Day 8 – Little Big Horn and the trip home.
When we last left our Scouts they were sleeping peacefully under the stars. Perhaps if you knew our itinerary you were asking yourself “Wait – what happened to Little Big Horn?” Well, despite a very early departure from Madison Arm, we encountered some traffic, a lot of fun, and several seemingly angry snowballs. Therefore, we did not have enough time to visit Little Big Horn and the Custer Battlefield on Day 7 as planned, so it got pushed to the morning of Day 8.
Most of the tours of Little Big Horn are given by Indians and amateur historical buffs. The battle of LBH occurred on June 25-26 1876, only one day and a hundred some years ago, but it came alive for us as we toured the site. We met the grandson of the Indian Chief Gall at the site who told us of his grandfathers’ experiences, and related a bit of his life. He told us that although the US Calvary casualties were always marked with tombstones, the Indian ones were not. In fact, until the late 1950’s historians were not aware that the Indian families knew the location of their casualties, and had marked them with rock cairns. Only recently did 10 of these warriors get granite markers where they fell.
He also told how in the mid-1980’s the US government remunerated the families of the Indian warriors in the only manner they could calculate. Each family such as his received a check for $700 – the value of the warriors’ horse which was killed in the battle.
We also met an amateur historian, Hank Pangione, who shared with us a vivid re-telling of one part of the battle. Hank was careful to cite many references by name and book, and was clear when he was injecting his own personal theories and interpretations of the action as it befell that day. You could tell he was passionate about the site and accurately depicting its history with his colorful storytelling. Each year for many he has travelled from his home in Massachusetts to explore the site, meet with other enthusiasts and historians, and to freely share his time with others.
When we last left our Scouts they were sleeping peacefully under the stars. Perhaps if you knew our itinerary you were asking yourself “Wait – what happened to Little Big Horn?” Well, despite a very early departure from Madison Arm, we encountered some traffic, a lot of fun, and several seemingly angry snowballs. Therefore, we did not have enough time to visit Little Big Horn and the Custer Battlefield on Day 7 as planned, so it got pushed to the morning of Day 8.
Most of the tours of Little Big Horn are given by Indians and amateur historical buffs. The battle of LBH occurred on June 25-26 1876, only one day and a hundred some years ago, but it came alive for us as we toured the site. We met the grandson of the Indian Chief Gall at the site who told us of his grandfathers’ experiences, and related a bit of his life. He told us that although the US Calvary casualties were always marked with tombstones, the Indian ones were not. In fact, until the late 1950’s historians were not aware that the Indian families knew the location of their casualties, and had marked them with rock cairns. Only recently did 10 of these warriors get granite markers where they fell.
He also told how in the mid-1980’s the US government remunerated the families of the Indian warriors in the only manner they could calculate. Each family such as his received a check for $700 – the value of the warriors’ horse which was killed in the battle.
We also met an amateur historian, Hank Pangione, who shared with us a vivid re-telling of one part of the battle. Hank was careful to cite many references by name and book, and was clear when he was injecting his own personal theories and interpretations of the action as it befell that day. You could tell he was passionate about the site and accurately depicting its history with his colorful storytelling. Each year for many he has travelled from his home in Massachusetts to explore the site, meet with other enthusiasts and historians, and to freely share his time with others.
We only got a whirlwind tour of the site, but I think we all came away with a good understanding of the history of the battle, the conditions the Calvary and Indians encountered, and an appreciation of the amount of research and preservation that has gone on at the site.
We left after a final look at the National Cemetery where many of the soldiers for LBH and other Indian battles of the Northwest were interred. Whether from reflection or exhaustion, the drive to the airport was the quietest we had in several days.
Now, airports can be chaotic places. We didn’t help. Imagine two rental vans screeching to a halt beside the curb, one of which has a big blue tarp and several oversize duffels strapped to the top. A cascade of boys and men pile out of the vehicles with backpacks in hand and start hauling bags, duffels, and even boxes of food to the side of the building. Next everyone starts stripping of their shirts and putting on bright yellow ones that all match each other. Another set of boys starts to nosily crash through the interior of the vans tossing out odds and ends, banging the seats up down and forward to make sure nothing is left behind.
Next all the bags are dragged down to the close end of the building and restacked in the shade, while two adults go into the terminal, only to return shaking their heads and pointing clear down the line of buildings. Two more adults go inside to return the vans to the rental company. While those two are inside, the caravan of bags and boxes gets carried all the way down the terminal to the departure gates.
I don’t think the “white zone” has seen anything like this in a while.
After we were checked in, we returned to the shade in the front of the building now only carrying our backpacks and three boxes of food and drinks. We quickly made an interesting lunch of burrito shells, peanut butter and jelly/cheesy-its/string cheese (yes, I saw all of those combinations), lemonade, a few leftover ham slices, and some apples. For dessert it was again an interesting mix of cold smores or peanut butter and grahams and I don’t want to know what else.
While we were eating a Skycap in a red shirt came out obviously on break, but I thought he looked like he also had other things on his mind. He sat down from us for a bit until Pete (of course) struck up a conversation with him, and he slowly wandered into our circle of activity. We each noticed that he was eying our activities and food with a mix of interest and hunger, until one of us invited him over to formally join in lunch, which he gladly did.
As we packed up to leave we offered him our leftovers of burrito shells, peanut butter, jelly, a few cheesy-its, 3 apples, and some other tidbits (Congrats to Luke and Laura who planned the food that close!). He was very grateful for the items, and I sensed there was much more to his story that we will ever know, for as we departed he said from his heart “God Bless You. This means more to me than you could possibly know.”
We finally went through security, although Mr. Zimmerman got a lot closer scrutiny than anyone. He got scanned, wanded, patted down, then wanded again. Of course, Jake had to patiently stand by and wait. The rest of us showed our support by standing at the top of the stairs above the security area laughing and taking pictures…. Real supportive huh?
And now gentle reader, our tales come to a close. I leave you with an extra slide show of our sleeping angels, some young, and some old. We had a great trip, a great time, and we embraced the scout mottos of being brave, thrifty, kind, cheerful, and friendly. We created friendships and memories that should last a lifetime, and learned lessons and stories that perhaps will be passed down to the Scouts children. For this we should feel proud and grateful.
The parting words of the Skycap ring in my ears, as I belive there is more to this trip than the pictures or words on this blog. We are blessed, and this time with our children does mean more than we can possibly know.
Sleeping Angels
Heading Home
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