2021 Glacier National Park with Karen and Wayne: Day Seven
FOURTH TRIP—LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT
Monday morning, August 2, 2021, was a little bittersweet when I woke up. My friends would be leaving and heading home to Tennessee. But we had one more adventure in store, before they left. When we first started planning their trip to what I have always referred to as “God’s Country,” Wayne said he would like to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield. So, with nothing else on my plate that fine sunny morning, I went with them to the battlefield, which is only seventy-three miles east of my home. I led the way in my car while they followed in their vehicle.
After a drive of about seventy miles, we arrived at the Little Bighorn National Battlefield, made famous by Lieutenant-Colonel (Brevet Major General) George Armstrong Custer’s inglorious defeat at the hands of an overwhelming force of native-Americas led by Sioux holy man Sitting Bull, and war leaders Gall and Crazy Horse.
It was here on this hallowed ground, on June 25, 1876, that Lieutenant-Colonel George Custer and all 212 men from five companies of the 7th US Cavalry were annihilated by Sioux and Cheyenne forces under direct command of famed warriors Gall and Crazy Horse. The battle occurred just nine days before our nation’s centennial birthday. Although Sitting Bull was at the battle, he did not take part.
When you first enter the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the Custer National Cemetery is on the right, then you come to the Visitor Center. There is a large parking area so on most occasions there should not be a problem, perhaps during the height of summer, but not on this day.
There is a paved road, and self-driving tour, that traverses the battlefield from the visitor center to the Reno-Benteen Battlefield site. There were seventeen tour stops along the way, with the first one actually being at the end of the road. We worked our way back, from the end of the line, the Reno-Benteen Battlefield, to the Custer Battlefield which is where the Visitor Center and the Custer National Cemetery are located. By starting at the end, which was the beginning of the famous battle, you can understand how and why Custer managed to get into so much trouble. It is about three to four miles from where Reno and Benteen wound up fighting the hostiles to the place that Custer and his 212 men perished. The survivors could hear the sound of fighting, but there was nothing they could do.
By driving to the end of the road, and working back, you are, in effect, following the footsteps of those ill-fated men of yesteryear. There are two major sectors of this monument, and both have a substantial parking area. The first, the Custer Battlefield is where we entered. The other is the Reno-Benteen Battlefield, and it is the one at the far end of this sacred ground. That is where we started. The road, basically, meanders from southwest to northeast.
Major Marcus Reno, the regimental executive officer, following his commander’s orders, crossed the Little Bighorn River late in the afternoon of June 25, 1876, to attack the Indian encampment from the south. Reno, with three troops,* companies A, G and M, had about 140 men under his command. Captain Benteen grudgingly followed his orders to make a “left oblique” march with his own H Company as well as D and K companies, approximately 110-115 soldiers, in what I would term a wild goose chase. It was rather obvious from his actions and later comments, that Benteen felt the same. Meanwhile, Colonel Custer, with five troops (companies C. E. F. I, and L), 212 men, galloped north of the Little Bighorn River in an attempt to attack the village from the other side. He had no idea what he was facing. None of his direct command, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, survived.
*In military parlance, the term company vs. troop vs. battery are all interchangeable. A company was a group of soldiers (infantry) under the command of a lieutenant or captain. In the artillery, that group would be known as an artillery battery whereas in the cavalry it would be called a cavalry troop.
Reno, with his three troops and Indian scouts, about 150 men, opened the battle by crossing to the south-side of the Little Bighorn River and attacking the Indian encampment from the east. They were met by hundreds of enraged warriors, much as a cloud of hornets flying from a disturbed nest would defend against a threat.
There are seventeen tour stops on this ‘paved’ road. The last seven were in the Custer Battlefield, site where George Armstrong Custer met his fate. The first four points are at the end of the road, where the Battle of the Little Bighorn actually began. That is where we started our journey. Reno’s survivors from his mauling down in the Little Bighorn valley had retreated up this hill, where they were joined by Captain Benteen’s battalion and the pack train. They dug in, and for the next day and a half fought to survive until finally relieved by the combined force under General Alfred Terry and Colonel John Gibbon. From this spot, we could view the areas where Reno was hammered by Indian forces under famed warrior Gall. You can see the original skirmish line Reno’s men formed in the valley, the spot where they retreated to the woods, for their second stand in the “Timber Fight,” and the long arduous retreat, first across the river and then up the bluffs to their final stand.
Unlike Custer, however, these men, along with the timely arrival of Benteen and the pack train, were able to survive. There is the spot (number six) on the map, where Custer, according to some Crow scouts who survived, watched Major Reno while he was getting mauled. Number seven is known as Weir Point. Captain Weir and his troop had left, without orders, to ride to the aid of Custer’s battalion. This was as far as they got before overwhelming numbers of native warriors forced Weir to retreat. There might be a hidden motive in why Weir did this. He was one of the Custer clique and thus, while Reno and Benteen may have been in no hurry to ride to Custer (and what would probably have been certain death), Weir was not constrained by loyalty to his battalion commander, Captain Benteen. Within a mile, however, Weir came charging back with a swarm of native-Americans under the now combined command of Gall and Crazy Horse, who had sealed Custer’s fate. The battle on the right, Custer’s Last Stand, was over. The Reno-Benteen Battle would now begin. *Sitting Bull, once said, “I do not understand this word massacre. If our people win a fight, it is a massacre. If you white men win, it is a victory. Why is it never a massacre when the white men win?”
As we followed (what is known as) Battlefield Road back to the Visitor Center, you can get a picture of just how this travesty happened. Custer’s forces were vastly outnumbered and too far away from each other to have provided assistance in case of trouble. Reno probably would have been wiped out if Benteen and the pack train had not arrived when they did. As for Custer and the 212 men under his command, their fate was sealed the moment he moved away from Reno.
As we followed (what is known as) Battlefield Road back to the Visitor Center, you can get a picture of just how this travesty happened. Custer’s forces were vastly outnumbered and too far away from each other to have provided assistance in case of trouble. Reno probably would have been wiped out if Benteen and the pack train had not arrived when they did. As for Custer and the 212 men under his command, their fate was sealed the moment he moved away from Reno.
But finally, all good things come to an end, and as Karen and Wayne left the battlefield they headed east on their return home, while I turned back to the west and retraced my steps back to Billings. We all knew, however, this would not be the last time I would see my friends out here in the Big Sky Country. Wayne and Karen were already looking forward to a return trip, perhaps next fall, for some fall-foliage viewing in Glacier, this time, with some possible hikes into the back country.
