Post by Robert Braun on Jun 25, 2003 14:27:31 GMT -5
This morning, June 25, 2003 a $2 million monument commemorating the Indian dead at the Battle of the Little Bighorn was dedicated by the National Park Service. Reportedly, the program will make no mention of Custer or his troops.
My family and I visited the site last August... amid road and other construction that marred our tour. It was a bitter-sweet visit.
As a youth, I waited years to visit the battlefield. My dad obtained numerous library books for me on Custer and the campaign. I devoured everything I could find, and asked serious questions about the campaign, Custer, and the accounts of some survivors that just didn't seem to jive with the context of the action.
The actual visit to the field was in conjunction with one of our annual summer vacation trips, and occured on a scorcher of a summer day (Apparently, it's always hot at Crow Agency, Montana.) As a teenager, i was enthralled with every minute detail of the field. I sat entranced by the ranger talks and descriptions of the fight. I was riveted to the weapons demonstration. I visited every location that one could reasonably and legally view--until my mother began to wilt from the heat and we had to cut our visit short. There was just something consuming about the park... captivating and hauntingly sad all at the same time.
My return in 2002 was a shock. For one, the road construction --and subsequent restrictions in the park, including non-access to the Reno/Benteen field-- began that very morning. The monument was being built within a hundred or so yards from Last Stand Hill, a fact I noted with concern to a ranger, who just shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.
The ranger talk was a mish-mash of apologist gibberish--as fact-based as a New York Times news article. It was heavy on the 1983-5 archaeology (which seemed to be this particular ranger's focus) but light on the whys and wherefors regarding the evolution of the campaign and the ensuing battle. What would have been fair would have been a balanced discussion--- Indian people were avoiding or evading government pressure to move to the reservation; Custer, as part of an overall military strategy, took too many chances and in the ensuing fight, he and his men got their brains handed to him by the united Sioux and Cheyenne--literally.
I didn't even stay for the weapons demonstration that day--which was probably a first for me. Neither did many visitors. It was too wooden; too mechanical. Too "this is my job so I gotta do this."
The best experience I had was at the hands of a native Indian NPS employee at the counter. Despite the fact that I was probably the one jillionth person to ask him the same sing-song list of questions, he graciously showed me the map location of the Crow's Nest and other more esoteric locations on the field. He was patient, knowlegable, and extremely interesting to talk to.
Before readers of this thread begin hurling their war-clubs at me for any so-called "pro-Custer" mania on my part, let me say that I am all for marking the locations of Indian soldiers-- in much the way it has been done at the Nez Perce battlefield at Big Hole. Heck, I'm all for a general comemorative monument to Indian dead, and specific monuments to Indian survivors, Indian leaders, Indian people, what have you.
But not located within a pistol shot of "Last Stand Hill."
So congradulations to those who secured the erection of this monument. Enjoy your moments of triumph on the occasion of today's historic commemoration.
==============
BTW, I can't depart without taking a parting shot at the NPS bookstore at Little Bighorn. History records that once upon a time, a pro-Custer group ran a small book concession at the park's visitor's center. The proceeds from these sales went in no small part to finance the 1983 archaeology digs that some claim "unravel" the Custer mysteries. The same park that benefitted from these sales in 1983 allegedly kicked out this group in the early 1990s under Barbara Sutteer's superintendence, because the group allegedly refused to sell books like Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and other volumes written from the aspect of native people.
The NPS has corrected that deficiency now. In fact, I can attest that in August, 2002, there was not a SINGLE volume in the NPS bookstore that offers any opinion or research whatever that differs from the "official" NPS interpretation. Not one.
Want to really rile up a ranger? Just ask: "Excuse me. Do you have any books by Greg Michno?"
HA! ;D
My family and I visited the site last August... amid road and other construction that marred our tour. It was a bitter-sweet visit.
As a youth, I waited years to visit the battlefield. My dad obtained numerous library books for me on Custer and the campaign. I devoured everything I could find, and asked serious questions about the campaign, Custer, and the accounts of some survivors that just didn't seem to jive with the context of the action.
The actual visit to the field was in conjunction with one of our annual summer vacation trips, and occured on a scorcher of a summer day (Apparently, it's always hot at Crow Agency, Montana.) As a teenager, i was enthralled with every minute detail of the field. I sat entranced by the ranger talks and descriptions of the fight. I was riveted to the weapons demonstration. I visited every location that one could reasonably and legally view--until my mother began to wilt from the heat and we had to cut our visit short. There was just something consuming about the park... captivating and hauntingly sad all at the same time.
My return in 2002 was a shock. For one, the road construction --and subsequent restrictions in the park, including non-access to the Reno/Benteen field-- began that very morning. The monument was being built within a hundred or so yards from Last Stand Hill, a fact I noted with concern to a ranger, who just shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.
The ranger talk was a mish-mash of apologist gibberish--as fact-based as a New York Times news article. It was heavy on the 1983-5 archaeology (which seemed to be this particular ranger's focus) but light on the whys and wherefors regarding the evolution of the campaign and the ensuing battle. What would have been fair would have been a balanced discussion--- Indian people were avoiding or evading government pressure to move to the reservation; Custer, as part of an overall military strategy, took too many chances and in the ensuing fight, he and his men got their brains handed to him by the united Sioux and Cheyenne--literally.
I didn't even stay for the weapons demonstration that day--which was probably a first for me. Neither did many visitors. It was too wooden; too mechanical. Too "this is my job so I gotta do this."
The best experience I had was at the hands of a native Indian NPS employee at the counter. Despite the fact that I was probably the one jillionth person to ask him the same sing-song list of questions, he graciously showed me the map location of the Crow's Nest and other more esoteric locations on the field. He was patient, knowlegable, and extremely interesting to talk to.
Before readers of this thread begin hurling their war-clubs at me for any so-called "pro-Custer" mania on my part, let me say that I am all for marking the locations of Indian soldiers-- in much the way it has been done at the Nez Perce battlefield at Big Hole. Heck, I'm all for a general comemorative monument to Indian dead, and specific monuments to Indian survivors, Indian leaders, Indian people, what have you.
But not located within a pistol shot of "Last Stand Hill."
So congradulations to those who secured the erection of this monument. Enjoy your moments of triumph on the occasion of today's historic commemoration.
==============
BTW, I can't depart without taking a parting shot at the NPS bookstore at Little Bighorn. History records that once upon a time, a pro-Custer group ran a small book concession at the park's visitor's center. The proceeds from these sales went in no small part to finance the 1983 archaeology digs that some claim "unravel" the Custer mysteries. The same park that benefitted from these sales in 1983 allegedly kicked out this group in the early 1990s under Barbara Sutteer's superintendence, because the group allegedly refused to sell books like Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and other volumes written from the aspect of native people.
The NPS has corrected that deficiency now. In fact, I can attest that in August, 2002, there was not a SINGLE volume in the NPS bookstore that offers any opinion or research whatever that differs from the "official" NPS interpretation. Not one.
Want to really rile up a ranger? Just ask: "Excuse me. Do you have any books by Greg Michno?"
HA! ;D
Bob.