Sheridan, WY and the Battle of Little Bighorn

Bighorn Mountains

Cows in the road!

On Saturday, September 1st, we packed up and drove the scenic byway from Cody through Powell and Lovell, Wyoming. The first portion of the trip, across relatively flat but very interesting plains, soon changed to what felt like a near vertical climb at only 12 mph over the Bighorn Mountains east of the Bighorn River. Nice and slow.

View from Bighorn Mountains

What would normally be a very wide Bighorn Rriver in robust years, was now just a trickle during the region's extended drought. We remarked on the beauty of the area just as we began the 4500 foot ascent over only a few miles. To the west and south we could see the vast Rocky Mountains through the haze with only empty hills and grasslands in the foreground. The hand of man, except for the road and some fencing, could not be seen for miles in all directions. How beautiful.

Medicine Mountain

As we ascended the Bighorns toward Medicine Mountain, whose ancient medicine wheel remains at over 9500 feet in altitude, we noticed the wind pick up and the temperature drop, despite the picturesque blue sky and sunny day. The wheel is comprised of stones forming a circle with several spokes into the center. The age and ceremonial significance to its constructors is no longer known, but modern Crow Nation people consider it sacred and still use it for ceremonies. We stopped for lunch at a scenic overlook near the medicine wheel, in sight of Mt. Baldy, and a few miles short of the road's highest elevation of 9430 feet at Observation Point.

View from Bighorn Mountains

Our descent on the east side of the Bighorns was decidedly quicker than our ascent and with a bit more evidence of man. We could see the towns of Dayton and Ranchester off in the distance and as we drove through them, we noticed how much hotter they were at the lower elevation.

We stopped at the visitor center in Sheridan where the friendly guide loaded us up with a plethora of brochures about local sites and activities. We checked into the Big Horn Mountain KOA, set up camp and then drove back into downtown Sheridan to take in the sights.

Many western towns derived their fame from the infamous people who passed through generations ago. Sheridan was no exception. Opened in 1893 at a construction cost of $25,000, the Historic Sheridan Inn hosted Buffalo Bill whenever he was in town. Known as the W. F. Cody Hotel Company from 1894 to 1902, Cody auditioned acts for his Buffalo Bill's Wild West show on the inn's front porch. According to the inn's brochure, ranch hands and cowboys from all around demonstrated their talents for him.

Historic Sheridan Inn

We strolled around the sleepy downtown, many of the businesses closed early for the Labor Day weekend. One establishment not closed, and certainly not lacking in patrons, was the Mint Bar. In continuous operation since 1907, the bar looks like it. Taxidermied animals galore and with at least six guns hanging above the liquor, we admired the stunning tin ceiling, elaborate gnarled wood bar, gritty atmosphere and impressive collection of historic photographs on the walls. We bellied up and ordered a Black Tooth Brown Ale, a local beer (and a damn good one) brewed only a few blocks away in Sheridan. Nice.

After happy hour, we made our way to the now predictable choice of...the Wyoming Rib & Chop House. With this, our third (and final) installation in this restaurant group and having experienced similar waitstaff and quality of food, we rolled ourselves away from a great dinner on the sunlit patio and back to the RV for the remainder of the evening.

On Sunday morning, we awoke to our irritating neighbor using an electric drill on his leveling jacks at the tender hour of 5am. (Those in the know know not to abruptly awaken the beast...I can be crudely obscene and short-tempered at such an hour.) Nonetheless, after breakfast, we drove north to the Custer Battlefield Museum, a privately operated facility at the battlefield's eastern edge where the first shots of the battle were fired, and then on to the National Park Service's Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument at the other end of the battlefield.

Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier at Little Bighorn

Following the confirm- ation of gold found in the region, the government sought to buy back the Black Hills area of the Sioux reservation, essentially the entire western half of present day South Dakota. Despite the federal law against it, gold seekers had swarmed into the area in violation of the treaty and they kept coming. Meanwhile, another piece of land west of the reservation was still defined as Unceded Territory for use by the Sioux as hunting grounds. The bands of Sioux and Cheyenne following the leadership of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and other chiefs congregated in the Unceded Territory, essentially ignoring the will of the government for them to remain on the reservation and they refused to sign the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie to sell the Black Hills. After the government's attempt to buy back the Black Hills region was rejected by the Sioux, an ultimatum was given that the remaining Indians leave the Unceded Territory by the end of January 1876.

