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Day 4 was our best day so far as a "travel team". We got up early, got the camp site squared away and headed off to our tourist site of the day. The Custer Battlefield Monument and Museum.
I am not going to bore anyone with a long history lesson. Everyone has the basics down. Several Indian tribes decide that reservation life is not for them. They do what anyone else would do and decide to protect a way of life. Imagine a foreign nation trying to take New York City by force. Good luck with that! The US Gov't decides that resistance is not going to do and send in the Army. The Army fresh off some successes were cocky and arrogant. They incorrectly think bows and arrows don't kill people for real. Custer's ego and miscalculations lead to a major butt-kicking of the Army and his own death.
We spent a few hours on the site of "Custer's Last Stand". The Park Service has a Ranger that talks you through the issues and the battle. He pointed out various locations on the huge area that the battle took place and talked the crowd through the time sequence.
Where Custer and his "management team" fell, they created a cemetery. If you look close in the middle there is a brown headstone. That is where they found George, looking like a human pin cushion if you get the drift.
There is also a monument to the Indian warriors who fought (and died) with Custer. That was a surprise to us, but apparently in the mixed up political times that existed "The enemy of the enemy is a friend"...leading to some tribes helping the US put down the resistance.
We had a good few hours on the site and headed off to the Black Hills of South Dakota and our next stop; Mount Rushmore. It was an easy drive and we are looking forward to seeing it.
Ed
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