Visitors climb the path to Last Stand Hill where marble headstones mark where members of the United States 7th Cavalry fell in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, including that of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
When I started studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence in the Dyche Museum of Natural History, I saw the preserved body of Comanche, a horse that survived the battle at the Little Bighorn despite grave injuries. I became fascinated with this beautiful horse and his history, especially when I learned that the horse lived for a time at Fort Meade, near Sturgis, South Dakota, where my father grew up. Comanche spent a lot of time at forts in Kansas, my home state, before his final spot in Dyche Museum.
The Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana (June 25–26, 1876) has been depicted widely in paintings, books and movies from many viewpoints. Visiting the battlefield adds much more to the story as you travel over the rolling hills of grass, reading how the battle occurred. My husband and I have visited this battlefield twice. Horses graze in the pastures there, bringing to mind the many horses who tragically were involved in the battle.
Seventh Cavalry Horse Cemetery Memorial at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Memorial, Montana.
My first memory of learning about the battle happened when I was a Girl Scout tour guide in the late 1960s at the open-air museum Cowtown. I saw a painting depicting “Custer’s Last Stand” in one of the buildings in Cowtown, an “Old West” museum with more than 50 historic and re-created buildings, in Wichita, Kansas.
In 1970, when I started studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, the popular movie “Little Big Man” debuted. Based on a novel by Thomas Berger, “Little Big Man” depicted scenes from the Battle of the Little Bighorn, known as the Battle of the Greasy Grass by Native Americans. There is too much to write about Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his U.S. Army 7th Cavalry fatal encounter with the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Native Americans, but I’ll add some links at the bottom of this post.
About the Battle of the Little Bighorn (from Wikipedia)
A marker shows where Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer fell on Last Stand Hill at the Little Bighorn Battlefield Monument in Montana.
The horse Comanche, photographed in 1887. Comanche survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn. He is one of only four horses in United States history to be given a military funeral with full military honors. His preserved body is now on display at Dyche Museum of Natural History at the University of Kansas.
Indian Memorial Sculpture, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Memorial, Montana.
Custer National Cemetery, and the History of National Cemeteries.
I hate that animals are forced into the battles among humans.
Comanche, the horse that survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Wikipedia).
Comanche, the horse that survived the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Custer’s Last Stand Suicide Myth.
THE 7TH CAVALRY HORSE CEMETERY (Little Big Horn). A very interesting history lesson.
Catherine Sherman 