Location: Big Horn County, Montana Map
Area: 765 acres (3.0972 km2)
Commemorates: Little Bighorn Battlefield (June 25- 26 1876)
Tel. +1 406 638-2621. Spring: 8AM-6PM; Summer: 8AM-8PM; Fall: 8AM-6PM; Winter: 8AM-4:30PM. Private vehicle $20; Motorcycle $15; Walk/ bicycle $10/person.
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is situated in Big Horn County, Montana in United States. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument covers an area of 765 acres (3.0972 km2). It commemorates the Battle of Little Bighorn, in which on June 25-26, 1876, the seventh US cavalry regiment under George A. Custer of Indians of the Lakota Sioux, Arapaho and Cheyenne under their leaders crushing Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse on the Little Bighorn River. The Battle of the Little Bighorn River was the largest military defeat of the US Army in the Indian Wars. The memory was largely shaped by the military view for over a century. The memorial site at the site of the Battle was already dedicated in 1879 as the National Cemetery, became a National Monument in 1946 and got its present name in 1991. It is located in the Reserve of the Crow Indians, along with the Reno-Benteen Battlefield Memorial, which commemorates the final battle.
In December 1991, President George H. W. Bush renamed the memorial to its current name of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, declaring that Indians' sacrifices should be equally commemorated and their role and culture honored in the future. For this purpose, the Indian Memorial was built in the following years, a monument with three wire mesh figurines, which remind of the three peoples involved Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho.
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Sitting Bull (1831- 1890)
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George Armstrong Custer (1839- 1876)
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Marcus Reno (1834- 1889)
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The Sioux Indians were to be persuaded to sell the
Black Hills, a mountain range on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, which
was sacred to them. The area was immediately west of their reservation
and had been granted them exclusive hunting ground by the 1868 Treaty of
Fort Laramie. A breach of contract by the US Army under Lt. Col. George
A. Custer reported gold occurrences in the mountains in 1874, and
prospectors by the thousands flocked to the area. There also lived and
hunted some groups of Sioux and Cheyenne people who had never recognized
the 1868 treaty and reservation. Their chiefs Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse
and Gall resisted the invading whites and were declared hostile by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In June 1876, US Army units advanced on
the area from three sides in a pincer movement. George A. Custer led the
approximately 600 men of the 7th US Cavalry Regiment as a vanguard on a
reconnaissance mission. He had orders not to attack any Indians found,
and he carried no heavy weapons, particularly Gatling bolt-action guns.
On June 25, 1876, his scouts found the Indian village in the valley of
the Little Bighorn River. The number of residents cannot be determined
with certainty, more recent estimates range from around 1000 to 2500
warriors. Despite the superior numbers and his orders, Custer attacked,
probably because he thought his troops had been spotted and wanted to
use the element of surprise.
The attack failed, the Hunkpapa
Sioux under Chief Gall were able to fend off a wing operation and roll
up the troops. They fled to cliffs by the river. The main wave under
Custer himself was brought to a standstill between the first tents, and
five companies of cavalry were forced to retreat to a hilltop. The Sioux
and Cheyenne managed to bypass the hill and cut off the army's retreat.
All soldiers of these units were killed.
The survivors of the
wing operation under Major Marcus Reno and three other companies under
Captain Frederick Benteen massed on bluffs by the river and were driven
back there that evening as they approached the battlefield. A total of
268 soldiers died, including 14 officers, and 55 other soldiers remained
missing. The Indian peoples had between proven 64 and an estimated 300
victims to mourn.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn River was the US Army's greatest
military defeat in the Indian Wars. For about a century, memory was
largely shaped by the military perspective. The first memorial was a
National Cemetery, established in 1879. In 1886 it was renamed the
National Cemetery of Custer's Battlefield Reservation, and casualties
from other wars were also buried there. Custer's body is not here; it
was transferred to the United States Military Academy Cemetery at West
Point in 1877. About three miles away, the site of the last stand of
Reno and Benteen was incorporated into the memorial in 1926 as the
Reno-Benteen Battlefield. In 1940 it was transferred to the National
Park Service, and in 1946 its status was redesignated as a national
monument and renamed Custer Battlefield National Monument.
In
December 1991, President George H.W. Bush renamed the memorial to its
current name, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and ordered
that in the future, Native American victims should be equally
commemorated and honored for their role and culture. For this purpose,
the Indian Memorial was erected in the following years, a memorial with
three wireframe figures that commemorate the three peoples involved:
Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho.
