Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A Journey to Custer's Last Stand-Little Big Horn National Park

Since we were taking a different route across Montana, we decided to stop and see the Little Big Horn National Park where Custer's last stand became history. We were not sure we could park the motorhome in the park, but after we entered, we saw a space on the side of the road just big enough for us so we pulled over, parked and began exploring.
We walked up the hill to the monument depicting that final battle. On the monument is listed all the soldiers that fought in the battle. The Indians certainly had the upper hand in this battle. And speaking of Indians, there is a really cool memorial across the road for all the Indian braves that fought and died in this battle. I especially liked the wrought iron images on the top of the monument.

Inside the memorial, which was embedded slightly below ground level, were plaques that told some of the story of the battle and listed the Indians that fought. It was a monument in the round so you were surrounded by native information (sort of like Custer was!).

The cemetery there was quite massive as you can see by the photo. This was only half of the cemetery. You can also see our motorhome in the background beyond the cemetery. I thought the park was laid out well and was easy to walk. There was a driving trail that we did not take since we did not want to unhook the car.

We did sit in on the talk by one of the native rangers. She was born and raised in this area and her relatives fought here as well. She told us where the battles were fought, the background behind the attack and showed some of the weapons that were used in that era. All and all, it was very informative but it was quite hot so we were glad when the hour talk was over.

This was an interesting diversion on our way to Clinton, Montana and our friend Patsy's house...

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