O/T: May Tour. Black Hills, Little Bighorn, Yellowstone

[Woking88]

A fascinating insight and I am certainly looking forward to Robus' feedback.

[Robus]

Buffalo Bill Cody was a fascinating character, an entrepreneur and showman of high caliber. A P.T. Barnum of the American West. He is buried in Golden, Colorado. Might just be on my route.

As I read him, there was more than a little of the showman if not huckster in Sitting Bull too. In the run-up to Little Bighorn, he had gathered around him a growing number of Lakota (Sioux) and Cheyenne who were resisting pressure to settle on reservations. He was the spiritual leader, while Crazy Horse and others lead in battle.

Sitting Bull was famous for the visions that he received from the Wakan Tanka or Great Spirit during various physical ordeals that he endured in public, such as having 100 pieces of flesh cut from each arm, or being suspended by hooks piercing the flesh of his breasts until the skin and muscle tore and he fell. These visions predicted glorious victories over the blue-coat soldiers. But perhaps I'm too cynical.

[TundraWolf]

Immediately the Ghost Dance came to mind, a spiritual innovation amongst the native tribes that led indirectly to Sitting Bull's death as the wrongly supposed instigator of the movement. Using wikipedia I found an Edison, 1894, film of some Sioux conducting a Ghost Dance. Click on link below and then "images."

But short of conducting a religious/sociological/anthropological study, and resulting book, film and numerous publications, it would be better just to enjoy the trip into the heartland of America for what it is. - view external link

[Robus]

Cool video. My trips are always part sociological/anthropological study, or had you noticed?

[TundraWolf]

Cool video. My trips are always part sociological/anthropological study, or had you noticed?

The academic tenor of your work is never far from the heart of your reporting my dear Sir!

[sweeneywolf]

A fascinating insight and I am certainly looking forward to Robus' feedback.

Good to know, thanks for the input Ian

[Robus]

For any interested, here are a few highlights of the May ride. It was eight days and 3,200 miles on the Harley-Davidson, passing through Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. Most of the ride was on the interstate highways. Excluding side trips, I-80, I-90, and I-25 together accounted for all but 400 miles.



The point of the trip was to visit the Little Bighorn battlefield in southern Montana. I had to drop the idea of taking in Yellowstone owing to doubts about finding a motel room over the Memorial Day weekend, when millions of Yanks hit the highways.

Outbound, my route took me near Clear Lake, Iowa, a little town up near the Minnesota line. If the does not ring a bell, you might not be a fan of early rock and roll. Neither am I particularly, but the story of what happened there intrigues me.

On the evening of February 2, 1959 a group of touring musicians b

[Robus]

I reached the Little Bighorn late in the afternoon of the fourth day of the trip. In case you are rusty on your American history, the Battle of the Little Bighorn saw the demise of this fellow, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer of the 7th Cavalry:



Custer was and remains a controversial figure. During the American Civil War he had been the youngest general in the Union army and its most effective cavalry leader. By 1876 he was an experienced Indian fighter. However the qualities that made for a great cavalry commander - boldness, willingness throw caution to the wind - were the same that led to his undoing. As I walked over the battlefield, I kept thinking about Isandlwana. That was a bigger battle and different in many ways, but the mistakes that Custer and Chelmsford made were similar. Both divided their forces, underestimated the enemy, and failed to make adequate reconnaissance.

Here is the story. For som

[Robus]

The sector of the battlefield where Reno and Ben**** fought is particularly well marked. There is a trail that follows the line of their defensive perimeter.





In places the rifle pits are still visible.



By the second day, the defenders had exhausted their supply of water. Despite Indians all around, small groups began to descend this ravine to the river below. When they returned alive, a larger effort was organized. While one party carried can****s, another provided supporting fire. A number of men won the Medal of Honor for this action.



Two questions have occupied those who take an interest in this battle. First, what might have happened had Reno and Ben**** been quicker to move toward Custer? Might

[WOODLANDSWOLF]

Great stuff mate. Makes for wonderful reading especially with the photos. Poured myself a glass of wine and sat down at the computer and immersed myself in the wild west for thirty mins. Thanks for the effort old son! I know Wyoming very well, I have worked on a numer of projects up there and any spare time I had I drove all over. Love the place. The "Wind River Valley is amongst one of the most special places I have been.

Never took a camera of course!