Custer at the Little Bighorn: The Great Retrospective IP;

Richard West Sellars

In June, the northern Great Plains are a vast carpet of green, a stunningly beautiful landscape of high tablelands, broken by hills and ravines and watered by streams flowing quietly be­ tween grassy banks. Along one of these streams, the Little in south-central Territory, on an early summer afternoon, June 25, 1876, Lt. Col. 's Seventh Cavalry attacked a village of and Northern Cheyen­ nes. The Indian encampment was larger than anticipated. Perhaps as many as three thousand warriors charged out to meet the invaders and The Little Bighorn ranks alongside within a couple of hours overwhelmed Gettysburg and the Alamo as one of Custer and his immediate command, the most well-known battles ever killing everyone. Following their vic­ fought on American soil-yet Custer's tory, the Indians mutilated the defeat was only a momentary reversal soldiers' bodies, a traditional ritual. in the army's effort to subdue the The next day, after continued fighting Plains Indians. After the battle, the In­ with other units of the Seventh dians broke up their village into Cavalry under Custer's subordinate of­ smaller, scattered groups while the ar­ ficers, the Indians left the area to my increased its strength in the avoid conflict with a large contingent region. The struggle for the northern of troops moving rapidly toward the plains soon ended with the army in encampment. control and the Indians on the reserva­ Under such leaders as Crazy Horse, tion. The Indian victory over Custer Gall, Two Moon and Sitting Bull, the had little effect except perhaps to Plains Indians achieved a dramatic vic­ hasten the war's almost inevitable tory over the flamboyant Custer and outcome. his cavalrymen, and at a significant While the military and political con­ time-just as the nation was sequences of the Battle of the Little celebrating the centennial of the Bighorn soon played out, public Declaration of Independence and fascination with the battle endured beginning the 1876 political campaign. remarkably through the decades. The celebration and excitement of Custer's last stand-a brief, dramatic these public events were joined with challenge to Manifest Destiny on the anger and frustration that the Indians remote northern plains-quickly had annihilated Custer. became a celebrated event, launched Debates over the battle immediately into the legendary and mythological reached the level of presidential realms of the Great American West. politics-was the Indian policy of the There it remains today, alive and well. Grant administration at fault? And the In this manner, beyond the debates spread throughout the army­ historian's traditional concerns for was Custer a hero or an egotist who military and political consequences, disobeyed orders and brought on the the Battle of the Little Bighorn created disaster, and had his subordinates at such exceptional public interest that it the Little Bighorn, Maj . Marcus A. caused a parallel set of historical Reno and Capt. Frederick W. Benteen, consequences-a Great Retrospective, acted cowardly or bravely? The whole a public response lasting through the affair created intense public interest, at years. Each generation has com­ the heart of which lay the mystery: Ex­ memorated and celebrated the battle in actly what did happen to Custer's a sequence of activities which does not forces once they rode down toward fall "outside" of history, but forms a the and disap­ history of its own, a long pageant of peared out of sight from Reno's men. color and ceremony, fact and fantasy. What was the course of battle; how Those who "pick up the pieces" in the did it happen and why? aftermath of history-who examine

