Native Americans Commemorate Little Bighorn Victory

The quiet, wind-swept hills of the Battle of Greasy Grass, known to many as the Battle of Little Bighorn, were the setting for Native Americans commemorating the battle's 150th anniversary with horse rides, battle reenactments, and a camp of hundreds of people this week. Thursday was the anniversary of the battle, one of the most famous and symbolically charged events in American history, the AP reports. Allied tribes came together on that hot day near the banks of the Little Bighorn River in present-day Montana to hand the US Army a rare defeat as they fought to preserve their way of life in the face of westward expansion. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and more than 200 of his troops were killed.

Reenactments illustrated the battle. Horse riders from the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota and elsewhere traveled hundreds of miles to the Crow Agency area in Montana to mark the occasion. Families were encouraged to share their oral histories. At the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, people held horse races and traditional songs and dances.

• Gathering at the battlefield area 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 up the camp where hundreds of people were gathered from numerous tribes with a song and drumming. "Today I am celebrating the victory of our people, celebrating my life as a human being and my spot on this earth," he said.
• The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in what is now South Dakota by a Custer expedition just years earlier spurred a military campaign against Great Plains tribes that aimed to push them onto reservations, or what were known then as agencies, said historian Dakota Goodhouse. There were bigger, 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 slick grass along the river—gained national recognition because the commanding officer was killed.
• At the time, the Lakota were one of the largest and most powerful tribal nations, with strong leaders in Sitting Bull and warriors like Crazy Horse. Native warriors quickly overwhelmed Custer's men as the US forces were spread miles apart over the hilly area.
• News of Custer's defeat stunned Americans, who were celebrating their country's centennial. The federal government accelerated efforts to subdue resistance, bringing years of hardship and upheaval for Native Americans.

• The atmosphere at the battlefield area on Thursday was celebratory as hundreds of people from numerous tribes had gathered. Several hundred horse riders charged up a hill and circled at the top as they whooped and yelled. The sun shone on the battlefield area, a wide-open grassland with few trees, mountains in the distance.
• Elders wore headdresses. People sang and played drums as flags flew from various tribal nations. The camp with dozens of tepees stood along the Little Bighorn River, with people there 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, too, you know, personally," said Theresa Long Turkey, of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.
• As many Americans are celebrating the 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, for many Native Americans, it's not a reason to rejoice, the AP reports. "It's just a mark to me of 250 years of injustice to the Native people," Crow tribal member and reenactment coordinator Jim Real Bird said.
• Jon Eagle Sr., a former Standing Rock tribal historic preservation officer from the Hunkpapa band of the Oceti Sakowin, agreed: "That's one of the things that we always tell our people when we come together, is they failed at their attempts to rub us out. We're still here as ancient people deeply connected to our environment," said Eagle, whose great-great-grandfather, Sunka, fought that day.