I had a new digital camera and took over 1000 pictures on the trip including ones where I stitched together to form a panorama. The talks by the Park Service people were excellent and the book store is well stocked. I'm looking to purchase a replica of the Springfield Trapdoor they used (Pedersolli makes a working model).
The Springfield worked well if you could keep the Indians at a distance and fight an organized fight with skirmishers, thus it didn't work well for Custers troops who were overwhelmed at close range. I think that tactics played a major factor in the defeat of Custers 5 companies.
The Sioux were great fighters, and I read that the best calvary in the west were the Cheyenne. When you hear about Native Code Talkers most often it is Navajo, but Cheyenne Code Talkers were also used in WWII.
As I said, Ft. Abraham Lincoln is an incredible tour. The guides make you feel like you are back in the 1870s. It was interesting to tour the barracks - the beds were real short. Soldiers slept half sitting up in them because of consumption. They are supposedly rebuilding the entire fort - and I make annual contributions. They have the Custer House, support buildings (grannery, stable, post exchange), and a barracks. The infantry fort is on the hill overlooking the calvary fort. There's also the Mandan village which has ties to Lewis and Clark. Lots to see.
I have a book that allows you to follow the rout of the 7th from Ft. Abraham Lincoln to LBH. We'll go that way next time (probably when I retire).
The 7th had to deal with one of the worst blizzards in old west history on their way to LBH. The gatlin guns were left behind with the rest of the column at the Rosebud and Missouri because they would slow Custer down. Custer turned down several companies of 2nd Calvary (I think it was 2nd) as well. They left their sabres behind (they were transported in crates back to Ft. Abraham Lincoln on the Far West) because they made too much noise however I read that when they were travelling at night (in the dark) they would tap their tin cup on their saddle horn to make sure the guy behind them wouldn't get lost.
I believe that the other tribes were used in Europe, correct? I elieve they had Cheyenne, Creek, and others in the European Front IIRC
Aside from the alarming tendency for the cartridge case to break and jam the action. A History Channel presentation on the battle claimed that large numbers of pen knives and pocket knives were found on the battlefield, indicating the soldiers were having to pry the cartridge cases out of their weapons.
I visited the battle site many years ago,
and have to say it was erie to stand on those hills and hear the wind, you could almost hear gunshots and cries.
Spooky.