Stolen Arms To Indian Tribes.

[FEATHERS]

Thank you all for your replies,this topic interests me so much,I really want to get that picture out of my head of Errol Flynn standing on the hill blazing away.I am planning a trip to the LBH next year & am trying to gather as much truth to the battle as I can.Feathers

[Daniel Nighteyes]

You want to be a Plains NDN captured with a 'Custer' gun in the late 1870's.

The source of the firearm, believe me, wouldn't figure into it at all.  Whether or not he was from a Plains nation, an armed warrior would be in pretty deep kim-chee if captured.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

The source of the firearm, believe me, wouldn't figure into it at all.  Whether or not he was from a Plains nation, an armed warrior would be in pretty deep kim-chee if captured.

Dan'l, that gave me a chuckle.  I haven't heard that since I wore a "pickle-suit!"

[Shotgun Franklin]

an armed warrior would be in pretty deep kim-chee if captured.

That's the point. If a Trooper comes across a Warrior with gun that just might have been taken from a dead Soldier it likely made for a strained situation.

[JohnR]

An absolute MUST on any trip to the Little Bighorn Battlefield is the Custer Battlefield Trading Post - just across the highway from the entrance to the National Monument and Visitor Center.  Owned and operated by my old friends Jill and James "Putt" Thompson, they have a great selection of Custer reference material and always try to have the latest and newest books.  AND, they serve a great breakfast in their cafe.

A couple of publications specifically on the archaeology work after the 1983 fire are listed on their website, and it wouldn't be a stretch to expect them to have more.

http://www.laststand.com/store/index.php?c=54

I haven't visited them in almost 10 years now, but I doubt things have changed too much.  When I lived in Colorado, I spent half the summer in Montana every year, and as much time as possible with good company and good friends there.  If you can catch Putt and introduce yourself, you will have a friend for life.  He's a wealth of information and if you're lucky he will offer to take you around, and give you another perspective.  He worked a couple of summers at the National Monument before he and Jill opened their business, knows the staff there, and has been there longer than any of them.

Information is plentiful around there - some factual and some fictional and some theory, some from the white side and some from the native side.  The visitors center and the park interpreters are very good sources of information and do a teriffic job in their presentations.  Don't miss the Reno/Benteen site, a few miles down the road from the visitors center.  Gives a whole new perspective on how widely spread the fighting was that day.  Looking at a map just doesn't give a good insight on how vast that territory really is.  For example, at the Reno/Benteen battlefield, you can sight through two holes in a post and view the Crows Nest, the spot from which Mitch Boyer, Bloody Knife, and other scouts warned Custer of the size of the Indian camp.  That will give you an idea how far the 7th actually rode that day.  Look down to where the river is and you can appreciate just how difficult Reno's retreat was.

To get an idea of just how big the Indian Camp was, drive the I-90 access road from Hwy 212 south to Garryowen.  The southern end of the camp was at Garryowen, and the northern end stretched across Hwy 212.  There is a gas station/convenience store there with a little museum attached - some interesting stuff.  A little further south, there used to be another museum just past Garryowen - a big log building that was chock full of great artifacts - privately owned.  Last I heard, the owner was having real financial problems, so it may have been sold.

You really have to see it from end to end, both down below where the Indian camp was located, and up above where both battles took place to appreciate it.  Except for two little "islands" which are the two battle sites and the road that connects them, it's now all either family or tribal owned land so there isn't a lot of exploring outside the boundaries without permission. 

[Daniel Nighteyes]

  That's the point. If a Trooper comes across a Warrior with gun that just might have been taken from a dead Soldier it likely made for a strained situation.

With respect, that wasn't my point.  What I said was (italics added for emphasis):

The source of the firearm, believe me, wouldn't figure into it at all.  Whether or not he was from a Plains nation, an armed warrior would be in pretty deep kim-chee if captured.

[Daniel Nighteyes]

Dan'l, that gave me a chuckle.  I haven't heard that since I wore a "pickle-suit!"

Thanky, sir.  I spent several years working with some folks who used that term.  Since the general, ah, aroma, is just as poweful, I like the phrase much better than the other one...

[FEATHERS]

G'Day JohnR,thanks for the info on the LBH & the link,I will look up your friend while I am there & say howdy.Feathers