Little Bighorn and Mt Rushmore

Vanlog, Black Hills National Forest, SD

This morning, I awoke early as usual and drove a little over an hour to Little Bighorn National Monument in Montana. Here, after watching the film and listening ot a ranger talk, I walked up the Last Stand Hill, where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer lost five companies of the 7^th Cavalry and his own life to the Lakota and Cheyenne Indians who refused to settle on a Reservation with government subsidies for food. They preferred their old ways of life, hunting and gathering and free to roam the land that was theirs before gold was discovered in the Black Hills and the Euro-Americans began to encroach on their land. Ironically, it was Custer who was sent in a peace effort a year earlier to protect the Indians from the Euro-American expansion. After the U.S. government unsuccessfully tried to purchase the Black Hills from the Northern Plains Indian tribes, President Grant changed his tune and ordered the Army to round them all up on reservations. Custer was among those in charge of enforcing this order. The plan was a three-fold attack on the Indian encampment, with Gen. George Crook coming from the south, Gen. John Gibbon from the west and Gen. Alfred Terry from the east tightening the noose so there could be no escape. However, the attack was uncoordinated and over long distances. Crook’s troops were repulsed by the Lakota and Cheyenne a few miles south in the Battle of Rosebud on June 17, 2876 and were essentially removed from the forthcoming Battle at Little Bighorn. Gen. Terry ordered Custer and his 7^th Cavalry to attack from the south while he and Gen. Gibbon approached from the north. Seeing a cloud of dust and fearing that the Indians might prematurely escape, Custer attacked the camp on June 25, 1876 and was completely outnumbered. Furthermore, he had divided his 600 men into three companies. Reno and Benteen were forced to retreat, leaving Custer and his small company of soldiers alone to fight the battle. Outnumbered, they hunkered down on the high ground now known as Last Stand Hill. Here, they were massacred by the combined Indian forces. The site where Custer fell is marked by a black gravestone.

I sensed a spiritual presence when I was standing on Last Stand Hill.  The wrought iron outline of three Indians on horseback at the more recent Indian Memorial just across the street from the 7^th Cavalry Memorial on last Stand Hill had the almost eerie feeling that their spirits were still present, silhouetted against the peaceful blue sky. A bird alighted softly atop the 7^th Cavalry Memorial and a pack of wild horses crossed the road in front of me as I drove along the battlefield lines.

I left Little Bighorn and traveled about 6 hrs east along Routes 90 and 16 to Mt Rushmore National Monument, arriving around 4:30 PM. I am always a little disappointed by Mt Rushmore and how commercialized it has become. Even with your national park pass, you have to pay $10 per car to park in this modern parking garage. There are now multiple layers of granite columns that mark the entrance to the plaza overlooking the mountain. It is always crowded with people taking selfies and idiots like me who want to have their face replacing one of the Presidents enshrined on the monument. But, if you ask the national park service, there is a quiet trail away from the crowds that takes you part way up the mountain for a closer view. After the obligatory photo stop here, I camped nearby in the Black Hills National Forest for the night.