1876 Grand Ball!

Hello! Sami here- We’ve been telling lots of tales from reenactment week lately and I have another one to share. On Wednesday of that week we went to the 1876 Grand Ball in Hardin. It was a period dress event at the fairgrounds, in which there would be dancing and music all dating from the centennial period. I can’t even begin to describe how excited I was to get to dress up and go dancing for a night! The whole ball thing was a bit of a rushed choice for us- we found out about it Monday, and I spent that afternoon trying to get in touch with the woman who was in charge of the dress rentals. Then, the next morning we went to try on our dresses before rushing back to Garryowen with them to get back to the museum.
Of course, by the time Wednesday night got here, I was so excited that I could barely sit still. Aimee, Kiley and I put on our dresses early so Chris could get some photos of us all dressed up in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the museum- it felt like we were getting glamour shots! From there, headed to the ball. What a sight we must’ve been: three girls dressed strangely, piling into a van, and driving down the road waving at whoever would bother to look our way. I’m sure people have interesting stories!
Anyway- the ball itself was really nice. It started off with what was called the “Grand March” in which all of the couples paired up (or in our case, all three of us got together in one line) and bowed before the leading couple of the dance- aka: General and Mrs. Custer. It was neat! From there we paused to get food, before we started dancing. The dances were fun- and we even got to dance one with the General and Libbie! While we were there, we also met several members of the Reno family; they were in town for a family reunion. It was nice to talk to people who had a personal connection with the events happening there and even nicer to find out that one was from my hometown! It is funny how small the world is sometimes.

Lodge Grass High School Graduation

Hi! Aimee here- one of the first things I got to do after I arrived was attend the Lodge Grass High School Graduation here on the Crow Reservation. I do not know exactly what I was expecting, but I assumed it would be a lot different from my graduation. However, it was relatively similar to my own graduation (except I had about 430 more kids in my class!) except for a few things.
The first thing I noticed was the decoration on the caps and gowns. When I graduated college, some students wrote things on their caps like “Hi Mom!” but the caps at Lodge Grass were decorated in a different sense. Most of the 24 students had decorative beading both on the cap and the gown. One boy even had eagle feathers on the back of his. We found out after the ceremony that this is tradition within the Crow community. Some of the beading was so incredibly intricate that it must have taken days to do.
Another difference I noted was a presentation of gifts throughout the ceremony. Each time someone special was mentioned, like the retiring teachers, they were called to the stage and given a blanket. As it turns out, these Pendleton blankets are very significant. They are given as a symbol of warmth, friendship and respect during important occasions, like a graduation. I was excited when I finally got to hear the Crow language spoken at the end of the ceremony; one prayer was said in the native Crow language. I had never heard this language spoken before and it was really cool to finally hear it! I really enjoyed my time at the graduation ceremony; it was a good look into educational aspects of Crow culture.

Crow Dancers At Sheridan Inn

Sam and Aimee with Traditional Crow Dancers.

Sami here again-
We’ve had a few days of sunshine! I’m so happy to see the nice weather. It makes it a lot easier for us to go out and explore a little. Yesterday, we went down to Sheridan Wyoming, which is south of Garryowen Montana about 65 miles, to watch Crow Tribal Dancers at the Sheridan Inn. The Sheridan Inn itself was a pretty cool thing to see, since it was bought by Buffalo Bill Cody soon after it was built and used for his Wild West Show. It is also in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the structure with the most gables. We were invited down there by a member of the Real Bird family, Pius Real Bird, the second oldest Crow Elder, to watch the dances. Chris said he would man the desk at the museum so we could have the experience and we headed that way around four thirty for the dancing at five thirty.
On our way, of course, we stopped at the state line to take a picture of the Wyoming state welcome sign. Which was neat. That and the red roads. Aimee had driven through Wyoming to come to Garryowen, and Kiley said it was something they quarried, but I think it just makes everything look all picturesque…the red road against the mountains and the sky.
The Inn wasn’t that hard to find, and we managed to get there just before they started dancing. Their outfits were so pretty! I remember the announcer saying things about how many of them were either handed down through the generations, or made by elders in their families… the amount of work that went into them is simply breathtaking. According to Kiley, this would be the closest we could get to the dancers- since at powwow’s they are surrounded by their families, drum circles, and bleachers for extra seating. There was only one drum circle here and they danced around it instead, while the people playing the drum were singing. It was amazing just to hear their voices, and watch the dancers circle them- it’s so different than what I have ever seen before and in a bigger setting it could probably be pretty overwhelming! So I’m glad we got to see it up close, even if in a smaller setting, before going to a powwow. Now we kind of know what’s going on.

Aimee here! I just want to add a few more things on our trip to Sheridan. I really enjoyed watching the Crow Tribal Dancers. The best part to me about the ceremony was the clothing worn by the dancers. The women were wearing traditional Elk Tooth Dresses; this means that the dresses had elk teeth sown onto the fabric. It seems that every part of their clothing at the dance held meaning, like the elk teeth, the intricate beading, the feathers and the bags they carried. The announcer told us that one of the male dancers is actually a champion dancer who participates in various competitions across the country. The fact that we were watching a champion dancer made the experience even better!
One of the dances performed was a “welcoming home” dance. The announcer told the crowd that it was a celebratory dance performed when the Crow warriors arrived home. Everyone was invited to participate and dance with them so Sam and I joined in. Basically, we just walked around the drum circle to the beat. I had never done anything like this before and we had a great time doing it!
After the dance, we took time to explore Sheridan. First of all, the town is adorable. The main street in the town looked exactly like I thought a Western town should (small, cute stores and many places to buy Cowboy boots!). We went to The Mint Bar which had mounted bears, mountain sheep, and other animals lining the wooden walls. We ate dinner at a place called The Pony. The food was good, but the best part about it was that they had the New York Yankees/Boston Red Sox game on the TV. That’s an everyday occurrence back home, but it was comforting to watch it in Wyoming!

