The quiet, windswept hills of the Battle of Greasy Grass, known to many as the Battle of the Little Bighorn, are the setting for Native Americans celebrating the battle’s 150th anniversary this week with horseback rides, battle reenactments and a camp of hundreds of people.
The battleone of the most famous and symbolic events in American history celebrated its anniversary on Thursday. Allied tribes converged on that hot day near the banks of the Little Bighorn River in present-day Montana to deal a rare defeat to the U.S. Army as it struggled to preserve its way of life in the face of westward expansion. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and more than 200 of his troops were killed.
Reenactments will illustrate the battle. Riders from the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota and elsewhere travel hundreds of miles to the Crow Agency area of Montana for the occasion. Families are encouraged to share their oral histories. Horse racing and traditional songs and dances are planned at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.
Gathering on the battlefield in Montana means “we’re still here,” said William Good Bird, a traditional singer from the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation in North Dakota, who woke the camp where hundreds of people from numerous tribes had gathered with a song and drums.
“Today I celebrate the victory of our people, celebrate my life as a human being and my place on this earth,” he said.
Native warriors overwhelmed the divided U.S. Army forces
The discovery of Gold in the Black Hills The military campaign against the Great Plains tribes conducted by a Custer expedition just a few years earlier in what is now South Dakota sparked a military campaign aimed at pushing them onto reservations or so-called agencies, said historian Dakota Goodhouse.
There were larger, longer battles and other Native victories between March 1876 and June 1877, but Goodhouse said only the Battle of Greasy Grass — named by Native Americans for the smooth grass along the river — gained national recognition because the commanding officer was killed.
At this time, the Lakota were one of the largest and most powerful tribal nations, with strong leaders like Sitting Bull and warriors like them Crazy horse. Local warriors quickly overwhelmed Custer’s men, as U.S. forces were spread miles apart across the hilly area.
News The news of Custer’s defeat stunned Americans celebrating their country’s centennial.
The federal government increased its efforts to suppress resistance, causing years of hardship and turmoil for Native Americans. Crazy Horse was killed in 1877 and starvation led to the surrender of others in 1881.
Sitting Bull did not surrender like the history books teach, said Jon Eagle Sr., a former historic preservationist for the Standing Rock tribe of the Hunkpapa band of the Oceti Sakowin.
“Our people say that he looked at his son Crow Foot and said, ‘My boy, if you live, you can never be a man in this world because you can never own a gun or a pony,'” Eagle said. “I think he understood that things were going to change for his children, his grandchildren and the unborn.”
Sitting Bull was killed along with about a dozen other people when police tried to arrest him in 1890.
Custer is considered a polarizing figure
Biographer TJ Stiles described Custer as one of the Army’s most distinguished combat officers at the end of the Civil War. But he said the “Boy General,” with his long hair and flamboyant battlefield wardrobe, often bucked the chain of command and rejected the managerial side of leadership.
“Custer was someone who, every time he got into the frying pan, he immediately started looking for the fire,” he said.
In 1873, Custer was assigned to lead the Seventh Cavalry at Fort Abraham Lincoln, near present-day Bismarck, North Dakota. From there he led military expeditions, including one that confirmed this Gold in the Black Hillsa sacred place for the Lakota people.
Custer was considered a tragic hero in the United States and was remembered for his military achievements. He could also be seen as progressive, even though the federal government was trying to displace Native Americans and eradicate native languages Boarding schoolsGoodhouse said. He learned Arikara and Lakota and was fluent in the sign language of the tribes in the region.
Still, as is the case with many Americans celebrates the 250th anniversary since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, for many Native Americans It’s nothing to be happy about.
“To me, it’s just a sign of 250 years of injustice against Native people,” said Jim Real Bird, a Crow tribe member and reenactment coordinator.
Eagle agreed: “That’s one of the things we always tell our people when we get together, that their attempts to eradicate us have failed. We are still here as ancient people deeply connected to our environment.”
Commemoration keeps history alive for future generations
For more than 30 years, reenactments involving hundreds of warriors have celebrated the anniversary near the battlefield. The choreography is based on Northern Cheyenne oral tradition and emphasizes horsemanship and language preservation.
“All the other things that are Indian mean nothing if you don’t know your language,” Real Bird said.
The atmosphere on the battlefield was solemn as hundreds of people from numerous tribes had gathered. Several hundred riders charged up a hill and circled the summit, cheering and shouting. The sun shone on the battlefield, a wide open grassland with few trees and mountains in the distance.
The elders wore head coverings. People sang and drummed while flags of various tribal nations flew. The camp of dozens of teepees stood along the Little Bighorn River, with people from tribes in the Dakotas and as far away as Washington state.
“This is our fuel for the year. We come here and this is a renewal for us personally as well,” said Theresa Long Turkey of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.
Eagle said the Standing Rock races honor the horse nation that led its ancestors to victory 150 years ago. The commemoration also includes oskáte, a traditional celebration with oral traditions, victory songs and tribal dances.
“It’s just an opportunity for us to tell the generations that are coming behind us that they are descendants of a very powerful nation and an ancient people who are still here despite everything that has been done to us,” said Eagle, whose great-great-grandfather Sunka fought that day. His father, Charging Thunder, was there too.
Goodhouse recalled stories his grandfather told him about their ancestors who were at Hunkpapa Camp when troops attacked. His grandfather’s great-grandfather, Striped Face, was shot but mounted his horse and joined the fight.
“There’s this kind of energy that still lives on because we have this direct narrative that’s been handed down,” he said.
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Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.
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This story is published via the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.