Custer's Last Stand: Little Bighorn Battlefield

[PZ]

It has been nearly 8 years since this trip, but quite a memorable one. This is the link to the photo album of our visit:

https://www.ztrips.org/wp/blog/2014/06/06/little-bighorn-battlefield/

[fragger]

I'm really looking forward to checking out your photos, PZ. I'll have to wait until later tonight, though - we still have a significant number of tourists in our area and they're using up a lot of the local bandwidth. I know if I try to open the album now, it'll take an age... But I'm really interested in this subject. I once read a book called "Crazy Horse and Custer" by the historian Stephen E. Ambrose, it was a fascinating account of the lives of both men, and some of the uncanny parallels between them, up to when they collided at Little Big Horn. I highly recommend Ambrose's books, he is a superb writer/historian. I've read a few of his works: "Band of Brothers" (upon which the TV series was based), "Lewis & Clark", "D-Day" and "Pegasus Bridge".

Anyway, I can't wait to see the piccies!

[PZ]

I hope you enjoy them!  I'm aware of Ambrose works and agree - they are excellent. I had a minor in history during my undergrad days and had a particular interest in the American Civil War. My favorite author was Bruce Catton who wrote his history from the aspect of the boots on the ground, so to speak.

Visiting Little Bighorn was a real treat for me because of my interest in history.

Hopefully the album won't take too long to load - it takes me about 30 seconds but then, you know how crappy my service is. I only mention being patient because of the lowest common denominator - my bandwidth 

[nex]

I love that Winchester "Yellow Boy"

[PZ]

Me too.

On a slightly different note, there is a legend of a trader making his way to San Diego from Yuma Arizona with a wagon load of Henry repeating rifles, 10 cases, all consecutive serial numbers. On the way he was chased by Indians and frantically made his way into Davy's Valley east of San Diego near the Mexican border. He stashed the cases in one of the side ravines and escaped with his life expecting to return. However, he could not find which one of the hundreds of ravines he used, so the story goes that the 10 cases of rifles covered in Cosmoline are still there.

The Henry rifle design evolved into the Winchester Model 1866 followed by the Winchester 1873 and ending with the big brother of the design, the  Winchester 1876.  This was as far as the "toggle-link" design went.

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[fragger]

Those photos were wonderful, thank you PZ The on-site displays showing how events unfolded are excellent, beautifully presented and respectful of those on both sides.

To see where it all took place was poignant and moving, both from the perspective of the cavalry troops and the Native Americans. You can only wonder what went through the minds of the cavalry soldiers when they realized that not only were they losing the fight, but that they were likely going to die on those grassy, windswept slopes so far from home. And so sad that in a sense, this also was the last stand for the natives - despite being victorious here, it was only postponing the inevitable. It was kind of a "high water mark" for them - that after this, they would only know defeat and dispossession. Some of the more astute minds among them possibly realized this.

I find it difficult to put into words how I feel seeing these images. I guess the adjective which most readily comes to mind is "haunting" - not in the ghostly sense, but in the sense of knowing what occurred there over 140 years ago and that those involved would have had no idea of how it would echo through history. None of those present would have thought of it that way - to them it was immediate, a desperate life-or-death struggle. We look at it today as a relic of history, but to those locked in mortal combat at the time, it must have been terrifying. I felt the same sort of chilly reflection when I visited the Pearl Harbor memorial in the 80s and knew that below me, the bodies of hundreds of American sailors were still entombed within the hulk of the sunken USS Arizona.

One of the displays told how the Cheyenne warned Custer that if he ever broke his promise never again to make war against them, he and his command would pay the price. According to history, when Cheyenne women came across Custer's body after the battle, they rammed an awl into his ear to improve his hearing, since he evidently hadn't heard the warning imparted to him years before.

[PZ]

Very well said fragger 

"Haunting" is exactly how I would describe the visit.

We visited Pearl Harbor a couple of years ago, which was my first, but in a way also haunting (I'm assembling a photo album so you gents can see how it is now). For me, what distinguishes the two places is that visiting Little Bighorn allowed one to feel almost like you were the only person there, and could hear the breeze rustling the grasses and leaves without the sounds of people - the sense of isolation kind of reminding me of the setting in one of my favorite books, Desert Solitude. 

Pearl Harbor was as crowded as Disneyland and had almost a theme park feeling with people practically treating it as such - not exactly what some of my older friends described when visiting decades ago.  Still, it was a fascinating visit and I can only imagine how the experience would go if there were not so many people.

[fragger]

Admittedly, it was almost 40 years ago when I was in Hawaii, so I'm sure it has changed a lot since then. My girl and I were there during an off-peak tourist period, so there were only a handful of other people with us when we went to Pearl Harbor, and everybody was appropriately quiet and respectful.

A similar thing has happened with the Kokoda Track in New Guinea. The Track is famous with Aussies as it was there in WW2 that Australian forces ultimately repelled the Japanese, at a horrific cost. "Walking the Kokoda" started out as a respectful tribute to the fallen, undertaken by few, but it has now become a "trendy" thing to do, the sort of thing people do just so they can say they did it (it's a very tough hike, from what I've heard). It now has more to do with "bragging rights" than it does with remembrance, and of course all the people traipsing along it - and leaving their litter behind - is ruining the condition of the Track.

[PZ]

Kokoda sounds much like many of the more famous places here - more bragging rights than anything else. Also very common are unruly kids that parents refuse to control. Their behavior kind of reminds me of little dog owners who are immune to their dogs shrill yapping, that causes cringes in other folks.