In Memoriam

"A survey of the disastrous battleground disclosed a dreadful slaughter."

"The suffering was heartrending."

"It is true...it is no excuse for their treachery and atrocities."

"The situation now looks serious."

These quotes were published in newspapers and magazines in the year 1876 after the disastrous Battle of the Little Bighorn. The news reached Americans on a wide-spread scale during the nation's Centennial celebration - a time when Americans were revelling in their nation's strength and achievements. What a shock it was to realize that a country being lauded for its endurance had suffered such a severe blow.

We don't have to imagine the grief that every American experienced on that day in 1876. Just two months after celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn - proclaiming "Peace, Unity, Friendship" - that shock once again resonated across America on September 11, 2001 as we watched images we'll never forget, hearing comments as chilling as those above.

It is lamentable that such calamitous occasions should occur, but they reveal how we as a nation are unified throughout history. Just as we erected a memorial at Ground Zero, monuments and memorials dot the landscape of the Little Bighorn Battlefield, declaring America's resolution to never forget. One such monument is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Custer Battlefield Museum. The granite tomb holds the remains of an unidentified 7th Cavalry trooper, whose skeleton was found fifty years after the battle was waged. The tomb and peace memorial were dedicated during the Burying the Hatchet Ceremony, with White Bull Sioux Indian and General Godfrey performing the ceremony before thousands of observers.

Today, the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the events of 9/11 came together at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, when students from Lodge Grass High School hung their 9/11-themed artwork on the monument. Forty-seven original creations adorned the tomb and peace memorial. Unlike the grave statements above, the students' words and images express reverence and a fresh hope:

"We remember."

"Not forgotten."

"United we stand."

"God bless America."

KB

Custer Battlefield Museum: 10 Little Known Facts

It is said that Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer is the most photographed/researched/written about man in history. Likewise, his Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn has drawn interest from hundreds, nay thousands, of individuals. This is part of the reason our director, Christopher Kortlander, decided to open a museum on the battlefield.

Those who choose to visit the Custer Battlefield museum will undoubtedly leave knowing more than they did when they entered. Working in the museum every day, I have had a unique opportunity to learn a lot about the battle, but my knowledge of the museum's exhibits has come to include some things that often go unnoticed.

1.) Of the ninety-some photographs lining the museum's walls, it is easy to miss seeing a few. One that I hope you don't miss seeing is Hairy Chin, of the Hunkpapa tribe, dressed as Uncle Sam. It never fails to bring a smile to my face.

2.) According to one of our exhibits, the name Hunkpapa means "those who camp at the entrance." Now I find this to be interesting, because in June of 1876, the Hunkpapa tribe was situated on the edge of the Indian Encampment in the valley of the Little Bighorn - the edge where Major Reno's column attacked, beginning the battle. Could it be that their name was prophetic? Or that they really did always situate themselves at the entrance to the camp?

3.) One of the Indian casualties of the battle was a Cheyenne named Roman Nose. What an interesting blend of cultures - a Native American with a name referencing an ancient culture, of which one presumes they only knew through their interactions with the White Man.

4.) Apparently the soldiers of the all-Black Ninth Cavalry were called Buffalo Soldiers by the Indians, because their hair resembled that of a buffalo. Now I've read several articles about the Buffalo Soldiers, but not one seemed to mention the origin of their nickname. Thank you, Custer Battlefield Museum, for clearing that one up for me.

5.) Sitting Bull - one of the most repeated names in the museum - is mentioned in the exhibits 30 times. Lending credence to my opening statement, Custer is referenced more than 100 times.

6.) A close examination of the museum's several oil paintings will prove to be enlightening and inspiring. However, Kirk Stirnweis' "They Died With Their Boots On" seems to be the most gruesome, featuring a soldier falling into death with an arrow in his throat and a man staring out of the canvas with one bulging eye - too uncannily like that video of the prairie dog on the Japanese game show. Don't know what I'm talking about? Look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40

7.) The museum's collection includes nigh a dozen pairs of moccasins. One, however, is missing a shoe lace.

