August 16, 2009

Little Bighorn Battlefield and Crow Powwow

Yesterday we drove from Cody to Billings and beyond.  We took a less direct route to go by the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area or at least the visitor center.  Probably the least inspiring we have seen.  Very low key with not very inspiring displays.  We stamped our book and moved on.  In Billings we shopped at Costco and Walmart.  Billings is the largest city in Montana and is busy with traffic.  We got outa town as soon as we were done.  We planned to see Bighorn Battlefield so we drove to Hardin which is the closest town.  As we were checking in to a RV park the manager mentioned that the annual Crow Agency Fair and Powwow was happening now.  We decided to add another night so we could spend some time at the powwow.

Today we went to the ‘fair’ about 9:00am and drove through a sea of teepees.  They were everywhere.  We wondered where the promised morning parade would go.  People were setting up chairs on every road it seemed.  We finally just decided to park in a likely spot and wait.  Turned out we parked on the first turn right after the start of the parade.  This parade is a long progression of Native Americans on horseback followed by those on trucks and floats.  All dressed in their finest native attire.  Some very nice things.

Here is the Fair Princess.  She was throwing candy bars to the crowd.

There were lots of kids.

From the parade we moved down the road a mile to Little Bighorn Battlefield.  We listened to an excellent presentation by a ranger about the events leading up to, including, and after the ‘Last Stand’.  We then watched a video which retold the story graphically.  After that we walked the area to see the actual spots.  The places where each combatant fell have been pretty accurately marked for about all of the soldiers and some of the Indians.

The stone with the black marking is where Custer fell.

The officers who died that day were reinterred in various cemeteries in the east.  The soldiers were eventually buried in a mass grave at the foot of this marker.

 

Studying fields of battle is not our thing so we took a last look and headed back to the Powwow which was getting under way.  We walked the rows of trinket and food venders several times and decided to have Indian Tacos for lunch.  The opening ceremonies and dancing got under way in the afternoon.  A couple of pictures from early on.