Leslie and David's Wanderings: 28 July 2023 Little Bighorn Battlefield NM

We drove down to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument expecting to only spend a couple of hours in the park based on our previous visits to national battlefields. The Little Bighorn is famous as the last stand for LtCol. Custer and the 7^th Cavalry. We found ourselves immersed in the flow and movement of the battle and ended up spending over 5 hours in the park. On the 25^th of June 1876, LtCol Custer, fearing his column had been detected by the Sioux Indians, split his forces of 800+ soldiers, civilians and Indian Scouts into three columns. One column of 175men was ordered to attack the large Indian village spread out along the Little Bighorn River, while another column was ordered to the west to cut off any retreat in that direction while Lt. Col Custer lead a larger force of over 220 men to the bluffs on the east of the Little Bighorn River. The Indian village was composed of 8,000 to 12,000 Indians from the three tribes of the Sioux (Lakota, Nakota and Dakota) and members of several additional tribes that had gathered to hunt buffalo off the reservation. They estimate that there were anywhere from 1,200 to 1,800 warriors in the camp. The battle which lasted all of the 25^th and most of the 26^th resulted in the death of 260+ members of LtCol. Custers command including the famous stand on Last Stand Hill. They do not know how many Indians were killed in the battle since the Indians had removed their dead from the battlefield and disposed of the bodies in accordance with each tribes customs. There are white markers in the field where the body of a 7^th Cavalry member was found and initially buried, and red markers where they believe famous Indian Warriors fell. The remains of the soldiers were later recovered and set to rest in a mass grave at the top of Last Stand hill and a marker erected. Officers were later reburied back east based on the wishes of the family. LtCol Custer and his wife were reburied in West Point. Something we had not know that during the Civil War, Custer had been a Brigadier General and had been reduce in rank to Lieutenant Colonel after the war when the army was reduced in size. But he was still entitled to the privileges of the rank of Brigadier General. Over 350 members of the 7^thCavalry survived the two day battle. The Indians escaped to the north. Several Sioux tribe made it to Canada but many of the Indians were eventually captured and forced back to the reservations.