A Western River's Place in History

The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is located right off I-90 at Crow Agency in eastern Montana.




Battlefield Cemetery overlooking the Little Bighorn River

The place got its name from the river it overlooks.
My hour-long stop there on the drive out last week was time well spent. Like the national monuments at Shiloh and Gettysburg seen on other trips, this one was equally moving. The clash of landscape, circumstance, and sheer timing are profound.




Iron Sculpture at Indian Memorial

We all remember Custer’s Last Stand from our childhood history books. That side of the story is well told here, putting this battle in the historical perspective of the decades-long struggle between Western settlers, the U.S. Government, and the Plains Indians.

In 1991, an act of Congress changed the name of the monument from Custer Battlefield to Little Bighorn Battlefield, and an Indian memorial to honor Native American participation in the battle was erected. 

Testimonial along the wall of the Indian Memorial

More than a century later, it does that extremely well.