8.) Custer always went into battle with his personal flag, sewn for him by his wife, Libbie. The Custer Battlefield Museum has a replica of this guidon, however, it has one flaw: it is missing Libbie's initials, which she stitched into one of the corners. To our credit, though, these initials were shot off the guidon before it even reached her husband.

9.) In the diorama of the battle created by a high school class in 1976, one of the warriors appears to be pulling off the Matrix bullet-dodge move - and this before the technology seen in The Matrix was even dreamed of!

10.) The painting "Battle of Little Bighorn," by a European artist named Bergven, hangs on the museum's back wall and is covered in thick stains. I spent days lamenting the painting's poor quality of conservation, and then I realized it used to hang in a bar. The stains? Beer. The painting's quality? Inexplainably, yet quaintly, improved. KB

Salutations

Twenty days after my arrival, I've figured it's finally time to introduce myself. Hi, I'm Kathy, the new intern.
So far I've been enjoying my time here at Garryowen. The museum is a great place to work, and there's never a dull moment with visitors in the museum. Of course, now that summer is coming to a close, this week has shown a significant decrease in traffic, and the museum has been rather quiet. That's okay, though, because it will give us an opportunity to do some more work in the display cases. Keep an eye open for pictures of the upcoming display of Birdie Real Bird hand-crafted dolls.
Last week, before Lauren left, she and I were able to head over to Crow Agency for the Annual Crow Fair Celebration. As we wandered through the "Teepee Capital of the World," we marvelled at the mingling of unique customs, crafts, and foods. (I'm serious about the foods - I expected to see Indian Tacos and fry bread, and Mexican food was a only tad unexpected, but there were way too many Chinese food vendors!) After our perusal of the different vendors - I bought a turquoise bracelet, and Lauren bought a tomahawk - we grabbed some food (not Chinese), nabbed a spot on the bleachers, and waited for the powwow to begin. There was an impressive opening procession, followed by intertribal dancing and dance competitions. The prizes for the three finalists of the Tiny Tots divisions were miniature horses - awesome, and so unfair! Of course, the evening would not be complete without honoring Joe Medicine Crow, just returned from his trip to D.C., where he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (See pictures to the left!) KB

Joe Medicine Crow is the Man

Lauren: And then there was one. Justin left on Thursday the 30th, before even the birds were up, and now there's just one of us left here until Kathy, the new intern, gets here on the 5th. In other news, Dr. Joe Medicine Crow (96), the Crow chief and historian, will be honored by President Obama in DC on the 12 of August. Dr. Medicine Crow is to receive the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with such visionaries as Stephen Hawking, Senator Edward Kennedy, Billie Jean King, Harvey Milk, Sidney Poitier and Mary Robinson (there are 16 recipients, total). About a week ago Justin and I had the fantastic opportunity to meet Joe and take a picture with him (see the picture collection to the left). He really is an amazing guy. He was the first Crow Native American to receive a masters degree, and while he was studying for his PhD he was drafted into World War II - though the draft may have interrupted his studies, it did allow him to fulfill all the requirements of chiefdom while abroad (leading a successful raid, stealing the enemy's horses, counting coup). Dr. Medicine Crow had previously song a "Praise Song" to President Obama (prior to his election) and now feels that the President has earned the honor of a victory song, the same song taught to Joe by his grandfather, White Man Runs Him, one of Custer's scouts. The ceremonies are taking place in just over a week and the Director of the Museum has been invited to accompany Joe to D.C., which will allow the Custer Battlefield Museum a whole new insight into Native American relations and history. -LK

Updates

Lauren: Well, folks, I'm sure the suspense is killing you as to what's been going down at the Custer Battlefield Museum. We've had a few twists in plot and I felt I should keep everyone up to date. In latest news, Justin, or "G.I. Justin," as he will be referred to heretofore, is going into the military. While this will secure his financial future, it also leaves me as the lone intern, twisting in the wind. I'm not sure if I should call him Reno or Benteen. Kidding aside, Justin's off to defend our country against threats foreign and domestic while I'm here, defending history from ignorance, intentional and accidental.

