Little Bighorn Battlefield NM

 7th Ranch RV Campground is about 10 miles southwest of the Battlefield.

We're here for 3 nights.

The remains of 220 US soldiers, scouts and civilians who lost their lives in the Battle

are buried near this memorial on Last Stand Hill.

 The officer's bodies were transported to various other private or public graveyards.  George is buried at the West Point Military Academy.

The Indian Memorial, above and below, was recently built and dedicated.

About darn time, say I.

The 249 gray stone markers in the Battlefield are located near where the soldiers, scouts and civilians were killed.  The most concentrated group of markers is on Last Stand Hill, pictured above.  Custer's marker, distinctive for its gray-on-black lettering, is in the middle above, closeup shot below.

In 1999, National Park Service started erecting red granite markers

that indicate where some of the natives lost their lives.

Should-have criticisms come easy to those who weren't there, and hindsight is 20/20.  That said, here are mine: Custer should have believed his scouts about the size of the Indian encampment (estimated at 7000).  He should have posted scouts to watch the Indians and stayed well away from the Indian camp.  He should have sent messengers to alert General Terry and Colonel Gibbon to the north, and to general Crook to the south (Custer's 7th Cavalry was just a small part of the large, 3-pronged military campaign). 

Custer was a shameless glory seeker who wrote his own self-aggrandizing newspaper articles (as did Douglas MacArthur in WWII, another shameless glory seeker).  Custer had presidential aspirations - which may have been realized if he had won the last big battle against the Native Americans.  

At the Little Bighorn, he ordered Major Reno to attack the Indian camp first; the camp contained many more women and children than warriors.  They say all's fair in love and war, but attacking noncombatants is despicable in my view - and it wasn't the first time he'd done it, either.

He paid the price for his rash actions and I can't feel too bad about it.  I do feel bad about the other lives lost in the battle - on both sides.