Skip to main content

2016 Summer Mountain Trip Part 13; Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

By
Following reaching I-90/US 87/US 212 at from Montana State Route 47 I headed east towards Crow Agency where I turned onto US 212 at I-90 Exit 510 eastbound to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.


This blog serves as Part 13 in the 2016 Summer Trip Series; Part 12 can be found here:

2016 Summer Mountain Trip Series Part 12; Theodore Roosevelt National Park, I-94, and Old US 10 

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is located above the Little Bighorn River in Big Horn County Montana.  The National Monument preserves the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn which took place on June 25th/26th of 1876.  Little Bighorn is one of the best known battles of the American Frontier and Great Sioux War of 1876.  The Battle of Little Bighorn pitted the U.S. Calvary of Lt. Col. George S. Custer against the combined tribal forces of the; Lakota, Cheyanne, and Northern Cheyanne.

Military battles nor questionable ethics in history are not my forte so I'll paraphrase the Battle of Little Bighorn as best I can.  The U.S. Calvary under command of Custer was about 700 strong facing a combined tribal battalion of 2,500.  The U.S. Calvary was routed during the Battle of Little Bighorn resulting in the death of Custer and 268 members of it's force.  The combined tribal forces of Little Bighorn conversely only lost 31 fighters.  The Battle of Little Bighorn became known as Custer's Last Stand which ultimately led to increased U.S. Army presence in Montana Territory.  While initially glorified modern view of Custer and the actions of the U.S. Army during the Great Sioux War have heavily been reexamined in modern times.

Administrative history at Little Bighorn began in 1879 when the Battlefield was declared a National Cemetery.  By 1940 custody of the Little Bighorn Battlefield was transferred to the National Park Service and by 1946 it was renamed Custer Battlefield National Monument.  In 1991 the site was renamed Little Bighorn National Monument.

The National Monument site still houses a cemetery for the fallen U.S. Calvary.





There are markers showing where both members of the U.S. Calvary and tribal forces died.



The National Park access road explores the entire Little Bighorn Battlefield site is largely in open range which is obvious from large amount of wild horses.





After leaving Little Bighorn I backtracked west on I-90/US 87/US 212 to Hardin where I stayed the night.  The following morning I would follow US 212 over the Beartooth Highway to Yellowstone National Park.

Part 14 of this blog series can be found here:

2016 Summer Mountain Trip Part 14; US 212 on the Beartooth Highway
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Old NY 10 and Goodman Mountain in the Adirondacks

By
  Old highway alignments come in all shapes and sizes, as well as taking some different forms after their lifespan of serving cars and trucks has ended. In the case of an old alignment of what was NY 10 south of Tupper Lake, New York, part of the old road was turned into part of a hiking trail to go up Goodman Mountain. At one time, the road passed by Goodman Mountain to the east, or Litchfield Mountain as it was known at the time. As the years passed, sometime around 1960, the part of NY 10 north of Speculator became part of NY 30, and remains that way today from Speculator, past Indian Lake and Tupper Lake and up to the Canadian Border. At one time, the highway was realigned to pass the Goodman Mountain to the west, leaving this stretch of road to be mostly forgotten and to be reclaimed by nature. During the summer of 2014, a 1.6 mile long hiking trail was approved the Adirondack Park Agency to be constructed to the summit of the 2,176 foot high Goodman Mountain. For the first 0.9 mi
1 comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Vineland, Florida; the town killed by Disney

By
Vineland is a small ghost town located in southwest Orange County, Florida near the junction of Florida State Road 535 and Interstate 4.  Vineland is somewhat unique due to it largely being squeezed out of existence by Lake Buena Vista which is the company town where Disney World is located. Vineland was founded in the late 1800s as Englewood.  The town name of Englewood changed to Orange Center in 1911 before finally assuming the name Vineland in 1924.  Much like the rest of Orange County the community of Vineland was centered around Citrus Grove.  In the case of Vineland said orange groves were centered around Ruby Lake. The end of Vineland came as the Disney Corporation began purchasing parcels of citrus grove land to build Lake Buena Vista.  Vineland fell into a sharp decline in the 1960s but the community managed to continue to exist to modern times.  Much of the street grid of Vineland still exists east of FL 535 but most of the original structures are either gone or falle
1 comment
Read more

Oregon State Highway 58

By
  Also known as the Willamette Highway No. 18, the route of Oregon State Highway 58 (OR 58) stretches some 86 miles between US 97 north of Chemult and I-5 just outside of Eugene, Oregon. A main route between the Willamette Valley region of Oregon with Central Oregon and Crater Lake National Park, the highway follows the Middle Fork Willamette River and Salt Creek for much of its route as it makes its way to and across the Cascades, cresting at 5,138 feet above sea level at Willamette Pass. That is a gain of over 4,500 in elevation from where the highway begins at I-5. The upper reaches of OR 58 are dominated by the principal pinnacle that can sometimes be seen from the highway, Diamond Peak, and three nearby lakes, Crescent, Odell and Waldo (Oregon's second largest lake). OR 58 is chock full of rivers, creeks, mountain views, hot springs and waterfalls within a short distance from the highway. OR 58 was numbered as such by the Oregon State Highway Department in 1940. OR 58 is a del
Post a Comment
Read more