05/10/2024
Another tiny piece of the mosaic that is American history....
7TH CAVALRY HORSE CEMETERY
LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT
CROW AGENCY, MT
After the battle, 39 cavalry horses that had been shot for breastworks during Custerโs Last Stand, were found among the dead on Last Stand Hill. In 1879, a temporary cordwood monument was erected by the Army on the crest of the hill. The area, strewn with cavalry horse skeletons, was policed and the remains of the horses placed inside the cordwood monument. In July 1881, Lt. Charles F. Roe and a detail from the Second Cavalry replaced the temporary monument with the present granite monument and interred the Seventh Cavalry casualties around the base. The 2nd Cavalrymen in fond reverence for the horses, re-interred them here, after the monument was erected, and lined the horse cemetery with cordwood from the original monument.
On April 9, 1941, maintenance workers discovered a horse cemetery here while digging a trench for a water reservoir drainage pipe. Among the artifacts recovered were partial human remains, cavalry boots, bullet-pierced hardtack cracker tins, and approximately 10 Horse skeletons. Further excavations was delayed until July 1946 when Lt. Col. Elwood L. Nye, U.S. Army Veterinarian continued the excavation work. Unfortunately, his report has not been located, nor what became of the horses uncovered.
In February 2002, the site was examined using ground penetrating radar, revealing soil anomalies in the area. National Park Service archeologists excavated the cemetery April 29 to May 1, 2002. Horse skeletal remains were found in two six-foot square areas just northeast of the Seventh Cavalry Monument. The remains included a vertebra, leg bones, shoulder bone, and rib bones. After thorough documentation, mapping, and photography, the horse cemetery (which was left in place for future reference) was covered with protective plastic sheeting and the site restored with backfill.
