09:53 PM by fishwax

Often referred to as Custer's Last Stand, June 25th and 26th, 1876, marks perhaps the most famous battle and the Native Americans' most resounding victory in the wars of the west. (Here is a link to the wikipedia page, for those interested in some background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn#Prelude_to_the_Battle_of_Little_Bighorn.)

I wanted to share some interesting (I think, anyway) information about recent developments at the historic site of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Today also marks the 20th anniversary of a demonstration in which Native Americans marched up Last Stand Hill and, in the ground among the markers to the fallen of the 7th calvary, placed a metal plaque in honor of the Indians who fought on that soil to defend their way of life. Here's a picture of Russell Means laying the plaque down:

Back then, the national monument was known as Custer Battlefield National Monument. But shortly after the 1988 demonstration, legislation was passed to change the monuments name to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, as well as to enable a permanent monument to the warriors who fought there.

Today also marks the 5th anniversary of the monument's completion and dedication. (Though the monument was approved during papa bush's administration, there was no funding.) Here are a couple of pictures of the monument:

There have always been markers to fallen soldiers (it was a national cemetery before it was a national monument), but the last ten years have also seen the appearance of a handful of warrior markers, which mark the spots where Indians fell in battle. The warrior markers have been a long time coming--the first suggestion of such markers came way back in 1925, when the daughter of one such warrior requested that one be placed in honor of her father. She never received a response.

In the days after the battle the tribes came to tend to their dead. They removed the bodies from the battlefield, but marked the spots where they fell with cairns--little piles of rock placed into the soft, sacred soil. The names and locations of these cairns were passed down from generation to generation in the families of the dead. Here is a picture of what the cairns looked like (this happens to be the cairn for Lame White Man, the warrior whose daughter first requested the government mark graves for warriors):

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Over the years, private parties put up wooden markers to indicate some of the cairns, but it was years before the park service began placing them. The first was dedicated on Memorial Day, 1999. There are now a few more stone markers, honoring Sioux as well as Cheyenne warriors, on both the Custer and the Reno-Benteen Battlefield. The markers include the warrior's name (both in their native language and in English), their tribe, and the date of their death. The inscriptions vary, but generally state that the warrior died "while defending his homeland and the (Cheyenne/Sioux) way of life.

The red granite of the markers is quite striking against the stark, yellow grass of the prairie and the blue of Montana's "big sky."

Here are some pictures of the markers:

A few more pictures of the national monument, including Last Stand Hill and the U.S. Army Memorial, built in 1881.

Here's a site with some interesting history of the site and the various monuments, if you're interested in reading more: http://www.friendslittlebighorn.com/warriormarkershistory.htm

I haven't been to the monument in years--since before the warrior markers and the monument--but I found its history and the pictures interesting, and I hope that you might as well.

Anyone else ever been to the site?