Its another beautiful morning and we take our breakfast at the ChuckWagon Cafeteria before checking out of the hotel and heading west into Montana. We drove to Glendive, MT, crossing the Yellowstone River, and then turned southwest heading upriver along the Yellowstone. This was the same route that Linda and I followed in 2011 on our Road Scholars Lewis and Clark Program.
Lunch Stop
Hay Bales
As we continued along the route we passed by field after field of mainly wheat, canola, and alfalfa, with thousands of hay bales in the fields. We continued on until we reached the Bighorn River where we turned south and followed it for some miles. Our lunch was at the Trading Post just outside the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Many of us tried their specialty — a fried bread Indian taco– and it was pretty good.
Entering the Monument
Our Crow Guide, Lou
After lunch we drove the short distance to the battlefield, which also has a national cemetary for veterans, and family members, who served up through Vietnam. We were met by our Crow guide, Lou, who described the major phases of the battle as we drove the five miles from the Visitor’s Center to Major Reno’s entrenchment.
The Memorial Plaque
View from Reno’s Entrenchment
Custer’s Last Stand
Markers where They Fell
Obviously serious mistakes by several US officers led to the disastrous outcome of the battle, but the bulk of the blame must lie with Custer himself. When told by his scout that he did not have enough bullets for the number of Indians he faced, he probably should have changed his plan.
This was clearly a major victory for the plains Indians, but retribution was swift and determined. In just a few years the divided Indian tribes were almost totally subdued, and the large Sioux reservation was broken up and greatly reduced in area.
When we left the battlefield we continued on south to Sheridan WY. After checking in at the Hampton Inn, we then drove on into town to The Historic Sheridan Inn where we had a tour of the building followed by a beef burger dinner.