Finally, Little Big Horn

Leslie Sunday, September 28, 2008

Sunday was sunny and warm. When we arrived at Little Big Horn National Monument the ranger said that last year on this date they had already stopped giving presentations for the season due to cold weather. We drove the road along the top of the battlefield, stopping to read the various information displays. The manager at the 7th Ranch Campground had lent us a CD of the audio tour so we were able to listen to the narration as we drove.

Most of the soldiers killed in the battle were buried a few days later at the place where they fell. Some time later the US Army placed white markers to mark each location. As you look out over the hills, you can see the white markers, sometimes in the distance, sometimes in clumps where a number of soldier fell together. If you look carefully you can see three white markers in the distance of this picture.



They have done a lot of archeological research here to determine the movement of soldiers and Indians. It is clear the Custer attacked with far to few soldiers. The ratios were close to 1:10 – attackers to defenders. (Historically, common military standards called for the attacker to outnumber the defenders by 3:1.) As part of the archeological research they discovered a cemetery for the horses of the cavalry. Apparently at the end of the battle Custer and his few remaining men killed their horses and used the horses as bunkers. The men of the cavalry were strongly loyal to their horses and likely the US Army forces who arrived a few days after the battle buried the horses together.




Later we went to a ranger presentation on the battle. He did a pretty good job of explaining the actions of separate units, confused by the “fog” of war, and unable to communicate with each other due to the distances involved. One thing that struck me as we drove the battlefield was how large the space is. I was thinking of the hills of Gettysburg — but this battle covered a much larger distance.

Here is an example of the markers for US Army troops.



And the memorial to the fallen Indians.



There are few markers for fallen Indians because first, few Indians were killed, and second, the markers were placed only with the permission of the descendants. Most of the Indian descendants preferred to leave the graves marked as they had been marked by the families at the end of the battle, by rock cairns.

When we returned to our camp we were treated by another gorgeous sunset.