COURIER, September 1987 I 23 and re-examine an event, and infuse it into the public mind-themselves be­ come a part of history. By perpetuat­ ing memory of an event they contrib­ ute to and become a part of its extend­ ed history. In retrospect it almost seems that the Battle of the Little Bighorn was fought solely for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. Over the years, reliving the battle has provided pleasure for millions of people. Dramatic, live-action presentations of the battle soon became a staple of the popular Wild West shows, especially those produced by William F. "Buffalo Custer Hill Bill" Cody, the great frontier scout turned showman. In the twentieth century, motion pictures have con­ tinued this tradition with many ver­ on Custer's army issue jock-strap­ Setting aside the battlefield preserved sions of the Little Bighorn - depicting surely the ultimate Custer experience. the sacred ground, allowing the site to the battle in every way from the tragic Out of all of the retrospection on the fulfill its role as a shrine, rather than to defeat of gallant, heroic troops (They Little Bighorn, one of the most impor­ become private grazing lands. From Died With Their Boots On, tant acts to perpetuate memory of the around the world pilgrims and the 1941-World War II era) to an Indian battle has been the setting aside of the curious come to this focal point of the victory over arrogant invaders who battlefield itself. This began in 1879 Custer and Little Bighorn legend-the deserved a swift, sure death (Little Big when the government proclaimed the place where it happened, the one spot Man, 1970-Vietnam War era). site a national cemetery. Regular visits on the planet where this brief historic Written accounts of the Little there began soon after with visitors encounter can be most vividly recalled. Bighorn comprise a vast body of coming from nearby Here also, away from the dime literature-hundreds of works, from (established in 1877) or traveling by novels, Wild West shows and movies, dime novels and comic books to stagecoach from the Northern Pacific the more solemn commemorative ac­ serious fiction and historical inquiry. Railway depot in Billings. The War tivities have occurred. Among them: And since the 1890s the Anheuser­ Department managed the battlefield reburial of the soldiers in the mass Busch Brewing Company's print, until 1940 when this responsibility was grave and erection of the granite "Custer's Last Fight," has decorated transferred to the National Park Ser­ memorial in 1881; conciliatory meetings barrooms across this country and in vice. Now more than 250,000 people of Indians and whites on the bat­ many other nations, becoming one of visit this site each year. tlefield; repeated anniversary obser­ the most popular prints ever produced. Those who come to the Little Bighorn vances, most notably the 10th, 50th, Seeking to get into the very marrow encounter an imposing granite obelisk, and lOOth. On the 110th anniversary in of the "Custer experience" are the erected in 1881, at the top of Last Stand 1986, occurred the ceremonial burial of buffs. Numbering in the thousands, Hill, where the furious conclusion of fragmentary remains of 34 soldiers these aficionados not only partake of the battle occurred. Inscribed on this unearthed during the recent ar­ most available literature on Custer, but monument are the names of the cheological work. many also dress in costumes of the era soldiers who died there, many of These observances, which will con­ (military uniforms or frontier dresses) whom are buried in a mass grave tinue in one form or another down to participate in encampments and around the base of the obelisk. (Bodies through the decades, have great mean­ reenactments. They regularly and of most of the officers were moved to ing to Indians as well as whites. Speak­ religiously visit sites associated with other cemeteries in 1877; Custer's body ing to the crowd gathered for the 110th Custer. Many have also visited the was reinterred at West Point, October anniversary ceremonies, Enos Poor Dyche Museum at the University of 10, 1877; the Indians had carried away Bear, former head of the Oglala Sioux Kansas to view the stuffed, glass­ most of their dead.) Scattered up the Tribe, stated: "To the Sioux Nation and encased horse, Comanche, the hillside to near the obelisk are dozens to all Indian people, there is no spot on venerated remains of the only survivor of small white marble markers erected earth more steeped with Indian tradi­ from the army's side of the battle. where the bodies of individual soldiers tion and pride than this battlefield at Recently, at a fancy auction in Con­ were originally found. These stones which we are assembled. We of the In­ necticut, Custer's dog-calling horn give a rough indication of the disposi­ dian nations look on this battle as one brought $19,800-an indication of the tion of Custer's command during the of our finest hours." Custer mystique's still powerful and last stages of the fight. Although the battle is considered one widespread appeal. On the battlefield, Other markers and signs in the na­ of the greatest Indian victories in the imitators of the fallen hero have occa­ tional monument describe the course of history of the frontier wars, militarily it sionally wandered about, dressed in the battle, and an interpretive center earned the Indians nothing-but it Custer-like paraphernalia, perhaps contains a museum with exhibits and earned many of them a great and wondering what might have been, artifacts. A separate area about four lasting sense of triumph and pride, cer­ wishing to undo, to reverse the out­ miles up-river preserves the site where tainly an indiction of the battle's larger come of the fatal encounter. And one troops under Reno and Benteen were symbolic meanings. The Little Bighorn individual was once caught in the base­ besieged during and after the defeat of has become more than a shrine for the ment of the battlefield museum trying Custer's forces. Indians. It is a symbol of 400 years of

24 /COURIER, September 1987 cultural conflict in America. For the tlefield to map to the last millimeter the and as theater, the battle provides Sioux in particular, the Little Bighorn location, depth and angle of every endless fascination; as historic incident, represents a major cultural transition to precious artifact, every shred of endless inquiry and speculation. the reservation experience-from in­ evidence. Between trips to the library What is remarkable about the Little dependence to dependence and and the movies (and perhaps to the Bighorn is that this Great Retrospec­ welfare which exist today. mirror), they have now computerized tive, the public celebration and com­ On the other hand, the Anglo-Ameri­ this data-but the complete story re­ memoration, has become the weightier, can society, seemingly invincible in its mains forever elusive. more consequential result of the nineteenth century westward march, battle - varied, highly symbolic, longer Rather than being obcessed with reacted to the defeat with shock and lasting and with more to come. Each disbelief-and has never been able to detail, the Indians are more stoic generation has found itself part of this stop fretting about what happened about the Little Ilighorn. They may historic pageant. And now we, too, there and why. Losing the real battle, also be curious about the white's fasci­ have become participants-actors in the the whites counterattacked with scien­ nation with a battle they lost but con­ play. tific inquiry, continually seeking to tinue to celebrate. resolve the mystery. Through ex­ The Little Bighorn's enduring appeal Dick Sellars is Chief Southwest Cultural haustive research, historians and ar­ stems in large part from the fact that it Resources Center, SWRO. This article ap­ cheologists have for decades stalked offers something for everyone-adults peared in the June 21 edition of the Rich­ the minutest detail, even plotting out or children, Indian or non-Indian, mond Times-Dispatch. grid patterns over portions of the bat- patriots, radicals, scholars. As drama