Andrew’s favorite travel stop so far was in Crow Agency, Montana, which is the headquarters of the Crow Indian Reservation. As the weeks of 100 plus degrees continued, we were able to use our America the Beautiful National Parks Pass for the first time with a visit to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
The property’s 765 acres include a visitor center, cemetery, two memorials and a vast battlefield area. It is located on two small plots of federal land with a large area of Crow Indian Reservation land in between, so the 4.5 mile drive through the various defense and battlefield locations took us past a gate and sign notifying us that we were entering private property (Crow Country). It was on this reservation land that we paused for some seemingly free-grazing horses to pass, adding to the mystique of the historic land upon which we tread.
There are a few ways to experience the battlefield, including an audio tour with point-to-point storytelling (if you can get cell service). Without any service available to us, we instead picked up a map upon arrival at the Visitor’s Center, which marked and explained each stop or point of interest along the roadway. We suggest driving all the way to the end of the drive to begin the tour, working your way chronologically through the days of battle, until you end up back at the visitor’s center.
There are signs located at each wayside with a painting of the landscape and positions of the Indians and US federal troops during the key days of battle. So as we gazed across the vast landscape of today, we could see and reconcile those fateful days in history by matching up the hillsides and valleys with the painted sign images. With that, I could visualize the nearly 8,000 Native American men, women and children living off the land in a village of tipis along the Little Bighorn River in front of us. We could envision Captain Benteen’s and Major Reno’s men lowering themselves in the shallow gullies hidden by the barren ridges of the terrain. When they failed to make it to where General Custer’s men were located, the story of Custer’s last stand came to life, and we were able to stand at the monument where he and all his men fell in resounding defeat by the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors.
Throughout the battlefields, archeologists and historians have worked hard to find, identify and mark the location of every man that perished that day. Seeing the little white stone markers spread across the prairie landscape was a moving and ghostly experience, as it helped me to visualize the full tragedy of one historic battle in the lengthy decimation of our country’s native people and their peaceful way of life.
Standing at the top of Last Stand Hill, where Custer and his men dug in for their fateful end at the hands of White Bull and his fellow warriors, Andrew felt the full force of what happened on that day in history. Having always been a fan of history, he wanted to use all his senses to experience this place where brave men on both sides of the battle fought for what they thought was right. Looking out over that hillside, he could see the markers of the fallen all around, he could hear the echoes of warrior battle cries from one side of the sad fight and touch the ground upon which federal troops fell from the other side. He could practically taste the pain of the Native Americans in the oppressive heat of the day as they fought for their way of life, and smell the hubris and impatience of Custer and his men. The result was both predictable and unexpected at the same time. This is what makes history so fascinating.
The most interesting part of the visit for me was to see how, as a nation, we are still struggling to find a balanced way to tell our story. Since 1976, the American Indian Movement (AIM) had been formally protesting the reverence of Custer and presentation of the site as part of a heroic saga in American military history and the expansion into the American West. They instead argued for a more accurate representation of what was happening across the west – a battle to protect their nomadic way of life on land they had been occupying long before European Americans landed on the continent. The loss of the Native American way of life needed to be part of the history being told.
It wasn’t until 1991 that the site was renamed, removing the name Custer from the title, and approval was given to build an Indian Memorial onsite (whereas the well-known Seventh Cavalry Memorial on Last Stand Hill had been erected in 1881). Completed in 2003, the Indian Memorial was the most telling and dramatic part of the site for me. Built in a simple circular pattern of carved stone walls, it honors the Native Americans who struggled to preserve and defend their homeland and traditional way of life. Their heroic sacrifice was finally and formally recognized, and the stories and quotes that were most important to each tribe were etched into the stone. On the distant edge of the memorial, rises a large Spirit Warrior Sculpture, showing warriors riding horses into battle against the backdrop of the wild Montana sky.
Following our hours-long visit to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Memorial, we stopped at a nearby cafe and gift shop for a meal and a much-needed pitcher of ice water (interestingly, still named “Custer Battlefield Trading Post and Cafe”). We sat in this simple local establishment, among several tables of tourists and several tables of local Native Americans. I noticed the whiteness of each tourist’s skin and contrasted it with the beautiful dark skin and hair of the Native Americans nearby, whom I thought were perhaps Crow, as we were sitting in Crow Agency, Montana.
After a while, a table of young Native American men and women were joined by another group from the next dining room and they laughed and socialized. In many ways they were typical teenagers and young twenty-somethings in their dress and mannerisms. But in other ways, you could see their history and culture come to life, in their manner of speaking, with the long braided hair for some of the girls and with decoratively shaved hair or sharp, short, upright pony tails worn by some of the boys. I smiled at the thought of how they strived to keep their culture alive so many generations after the loss of their traditional way of life.
It was then that this group of perhaps a dozen young adults broke into song with a rendition of Happy Birthday for one of their seated friends. As the oh-so-familiar song ended and applause broke out across the dining room for the birthday girl, you could hear the distinct and familiar Native American celebratory trill, I believe also known now as “lele”. A number of the youngsters were cheering in celebration with the historic ululation of their ancestors.
It struck me that today’s Native Americans find their history and culture important to keep alive, even as all of our cultures continue to be watered down over the generations in this melting pot nation. As German Americans celebrate Oktoberfest around the country, and Irish Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and Mexican Americans enjoy Cinco de Mayo, Native Americans also live out their history and traditions. Every culture has its special foods, celebrations, songs, clothing and ways of living to keep our ancestors alive in each of us.
As each generation travels through time, it is my wish that we all remember these unique differences carried forward from our ancestors, while at the same time, continue to grow together more than we grow apart. May we enjoy a growing peace and understanding, so that the painful and uglier parts of our shared histories become stories that we tell about lessons we have learned.
Safe travels and enjoy the discovery of our history!
Native American Quotes
In 1990, President George H. W. Bush approved designated November “National American Indian Heritage Month” to honor the culture, traditions, music, crafts, dance, and ways and concepts of life of Native people of the United States.
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
– Chief Seattle, Duwamish
“I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man.”
– Sun Bear, Chippewa
“If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys.”
– Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation
“We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees.”
– Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation
“I have heard you intend to settle us on a reservation near the mountains. I don’t want to settle. I love to roam over the prairies. There I feel free and happy, but when we settle down we grow pale and die.”
– Chief Satanta, Kiowa
“Honor the sacred. Honor the Earth, our Mother. Honor the Elders. Honor all with whom we share the Earth:-Four-leggeds, two-leggeds, winged ones, Swimmers, crawlers, plant and rock people. Walk in balance and beauty.”
– Native American Elder
“If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace… Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow.All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief.They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it…”
– White Elk
“Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers,free to think and talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.”
– Heinmot Tooyalaket (Chief Joseph), Nez Perce Leader
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
– Chief Seattle, 1854
“What is Life? “It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. The True Peace. The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.”
– Black Elk, Oglala Sioux and Spiritual Leader (1863 – 1950)
“Hold on to what is good, Even if it’s a handful of earth. Hold on to what you believe, Even if it’s a tree that stands by itself. Hold on to what you must do, Even if it’s a long way from here. Hold on to your life, Even if it’s easier to let go. Hold on to my hand, Even if someday I’ll be gone away from you.”
– Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator 1830 – 1890
“The Holy Land is everywhere.”
– Black Elk
“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.”
– Dakota Tribe
“All who have died are equal.”
– Comanche People
- SOURCE: xavier.com
