Day 2-Montana
We left Sheridan,Wyoming and headed to Rosebud Battlefield State Park which is the site of a Plains Indian War battle a few days before the Little Bighorn that resulted in a stalemate after several hours of fierce fighting and caused Gen. Crook to retire back to Sheridan to resupply and rest his troops. The tough opposition from Cheyenne and Sioux warriors caused him to be cautious and unwilling to move out without further reinforcements and thus he was not there to assist at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
It’s also known by the Cheyenne as the battle where the girl saved her brother. Buffalo Calf Road Woman saw her brother’s horse shot out from underneath him and in a hail of bullets, she rode into the battle and her brother climbed onto the horse behind her. They rode to safety and she later fought beside her husband at the Little Bighorn.
Rosebud is off the beaten path and we drove into the backcountry to get to it. We passed an interesting dugout and saw isolated farmsteads along Rosebud Creek. It was very beautiful back there and fascinating to see some of the “real” Montana. Next we headed to Little Bighorn and it’s a site that’s been on my life list for a long time so it was fun to finally see it.
I had studied up in the car about the battle so had a good overview and as we hiked the various trails I was again impressed by the terrain and the ground. It’s surprisingly undulating ground, so groups of warriors had ample places to gather for attacks and protection for guerrilla-type warfare. Custer’s “Last Stand” took place on a hill along a ridge and once we saw the ground and walked down in the low area below it and looked up, it was easy to imagine how it all ended for those members of the 7th Cavalry.
The same with the Deep Ravine area where 28 troopers were killed in a low, tight area easy for the warriors to fire down on them.
We also hiked around the Reno-Benteen battle area four miles away which is part of the park and includes the fighting that took place the day before and same day as the more famous Custer fight. Reno’s men crossed the river into the huge warrior encampment but were driven back across the Little Bighorn and retreated up to a high area where they made a successful stand and survived to travel over to the Custer battle area the next day and bury the bodies.
In the early 1990’s the name of the park was changed from Custer Battlefield to Little Bighorn and attention was changed from Custer to both sides of the conflict. A Spirit Memorial was built to help the spirits of the soldiers and warriors find peace and red markers were placed around the battlefield where accounts showed that native warriors had fallen. These are in addition to the white 7th Cavalry markers that had been there for many years.
We really enjoyed our trip to Little Bighorn and gained a respect for and understanding of the events.
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