Memorial to all the horses killed
during the Battle of Little Bighorn

Markers of 3 Arikara scouts who
worked for Custer

When that deadline was ignored, the army was called in to forcibly remove them. The confluence of events that led to the battle of June 25 and 26, 1876 was remarkable. First, the Indians' encampment had swelled to over 7,000 people in celebration of the Sun Dance, including between 1500 and 2000 warriors. Despite warnings about the massive size of the encampment by his Crow and Arikara scouts, Custer divided his men into three columns and readied them to attack, some say arrogantly assuming the victories he enjoyed in the Civil War he would easily secure again.

Indian Memorial

He sent Major Reno's battalion of 140 men over the Little Bighorn River and directly into the east end of the Indian encampment to 'charge' the enemy. Reno was promised he would be supported. Despite this assurance, he and his men were repulsed from the camp within 10 minutes by the warriors fiercely defending their families and driven back to the river's edge where they fought from behind the fallen timber there. Only 30 minutes later the embattled troops retreated to the Hilltop where, having suffered 40 casualties and 13 wounded, they were joined by Captain Benteen's battalion. The two battalions took up a defensive position virtually unprotected and surrounded by Indian warriors. The men defended this position until the following afternoon when the Indians suddenly withdrew, a full day after Custer and his men had been killed.

Markers on Last Stand Hill looking toward
the Little Bighorn River

Gen. Custer's marker (in black)

Meanwhile, Custer again divided his troops and sent half down Medicine Tail Coulee toward the west end of the encamp- ment. Expecting to rout the enemy from behind, capture the women and children fleeing from Reno's attack and hold them hostage to force the camp's removal to the reservation, Custer continued over the Nye-Cartwright Ridge to the northeast. At this point, however, not only had Reno's forces been overwhelmed, but the Indians who repulsed him had joined those heading for Custer's position. Adding to Custer's problem was the repulsion of the Medicine Tail Coulee group's attack as well. This group and Custer's remaining men ended up on Last Stand Hill facing down an enemy on all sides. In a last ditch effort to survive, over 40 horses were shot and used as barricades against the hail of bullets and arrows from the Indians. Every Army man on the hill was killed, including Custer and four of his relatives.

Indian markers

Ironically, news of Custer's death arrived on the east coast in the midst of the country's rousing centennial celebration of freedom and independence in Philadelphia. Both the public and the military could scarcely believe it but Custer's death, and the death of 262 other soldiers and civilians, was confirmed. With that, the might of the fledgling country was brought to bear on the Sioux and Cheyenne over the following year.

Mass grave of soldiers killed on
Last Stand Hill

Despite the Sioux and Cheyenne victory at Little Bighorn, the freedom was short-lived. Within a year most of the Indians surrendered to the government and agreed to live on the reservation. The once vast Sioux reservation was reduced to five separate, and much smaller, areas east of their sacred Black Hills, with much of the original region open to settlement by white Americans. Sitting Bull, in defiance, fled to Canada for five years until he and his band eventually surrendered to the government as well.

We toured the private museum and watched the film 'Triumph and Tragedy Along the Little Bighorn' about the battle's repercussions on the Indians' lives as well as the government's subsequent (and relentless) response to losing at Little Bighorn. One historian in the film mentioned that Custer's defeat was the turning point in ensuring the government's 'continental destiny', thus using his loss as a battle cry to sweep aside all remaining Indian peoples in the pursuit of land. We drove through the battlefield following the self-guided tour and saw the white markers where U.S. soldiers, civilians and Indian scouts were slain. The white markers were installed a couple of years after the battle, but it wasn't until 2003 that red markers were installed indicating where Cheyenne and Sioux warriors had fallen. Many of the estimated 60-100 slain warriors were carried off by their people right after the battle, so the number and location of many of the fallen warriors are lost to history. We thoroughly enjoyed touring the battlefield and learning about this important, though symbolic, battle in the Indians' fight for their way of life.

What an interesting day!