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Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 |
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Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876
The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is the site of one of America's most famous armed struggles, but the events surrounding Custer's defeat there in 1876 are only the beginning of the story. As park custodians, American Indians, and others have contested how the site should be preserved and interpreted for posterity, the Little Bighorn has turned into a battlefield in more ways than one. In Stricken Field, one of America's foremost military historians offers the first comprehensive history of the site and its administration in more than half a century.
Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 Accessories
Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 Reviews
Jerome Greene goes beyond the standard model of a park history here, giving park interpretation and political controversy a major role in the story. As such, he moves our understanding of the Little Bighorn Battlefield a significant step forward. However, he still stays too narrowly focused on the battlefield as opposed to the larger social context and meaning of this site. While including Native American voices, he does not go far enough in telling us about how Indian participants (on both sides) saw the battle and the battlefield. This is still a book written from the park archives, which means he sees most clearly what park administration saw.
For example, Chapters 2-4 tell the story of the site until 1940, during which is was managed by the War Department. Key concerns were burying the Euro-American dead, reburying them, maintaining a cemetery site in accordance with contemporary notions of how to treat war dead, and so forth. Gradually the focus shifted from maintaining a national cemetery toward running a battlefield national monument. Similar changes occurred at battlefields around the country, though Greene does not provide that context. Yet that context is essential for making sense of the transfer from the War Department to the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior.
In these early chapters, and very much like the War Department, Greene does not seem interested in the Indian dead or what happened to them. Indian veterans are almost invisible during their lifetimes, though they appear and disappear at major anniversaries of the battle. Nor does Greene stand back and ask about the site's relationship with the Crow Indian Reservation, in the middle of whose land the monument stands. He documents Indian participation in the 50th anniversary activities but does not examine Indian motives, concerns, or the meaning of this participation for them. Indian veterans do not receive the attention routinely given to both Confederate and Union veterans in the histories of Chickamauga and other Civil War battlefield parks.
Greene notes that changes in interpretation, the name change, and the Indian Memorial all reflected broader social changes - - but he is only interested in the social changes when they touch the National Monument. For example, he tells us how Russell Means and the American Indian Movement engaged in various political actions at the site to try to force a change in interpretation. That's a story worth telling, but I'd like to see Greene place that small story within a larger story about Indian activism. Changes in American tourism, such as paved roads and driving vacations, get more pages than the AIM (and could get more - - that's another context Greene underplays).
That larger story is essential for making sense of the name change and the Indian memorial. Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne) takes up this cause but he has support of Montana's (white) congressional delegation, who is following the lead of earlier positions taken by the governor and congressional delegation of North Dakota. Why are these Westerners interested in a more balanced story at Little Bighorn? Answering that question should be part of the history too.
Despite my complaints, this book represents a large step in the right direction in terms of telling the story of this park. The lingering passions aroused by this battlefield remind us that Native Americans who resisted the federal government still do not receive the kind of attention that Confederate veterans who resisted the federal government have long received.
If you are interested in the history of management for the site, then this one is for you. If you are expecting history of the battle itself, save yourself money and don't buy this.
Jerome Greene provides a detailed account of the Little Bighorn Battlefield (LBH) from its original primitive burials to its current national Park status that continues to promote expanded preservation while finally providing recognition to the Native Americans that fought on that site. The most fascinating detail is the repeated attempts to protect the burials by numerous attempts, spread over many years, to appropriately rebury scattered remains that were never buried deep enough (particularly the enlisted) or covered well, and attempts at improved marking. Even in 1890, Captain Sweet's mission of placing permanent head stones was challenging as he had more markers than actual fatalities on the Custer site creating spurious markers that were later fairly well identified. Also fascinating is the creation of a fraudulent marker for Lt. Sturgis whose body was never found yet a grave was created in a failed attempt to appease his family. Also, Greene covers the protection and development of the Reno-Benteen fields as well as preservation and appropriate markings of the fallen such as Dr. DeWolf's remote death site. What is most disappointing to historians and particularly archeologists is the well intended yet destructive face of the battlefield such as the placing of a cemetery for Fort Keough staff on top of Custer Hill (Battle Ridge) right up through the mid 1930s after which, the graves were relocated. Other changes to the primitive landscape was the addition of the National Cemetery on a small hill slightly below and north of Custer Hill where it is thought that one of Custer's companies manned during the latter part of the battle, the building of Park Headquarters, Quarters for the Supt. and perhaps, ironically, was the building of the Monument to the 7th Calvary dead that required flattening the top of the final stand hill top and required shifting the grave markers slightly downhill. During a group tour that I was on, a notable historian barked "What the Hell difference does it make?" when we were surprised to learn that Custer fell not where the current marker is located but behind us on the top of the hill just south of the monument. Well, I think it is good to know, particularly if you made the trip and Greene makes it clear without too much criticism.
The rest of the book covers in detail the various superintendents, listing them in order in the back of the book complete with pictures and speaks of their contribution and controversies. Mot notable is Captain Luce who, during his long tenure, found evidence of cavalry movements on neighboring ridges, helping tracking Custer's movements. Other notable regimes was Jim Court who welcomed archeological digs after a major fire that determined numerous artifacts, native American Superintendents Barbra Booher and Gerad Baker to the excellent historian Neil Magnum and Daniel Cook who welcomed the new monument to Native Americans. Also, captured by Greene is the battle between private preservation groups and the fight for obtaining more land essential to the battlefield that lies outside the park boundaries. Also discussed, is the relatively recent renaming of the battlefield to from its former "Custer Battlefield" to its current "Little Bighorn Battlefield". In addition, Greene covers well the controversy over the delayed Native American recognition that includes protests and attention from AIM and leader Russell Means. How appropriate that Greene quotes Native American George Amiotte, an Oglala Lakota Healer, at the Native American Memorial who won four purple hearts and a bronze star in Vietnam who said "Today is a beautiful day to be alive in the great circle of life. Remember the beauty of their deaths. Make the warriors who laid down their lives proud of you".
Interesting review of the National Park Service's management of the Custer Battlefield. How to be politically correct in government. And, by my view, how to destroy a monument to the fallen soldier by making it an equal place to honor the indian victors of the battle. Ultimately, it demonstrates the National Park Service's inability to deal with historic sites and why they should be limited to managing their wildlife and nature preserves!
The Custer National Battlefield still holds a special aura in the history of the American lexicon. Even after 132 years since the battle, the tragedy that unfolded there on June 25, 1876 captures our imagination, and it begs more questions than answers. Perhaps that's as it should be. Stricken Field is a history of the Custer National Battlefield, and the efforts of so many people over the years to make this piece of ground a sacred, historical, and beautiful spot in our country. The book is very well detailed, thoughtfully and intelligently written to make the history of all the efforts required to make and keep the battlefield a pleasant spot to visit, reflect, and admire. I strongly urge any person interested in western history to read this book, as well as the book A Terrible Glory by James Donovan.
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