Custer Battlefield Museum- Never touched by floodwaters

Hi! Sami writing here- I am from Ironton, Ohio, and I’ve been here for almost a month now. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long at all! I was the first intern to arrive, flying into Billings on May 17th… right before all of the nasty weather hit. Since it was so late out when I touched ground, I didn’t really get to see any sunshine until the next day- and I was blown away at how green everything was. Chris kept pointing out that it’s never usually this green here, but I think it’s lovely even if it isn’t the way things usually look.

Sadly, the sunshine didn’t stay around for too long after I got here. Mind you- I landed in rain, and pretty much didn’t see a break from it until around a week and a half ago. And it flooded. Oh boy did it flood. Since I live on the Ohio River, I never think that much of rain- but when I woke up maybe four days after first getting here, we were in the middle of an emergency flooding situation. Ack! I felt like I might’ve brought the rain with me all the way from Ohio…

Apparently we’d gathered over ten inches of rain in ten days- which is pretty impressive no matter where you are. Water was up over the interstate for days, and they closed a huge majority of the roads around us. They even evacuated Crow Agency, which isn’t that far from us at all. Of course, Garryowen was fine- Sitting Bull picked a very good spot for his camp, during the whole flooding scare, we were not only sitting here safe and dry, but we never even closed down the museum! Given the situation of course, I would’ve thought that getting to a museum would be the last thing on people’s minds, but sure enough, we still had customers! Most of them were international- another thing that has positively boggled my mind since getting here- but they were so excited to see the battlefield they forged through high water and past roadblocks to get here!

It was definitely something else.

Goodbye!

We must write one more post before we say adieu and part from this historic place.

Kiley left this morning, and I will leave tomorrow morning. We are both heading for a quick trip to Yellowstone with our respective family members before we eventually make our way home. Andy is already home and back in school. Kiley and I, already graduated, will return to Kansas and Connecticut and look for some possible job prospects before graduate school. (Any offers?)

I must recap our most exciting, favorable moments of this summer:

Living with and learning about the Crow Tribe.
Playing with the kittens.
Trying to soak up every fact about this interesting battle.
Organizing the Libbie Custer manuscript collection.
Getting to know Chris and Linda.
Feeding the kittens.
The beautiful Montana landscape.
The Indian horse relays in Sheridan (The Crows came in first place!)
Cuddling with the kittens.
Crow Fair.

Please do not miss us too much; there will be new interns next year, after all! We do, however, hope that this blog has been of interest to our readers. Our goal was to be informative, with a splash of personality.

All the best,
Hayley B.

Joe Medicine Crow

Since June 1st, the day Hayley and I arrived in Garryowen, we have been hearing and reading about a man by the name of Joe Medicine Crow. After months of talking and learning about this man, we began to think he was only a mystical figure. Yesterday we learned he was much more. After hearing news that Joe Medicine Crow was in Garryowen, Hayley and I could barely contain our excitement, although Hayley kept much more composed than I was, watching me run around like I was going to meet an A list celebrity. (Which Joe Medicine Crow, has grown to be someone even better for me.)

After talking to him briefly and having what seemed like an official “welcome to Crow Country,” we were able to get our pictures taken with this stoic man.

At the age of 96, although he does not look or act a day over 60, Joe Medicine Crow grew up hearing stories and learning about the Battle of Little Bighorn from his grandfather, White Man Runs Him, one of Custer’s Crow Scouts. Joe, who is a tribal elder, historian and author, received his master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Southern California in 1939. Shortly after he joined the 103rd Infantry Division in World War II, where he completed all four tasks of “Counting Coup” on enemy soldiers: being the first to touch an enemy soldier, stealing an enemy soldier’s horse, disarming an enemy soldier, and leading a successful war party. He became the last Crow to become a war chief.

In August of 2009, Joe Medicine Crow traveled to Washington, D.C. in order to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom Honor from Barack Obama. This is the highest honor a United States civilian can achieve for their contribution to world peace, or other cultural accomplishments. Here is a link to the article that describes the historic event:

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_911f356c-7d5f-11de-8132-001cc4c002e0.html


Having the chance to meet a man with so much history, merit, and knowledge was a true honor and an amazing experience, one that I am sure Hayley and I will never forget!

-Kiley

Grant Bull Tail

I just comepleted an interview with Grant Bull Tail, the great grandson of Come Up Red. Mr. Bull Tail provided the Custer Battlefield Museum with the oral history of his great grandfather, who was a Crow Indian that lived for one-hundred years.

Here is the link to the article, now posted on the Custer Battlefield Museum website:

http://www.custermuseum.org/Interns/Come%20Up%20Red.pdf


-Hayley