Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

Posted by Sparky on September 11, 2017

Last Stand markers (the dark one is Custer’s place of death)

Yesterday Jett and I went a few miles up I-90 to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, site of “Custer’s Last Stand.” I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but what we found was a remarkably well-preserved battlefield with markers for the locations where soldiers’ bodies were found after the battle, plus a few markers where notable Indians were found as well. A 5-mile dead-end road with informative signs along the way connected the Last Stand site with the site where the survivors beat back the Indians for two days.

There was a haze from wildfires that prevented seeing some distant points – most notably the Crow’s Nest where Custer camped the night before the battle – but the stark beauty of the place was not compromised.

We started with a 30-minute lecture on the battle from a National Park Service employee that was very informative and ended with a short hike up the hill to view the monument and the markers for the 211 men – including Custer – that were killed in the Last Stand.

There were three horse-related events worthy of note. First, we were surprised to find free-range horses along the roadway. We asked about them and learned that they were horses belonging to a local rancher who just let them graze freely. Second, there was a marker near the Last Stand memorial that commemorated the role of the horses in the battle and marked a common grave for all horse bones found on the battlefield. Finally, when we left the park we went a mile north to Crow Agency, the capital of the Crow Reservation, and were surprised to find a horse wandering freely through the town.

After Crow Agency we returned to the Last Stand Café across from the park entrance to have a bite. I decided to try the “Indian taco” which is traditional taco ingredients piled on top of Indian fried bread – something similar to fried dough, but not so sweet. Delicious!