This field in the hills of Montana  is the second most visited  each year except for the Gettysburg Battle  Field.  This was one of my favorite sites on our National Park road trip.  We had stopped there on a previous trip from Arizona to New York and I just wanted to return. I found it very moving that  there are markers showing the spots where each of the soldiers fell and died. See the video below for more details.

I was fascinated  by the three main characters.  George Custer who was widely known for his military and leadership ability lead the US Calvary.  He was rather cocky and self-assured,  dressed in a  buckskin fringed jacket.  He had been a government whistle blower  previously reporting graft in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was rewarded by having his rank reduced from General to Lt. Col!   He was hoping for a huge flashy victory in battle resulting in a nomination for president in the  Democrat party.  Little did he know that  fateful day,  he and all his men, and all their horses would die in as much time “as it  takes a man to eat!”

Crazy Horse the wild fierce warrior galloping across the hills with his flowing hair blowing in the wind. . . . .the leader of the men asking nothing of them that he would not do himself.  Sitting Bull, the Medicine Man, the spiritual leader, the thinker had joined with Crazy Horse to  desperately fight for their land, their culture, their freedom.   These were the chiefs who had held fast and refused to lead their people to life on the  reservations, but it turns out that would not last long.  This battle was the beginning of the end for the Plains Indians and their freedom to follow the buffalo.

On this day , the Natives won the battle, convincingly, but lost the war in the not too distant  future.