GREASY GRASS BATTLE GROUND

First, when you open the blog today, you notice that I now have a logo.  My granddaughter COURTLAND THOMAS CROMER design the logo for me and help me add it to my blog.  Thanks Courtland.

Every story, event or happening has two sides.  The Indians named the battle with Custer and his men, Greasy Grass Battle.  The grass that was growing  in the area of the battle had a greasy feel to the Indians, so this is the name they gave to the battle.  The Little Big Horn battle was the name that the white man chose.

This was my second visit to Little Big Horn. They added a bus tour of the area and the guide/speaker was a native American Indiana.  He talk was more from what the Indians remember of the battle.  There were more Indiana survivors, than white men.

The above photo is of what is called Custer's hill. The white markers was placed where some of the soldiers died. 

This photo is taken inside the memorial for the Indians.  This has been added since my first visit. 

There are plaques along the wall, telling of the tribes that fought Custer and his men. Tells of the Indians that died from the battle and other names of Indians that lived to tell their story.  Of course, history talks about the two most important Indians, which was Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.  A little trivia.  What was Crazy Horse's birth name.  CURLY!!.  Yes.  He had curly hair when he was born.  He was given his father's name after he proved himself in battle at the age of 14.

This photo show the valley along the Little Big Horn river, Where the encampment of the Indians were located.  The Indian history states there were between 8000-10000 people located here.  Many had come to be under the protection of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.  4000 of these Indians were warriors.  If you do not know, why these Indians were at this location I will explain latter.  The encampment was 6 miles long and 3 miles wide.  Just a side note, Indian history said there where 50000-75000 Indian  horses, grazing on the hill side.  The military had no idea the number of Indians that were in the valley.  The military where advancing on this area, from three directions. South, East and West.  Custer was coming from the East.  More on this latter.

This is the monument for Custer and all of the 7th Calvary that died that day, June 25th, 1876.

All names of the men that died that day are carved on the monument.

This plaque tells of the archeological survey that was done on the Custer's Battle Field after a prairie fire swept the area in 1983.  It show photos of some of the 1,159 artifacts recovered; iron arrow heads, bullets, buttons, coins, soldier skeletal remains, boots, etc.

This tells that on June 25, 1926, White Bull, nephew of Sitting Bull, shank hands with General Edward S. Godfrey and bury the hatchet on the ground where the Indian memorial would be placed.

A treaty was signed ten year prior to the battle at Little Bid Horn.  This treaty gave the Indians large portions of land in South Dakota and Montana Territory, which included the Black Hills of Dakota. 

Gold was discovered on the land in Montana, which brought white settlers.  The Indians chased them off.  Than Gold was discovered in Black Hills. More white settlers came under the guard of the military and the Indians fought them off.  The Indians decided the white men had broken the treaty, so the Indians in the area decided to band together to fight the white men instead of each other. That is why the Indians had gather at Little Big Horn, to form a large nation, not to fight. They felt that if the US Government saw so many Indians, they would not attach.   President Grant ordered the  capture of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The  military was trying to find them.  Indians' history says' they fought to save their way of life'. It was a good victory for the Indians, but a sad day for all of Sitting Bull's people. Because, he knew that the white man would not stop until all Indians where dead.

If You have not visited LITTLE BIG HORN, I recommend that you plan a trip.

Over 2000 miles and still going.

 I took this photo in Miles City, Montana.  It was after a heavy down pour of rain.  Sun breaking thru the clouds and there was dust particles in the clouds.  

Any way, going to Wyoming.  You coming???