We're staying in a campground in Hardin, Montana (once again surrounded by corn/wheat/sugar beet fields!) as a base to visit the Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Battlefields are usually very poignant places and this one- despite huge crowds- is no exception. I love the plains/prairie; some people see it as just a great empty space, but I think it's just beautiful with the grasses and wildflowers covering everything as far as you can see. At the battlefield, across the plains you can see the mountains in the distance (I think it's the Bighorn Mountains). It's a very lonely place, too, especially when you think of what happened here.
As most people know, this was the site of a fierce battle between the US 7th Cavalry (led by Lt Colonel George A. Custer) and the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Indians (led by Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull). It was an overwhelming victory for the native Americans, though they ultimately lost the war. One Park Ranger explained, that to him, both sides in this conflict were true patriots who loved their country and their way of life.
Until the 1990s this was called the Custer Battlefield Monument. The name was changed to Little Bighorn Battlefield after President Bush senior instructed that the monument also reflect the losses of the Native Americans. Until that time, the monument focused entirely on the sacrifice of the US Army; memorials and markers covered the battlefield where US soldiers fell; there was no recognition at all of the fallen Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. While the first President Bush ordered the creation of a memorial to the Native war dead, it wasn't until the second President Bush that funds were appropriated to actually build the monument.
Above is a photo of the memorial to the 7th cavalry on Last Stand Hill as well as the newer memorial to the Indians erected nearby.
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