This last week I was very excited because an article I wrote about the visit from the Officer Candidate School of Fort Meade was printed in the Big Horn County News and this next week it'll also appear in the Welcome Visitors Guide.

-L

The Reenactment

Lauren and Justin: So, after several weeks of giving directions, answering questions from the general public, we finally got a chance to see what all the fuss was about. First of all, it was about 95 degrees out, or at least it felt that way since we had both opted to wear full-length jeans and our black "History Matters" t-shirts. On bench stadium seating, with no cloud cover or canopy. Awesome. We had to show up at 12 o'clock for a 1 o'clock showing, in order to secure good seats. There was a tent for t-shirts, which also sold a small collection of animal-pelt crafts - meaning just ONE bearclaw necklace and ONE skunkskin medicine bag, a tent for food (despite declaring he would only order a hamburger, Justin eventually and proudly ordered an Indian Taco) and a a minitent for drinks. When things were finally set up, we had a long gauntlet of events to transgress before coming to the ultimate event. The most satisfying thing to watch was probably the paratrooper jump by the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborn out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Two large planes circled over the area, then ten minutes later each let loose a string of paratroopers, draping them over the landscape. As the men dropped from the sky, a couple of them became entangled and though it didn't result in any serious repurcussions, it did attract the concern of the crowd. Afterwards, the Native festivites could finally begin. First there was an introduction by the Emcee, then an "Indian Wedding" which mostly involved Indian singing, some smoke, and a couple of white people with their faces painted (and the woman's face painting looked suspiciously like a beard). Then there was a Naming Ceremony, where a little girl was christened with Indian smoke and prayer and given a name - "she who likes to look at horses" or something. Anyways, as she was named that she kept pointing at the horses, so even though there was no explanation of the name necessary, they still did it, then let her wander around to the "oohs" and "ahs" of the crowd for a few minutes. Then there was more singing by the local band - during which there was some confusion as they snuck in some English lyrics, and a young man who has participated in several Ultimate Warrior challenges was given a painting....of himself. During this ceremony, I (Lauren) started getting excited because I could see the cavalry gearing up to go- finally, we're going to see some fightin'! But no, it was just to escort several officers from the paratrooper group over the river. They rode all the way to the grass in front of us, dismounted, and the superior officer gave a talk and eventually shook hands with Sitting Bull's great (or great-great, we're not entirely sure) grandson. Then they announced the "players" in the reenactment and said that we would start the program. But the program, it turned out, was a lot more broad than we thought. They told the story with a narrative over the loudspeaker while actors mimed the actions described, INCLUDING: a father telling his son the story of the Battle of Little Bighorn, hand-to-hand combat including the act of scalping and dancing around a dead body, smoking the peace pipe, chasing a white man out of the village, and the herding of "wild" horses. Eventually, Clark and Sakagawea showed up, herding a group of Indian children ahead of them, which proved to be a kind of ineffectual misdirection to give the paratroopers enough time to ford the river and get to the "stage." They marched in to applause, and there was another talk, eventually ended with Sitting Bull's great (great?) grandson leading a massive circle dance around the field with the paratroopers following behind him. Then, once they had cleared off to go score some Indian Tacos, we were promised fighting. And, because we had been telling people that this was a reenactment of the Battle of Little Bighorn, we rightly expected the fighting to be of that historic event. WRONG!!! It was the Fetterman fight first, with Crazy Horse taunting the cavalry with a green towel. Not sure what the green towel had to do with it, but at least there were guns being fired. Then there was the Battle of Rosebud reenacted, and then finally, finally, FINALLY we got to the LBH action. Unfortunately, by this point Justin had lost all concentration and almost consciousness in the hot sun. This was compounded by the fact that the action of the majority of the battle was carried further away from the stands, across the Little Bighorn to a strip of land about 400 yards away. It was over in about 5 minutes, everyone cheered, and so did we because it meant we could finally get out of the sun. The swirling storm of Indians that crossed back over the river towards us was probably the most exciting part, while they rode around carrying the American and the 7th Cavalry flag. The whole thing was concluded with a song about Comanche. You know, Comanche- the horse. Yes, he has is own song, and it was sung while a horse was positioned on the top of the hill. It was an experience, and the pictures tell the majority of the story. In the same vein as Lauren's previous post, we've decided to compile a list of things we've learned after watching the reenactment:

