This summer, the National Park Service will finally
acknowledge a missing chapter of history at the Little Bighorn
National Monument. On June 25, the 127th anniversary of
Custer’s Last Stand, the Park Service will unveil
“Peace Through Unity” — a memorial to the
American Indians who defeated General George Custer in battle in
eastern Montana.
In 1881, five years after more than
1,500 Cheyenne, Lakota and Arapaho warriors routed Custer and the
7th Cavalry, the U.S. Army erected grave markers and a monument to
the fallen U.S. soldiers. More than 100 years after that, the
American Indian Movement placed its own iron plaque at the
battlefield, but Congress didn’t commission an official
monument to the native warriors until 1991.
The memorial
will feature a ceremonial circle, 40 feet in diameter, partially
surrounded by life-size bronze sculptures of warriors racing on
horseback across the plains. For more information, call
406-638-2621 or visit
www.sisterwolf.com/sculpture/index.html.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Tribes recognized at Little Bighorn.
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