Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

We we arrived in this area, we had no intention of going to Little Bighorn Battlefield NM. To be completely honest, I didn’t even know it was close to where we were staying. The owners of the RV park we were staying at highly recommended it so we decided to go check it out.

The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument was a lesson in history for the boys. The Rangers do a great job retelling the story of what happened and the museum has some amazing artifacts. We spent close to five hours here walking the trails, listening to a Ranger Talk and learning about Lt Col. George Custer’s Last Stand.

The museum was our first stop. Nicolas and Alex didn’t waste any time getting started on the Junior Ranger Field Guide.

We’ve all heard the story, but walking the paths while reading the descriptions at each tour stop really illustrates what happened here. You can read it in a book, but to stand in the place it happened…it gives you a new understanding of what really happened.

This National Monument memorializes not only Custer’s last battle and the loss of hundreds of soldiers, but it also memorializes the Northern Plains Indian’s fight to preserve their ancestral way of life. The NPS unit does a good job at telling both sides of the story without trying to sway you one way or the other.

The right picture above is Last Stand Hill. It’s the final resting place of not only Custer, but nearly 40 other soldiers who fell during the battle. There’s a memorial at the top of the hill dedicated to the hundreds of soldiers who lost their life in the battle.

There’s a headstone like this for every soldier and Native American who lost their life during the battle here. They’re placed where the soldier or Native American was found. They look like ghosts dotting the landscape.

Several different signs reminded us that we’re in rattlesnake country. The boys kept asking if each sound they heard was a rattlesnake. We’re all jumpy at the thought of running into one of these nope ropes.

There is a wonderful Indian Memorial there as well. You can see the Soldier Memorial through a slit in the wall. in the bottom right photo above is a picture of nine remaining Warriors that gathered together back in 1948.

The battlefield looks so peaceful now. It’s a beautiful area.

Alex and Nicholas finished up their Junior Ranger Field Guides after speaking with a Ranger. They’re up to four badges now and they’re learning so much!

We all walked away with a better understanding of what really happened during the Battle of Little Bighorn. And…we’ve decided the battlefields should definitely be added to our list of places to go! We all enjoyed it a lot more than we thought we would!

See y’all down the road!