In terms of battlefields, Little Big Horn had a much bigger emotional impact on me. Looks exactly the same as it did on that fateful day (other than the monuments), and did not have annoying fetishists running around. The Plains of Abraham in Quebec was great to see, even though it is squeezed near the provincial parliament.
I saw Little Big Horn in September, 1949 at the age of 9. The image is still vivid today -- treeless, rolling hills, grass waving in the wind. Deathly quiet, a cloak of sadness across the entire scene. Something both terrible and honorable happened here.
I had the same feeling six years ago, in the corn field at Antietam. My wife actually started bawling in the road cut, sensing the Mississippians who fought and died there.
As compared to Gettysburg, I prefer Antietam. It was a one-day battle, so you can easily follow it site-by-site, on a north-to-south line, from beginning-to-end. We were there in September, about the same date as the actual battle, and in similar weather (Indian summer). Accordingly, we experienced the same daybreak, lighting and weather conditions as were actually the case. <
Little Big Horn and Antietamm...they both have a "feeling" about them.
Bears Paw Battlefield south of Chinook, Montana, is very evocative—scene of the surrender of the Nez Perce Indians after their 1300-mile trek (they thought they had made it across the border into Canada). Chief Joseph’s speech when he surrendered is a classic. Very remote location, 10 or 15 miles off U.S. 2.