LITTLE BIGHORN

Until last week, when I start to plan my ROCKIE MOUNTAINS TRIP ... I didn't really know why SITTING BULL was so famous ... the same for CUSTER ...

... and, of course, the same for LITTLE BIGHORN ...

... kinda of heard these names before ... but I wasn't sure if they were real places or HOLLYWOOD creations ... today I visited LITTLE BIGHORN NATIONAL MONUMENT. It is in MONTANA and it is located on the anonymous battlefield where on June 25th-26th 1876 the NATIVE AMERICANS headed by SITTING BULL defeated the 7th CAVALRY of Lt. Col. CUSTER ... and for the AMERICAN ARMY that was the biggest defeat ever ... for the NATIVE AMERICANS it was the biggest victory ... but it didn't change the history ... the WHITE IMMIGRANTS occupied the land and forced the NATIVE AMERICANS in the RESERVATIONS.

The NATIONAL MONUMENT has plenty of informative booths, there is also an introduction video of 17 minutes which explains all the phases of the 2 days battle. Basically the ARMY saw this huge campground of 7,000 CHEYENNE, LAKOTA and ARAPAHO including almost 2,000 soldiers and decided to attack ... this time they despite their firepower they weren't lucky ... and the INDIANS won ... CUSTER got KILLED and SITTING BULL enter the legend.

I didn't know what to expect from this place ... but I have to say that its beauty and the way this battle went made me think a lot about the brutality of the human history ... a continuous CLASH of CULTURES, RELIGIONS, CIVILIZATIONS ... in which the stronger always won and always wrote the history ... and I am wondering if this is what is happening today as well ... with all these thoughts I wander for a couple of hours in these wonderful hills ...

... which remind me a lot of certain part of TUSCANY ... and I found the burial places of an INDIAN WARRIOR ...

... and of a 7th CAVALRY SOLDIER ...

... I simply loved the phrase on the tombstone of LAME WHITE MAN ... "A Cheyenne warrior died here on June 25th 1876 while defending his homeland and the Cheyenne way of life" ... at the same time I felt so lonely when I was close to the tombstone of the SOLDIER ... Why this guy was here? Who was he? Who sent him here? While I am walking I am reading the flier of the NSPS ... basically in 1868 the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT gave to the CHEYENNE, LAKOTA and other tribes the eastern part of the Wyoming ... the government promised to protect them ... but when in 1874 the GOLD was discovered in the BLACK HILLS ... the heart of the new Indian reservation ... the promise was not valid anymore ... so the army had to force the NATIVE to go out of the initial land promised them ... mmm ... yes ... too embarrassing and too long to write on a tombstone ...

I continue to walk with a sad feeling ... the feeling that I am part of an invasion ... I am not very different by that guys of the 7th CAVALRY ... I am an INVADER ... and while I am asking to myself if I should do something different ... I get close to the entrance of the PARK and I spot this huge ... for a backpacker like me who loves public transportation it is really difficult to describe it ... up to you to decide what it is ...

... to me it looks a CRAZINESS ... probably his gas bill is one of the reasons why we are in IRAQ ... but fortunately for this guy I don't have the guts of SITTING BULL ... I won't shoot any arrow to his tires ... I had enough problems with the POLICE today ... I just want to forget about it ... so I close my eyes ... and I want to believe that the souls of the NATIVE AMERICANS is still free like these horses that I spotted today while I was wandering in the park ...