1. Its very cool to watch but doesn't seem particularly pleasant to ride bareback as the Indians do. You have to contend with sweat, chaffing, and the chance that you'll fall off -at least the one that we saw knew where to land, since he fell off in the river.

2. It will ALWAYS be funny to watch a white guy get whacked off his horse by an Indian. Maybe it's schadenfreude, maybe it's retribution, either way it's hilarious.

3. If you put a lot of effort into coordinating an instructive cultural exhibition, don't ruin it by having people sell concessions like you're at a ballgame. It's hard to take the rammifications of Manifest Destiny seriously with "MOUNTAIN DEW!!! LEMONADE!!!COKE!!!" being screamed in your ear. And if the vendors are about 10 and dropping the waterbottles everywhere, it also doesn't help.

4. Justin should wear sunscreen on places other than his face.

5. When someone tells you the Indians do something "fast and loose," they mean it. Really.

6. Always tell Justin when you're planning on taking a video or he'll throw a strop.

7. Custer's role in the battle was little to none- he may be a schnazzy dresser but he didn't do jack.

After all the excitement and sun, we came back to the desk tired and sweaty and the rest of the day did tend to drag on a little, but we were comforted by the fact that we wouldn't have to answer any more questions on the location/duration/information of a reenactment. Next stop, Crow Fair!!!! -JD & L

Record Day at Custer Battlefield Museum

Justin and Lauren: Team Awesome Interns has struck again!! We are happy to announce that yesterday the CBM had a record day in terms of sales. We would like to take this time to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, I mean after 15 years of being in existence we think its only appropriate to credit ourselves for the record day. It's safe to say that we are the best interns to ever walk the hallowed grounds of Garryowen, MT. Along with our greatness, quite a lot of activity has transpired in the last couple of days here. On Wednesday, the Crows held their 4th annual Meth ride (despite its title, the ride is to prevent drugs on the reservation not promote) where Dr. Joe Medicine Crow gave a speech before the ride. Dr. Medicine Crow is the oldest living member of the Crow Indians, and his grandfather (White Man Runs Him) was one of Custer's scouts for the Battle of Little Big Horn. He also is the last oral link we have to the battle. The Meth ride consists of 150 mounted riders through the reservation ending at the Crow Agency Park. Furthermore, yesterday was the 133rd anniversary of the battle, and to honor both sides of the fight we held a cermony here in Garryowen. The ceremony was appropriately proper and somber. Members from the U.S. Calvary school including the actor playing Custer in the Real Bird Reenactment lowered the American flag to half mast, and presented arms in a three fire volley out of respect. The culmination of the event was the laying of a wreath by two officers upon the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. On a lighter note, our glorious leader was interviewed by an Irish documentry film crew tracing the steps of Myles Keogh, an Irish soldier participating in the battle under Custer's command. Side note, the weather here literally changes like the wind. Out of nowhere two days ago the temperature spiked up about twenty degrees, and then today the thermometer dropped twenty degrees. We're not sure there are many places around the world where the weather changes drastically in such a short time. Anyway, we guess that is all for now. More to come after we see the reenactment, maybe together maybe not, we fly by the seat of our pants here at the CBM. JD & L