15 Aug - Little Big Horn, Downtown Sheridan Stops and Dinner

15 Aug

This morning we headed north on I-90 back into Montana to a little town called Crow Agency. It's claim to fame is that is where the the Little Big Horn National Battlefield is located - where Gen George Custer fought his final battle "Custer's Last Stand".

Very concisely: June 25, 1876 over 7000 Indians were encamped near the Little Big Horn River because they refused to sign the treaties and be restricted to their reservations. Gen George Custer was sent there with the 7th Cavalry to deal with them. The Indian warriors were grossly underestimated and the end result was a horrific battle where the 268 American soldiers died including Gen Custer and 55 were severely wounded. One of the Companies was from Iowa.

We are thankful we have our Access Pass for the National Parks. We are able to visit all of the National Parks free of charge with this pass and my military ID. Most of the places we have visited have been about $30 per carload. For instance, we were in Yellowstone three times so that would have been $90 right there.

There were several sections of parking for over-sized vehicles so we were able to find a good parking space with plenty of room for the big RAM. We made our way to the Visitor Center and they gave us some suggestions for touring the battlefield. They have an informative video but it was going to be 30 minutes or so before it started , so we headed up the path to the Last Stand Hill Seventh Cavalry Memorial.

A view walking up the path

On the right are markers showing where 220 soldiers, scouts and civilian bodies were found and originally buried.

In 1881 the bodies were re-interred in a single grave on this site.  In 1877 the officer's remains were re-interred in cemeteries throughout the country.  Gen Custer was re-interred at West Point NY 

Custer's grave at West Point Military Academy NY.  Custer graduated in 1861 last in his class.

The monument at the top of Last Stand Hill pays tribute to those who perished here.  This is within feet of where Gen George Custer's body was found..

From the monument looking back towards the visitor center.  The cemetery is in the background.

Then we crossed the road and viewed the memorial at Last Stand Hill where the soldiers shot their horses to hide behind as they fought the Indians. 41 horses are buried near this memorial.

Along the path were markers of where various Indian warriors were found.

 Down the path a bit further was an Indian memorial. This memorial commemorates the sacrifices of the tribes in the battle as they fought to protect their values and way of life. The theme of the memorial is "Peace through Unity". It is the only memorial to the native American experience mandated by Congress and constructed with federal funds.

Entrance to the memorial

The iconic wire sculpture

 10 Aug 1983 there was a huge prairie fire that swept through the entire battlefield area. They used this opportunity to do a massive archaeological survey lasting over five weeks netting 1159 artifacts to include weapons, arrow heads, buttons, coins, skeletal remains, etc.  

We continue down the path back to the visitor center and watched the movie. There is also a museum there displaying many artifacts from the area.

 At the battlefield memorial is also the Custer National Cemetery.  The War Department established this cemetery in 1879.  The remains from 25 cemeteries were transferred here when the frontier forts closed.   Since then, warriors from the Indians Wars, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War are buried here.  The cemetery reached capacity in 1978.

Fallen soldier from Camp Dodge IA

 

 Across the highway from the battlefield is a gift shop and restaurant, so we stopped there briefly and Doreen shopped for souvenirs.

We headed back to the campground and hung around there for a while.  We had a late lunch, then drove downtown Sheridan.  There are various sites we want to see here and we have this afternoon and also tomorrow.  Since we got back late and lunch was late we did not get downtown until most of the shops were closed (5pm).  So we walked the main street and saw some places we want to come back to tomorrow.  While there we did find the "Mint Bar".  It was built in 1907 and has served thirsty cowboys, ranchers, dudes and dude-ettes ever since.  Ice was hauled to the bar by horse drawn wagons.  It was redecorated in the late 1940's in the style shown today.  The walls are lined with cedar shingles with over 9000 cattle brands from all over Wyoming.  There is a huge collection of taxidermy game mounts of all kinds from the owner's trips to the Yukon in the 1950's.  The wood work is incredible to include the bar, the booths and the benches.  Cool place and we had to sample their beverages of course!!

Doreen in front of the entrance to the Mint Bar.  The neon sign of the cowboy on the horse is iconic.

Photographs and game mounts

The Mint Bar in 1907 when it opened

Very cool photo of the bar full of cowboys, looking towards the entrance

Awesome booths created from tree branches

Another view

Beautiful and very old wooden bar

Doreen near the entrance at the bar

Bear trap hanging over the bar

Ornate woodwork on the bar

This is embedded in the floor

 We then went across the street and walked past the King's Saddlery.  We will visit this place tomorrow, but it is full of saddles, ropes and various other gear

 We finished up the evening at the Wyoming Rib and Chop House where we ate way too much.  Doreen had ribs and I had a pork chop.  The food was absolutely awesome.  Our campground gave us a coupon for a free appetizer which we really did not need!

 Tomorrow we will visit a local museum and several other local sites, stores and places of interest.  Finally we will tear down and make preparations to depart the next morning for Rapid City SD and Ellsworth Air Force Base FamCamp.