06/12/2024
Another piece of US history....7TH CAVALRY HORSE CEMETERY -LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT, CROW AGENCY, MT:-
Following the battle, 39 cavalry horses that had been used as breastworks during Custer's Last Stand were discovered among the deceased on Last Stand Hill. In 1879, the Army erected a temporary monument made of cordwood on the hill's summit. The area, scattered with the skeletons of cavalry horses, was cleaned up and the horse remains were placed inside the cordwood monument.
In July 1881, Lieutenant Charles F. Roe and a detail from the Second Cavalry replaced the temporary monument with the current granite monument and buried the casualties of the Seventh Cavalry around its base. The 2nd Cavalrymen, with great respect for the horses, re-interred them in the horse cemetery after the monument was erected, and lined the cemetery with cordwood from the original monument.
On April 9, 1941, while digging a trench for a water reservoir drainage pipe, maintenance workers stumbled upon a horse cemetery at this location. Among the artifacts recovered were fragments of human remains, cavalry boots, tins of hardtack crackers pierced by bullets, and approximately 10 horse skeletons. Further excavations were postponed until July 1946, when Lieutenant Colonel Elwood L. Nye, a U.S. Army Veterinarian, resumed the excavation work. Unfortunately, his report and the fate of the uncovered horses have not been found.
In February 2002, the site was examined using ground penetrating radar, which revealed anomalies in the soil. Archaeologists from the National Park Service excavated the cemetery from April 29 to May 1, 2002. Horse skeletal remains were discovered in two areas measuring six feet square, located just northeast of the Seventh Cavalry Monument. These remains included a vertebra, leg bones, shoulder bone, and rib bones. After thorough documentation, mapping, and photography, the horse cemetery, which was left undisturbed for future reference, was covered with protective plastic sheeting and the site was restored with backfill.
