Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
headquarters;
Busby
is the other primary settlement on the reservation. Ashland and Birney
are just outside the reservation.
MM
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
The
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
(65 miles southeast of Billings, 15
miles southeast of Hardin, 1 mile east of I-90 on U.S. 212, 406/638-2621,
www.nps.gov/
Labor Day-mid-Oct. and Apr.-Memorial Day, 8am-4:30pm daily mid-Oct.-Mar., $10/
vehicle, $5 pedestrians and motorcycles) is a desolate, somber, and terribly meaningful
place, commemorating a tragic battle with no true victors, only bloodshed marking the end
of an era. The monument memorializes the battlefield made famous by Lieutenant Colon-
el George Armstrong Custer, more than 200 men from his 7th Cavalry, and the thousands
of Native American warriors who fought under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse for their very
way of life against a foreign government that they perceived as dishonest, utterly unreliable,
and tyrannical.
In early 1876, thousands of Native Americans from numerous tribes slipped away from
their reservations, restless and disgruntled at having been repeatedly lied to and mistreated
by the U.S. government. Countless skirmishes throughout the winter and spring reinvigor-
ated the Army's pursuit of the Native Americans, and four centuries of conflict between
Native Americans and European Americans came to a head in June 1876 at the battle, when
Custer and his men attacked an enormous force of Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho and were
immediately surrounded. Custer's infamous Last Stand actually lasted less than an hour,
and every man under his command on that hill was killed.
The
Little Bighorn Battlefield Visitor Center and Museum
(8am-6pm daily Apr.-
May, 8am-9pm daily June-July, 8am-6pm daily Aug.-Oct., 8am-4:30pm daily Nov.-Mar.)
is a must for those visiting the site. The compact facility powerfully interprets the events
leading up to and following the battle. Exhibited artifacts include weapons, photos of the
key players, archaeological findings, and, during the off-season, a 25-minute video docu-
mentary. Rangers give frequent interpretive lectures, and bus tours of the site are available
in summer.
