The 7th Cavalry, led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, rides along a ridge as warriors gather below as actors prepare to reenact the Battle of the Little Bighorn at the Custer's Last Stand Reenactment in Hardin. Two annual events recreate the famed June 1876 battle.
CASEY PAGE/Billings Gazette
Rick Williams plays Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer during the Custer’s Last Stand Re-enactment in Hardin. The re-enactment will be canceled for 2015 and is expected to resume.
CASEY PAGE/Billings Gazette
Headstones dot the prairie at he Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, marking the sites where participants are believed to have fallen. The site memorializes the June 1876 battle between the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne. It is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Memorial Day through July 31 and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 1 through Labor Day.
Custer rides again every year in Big Horn County on the weekend nearest the anniversary of his June 25, 1876, defeat at Little Bighorn.
In fact, he repeatedly charges into the maelstrom at two reenactments about 20 miles apart. The Hardin Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture stages a reenactment near Hardin, and the Real Bird family stages another across the river from Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument southeast of Hardin.
The reenactments are part of Little Bighorn Days in Hardin and Crow Native Days on the adjacent reservation. The festivals have run simultaneously for several years now, offering visitors a chance to sample events in town and on the reservation during the same weekend.
This year festivities begin Wednesday, June 19, and extend to Sunday, June 23.
In Hardin, activities start Wednesday with dancing lessons for people who want to attend the 1876 Military Ball on Thursday night. Dancers in period costume dance period dances to period music.
Usually the first performances of the battle reenactment — one in the afternoon and another in the evening — begin Friday. Traditionally there has been a parade that day, as well as contests and a quilt show.
Reenactment performances are also usually scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The Little Bighorn Days Parade fills the streets Saturday. One of the most popular events of the weekend is the street dance Saturday night. This year, Confederate Railroad, a country group big in the 1990s, will perform.
A special church service starts the day on Sunday.
Exact schedules for Little Bighorn Days and Crow Native Days were not available at press time.
Crow Native Days features parades, warrior challenges, hand games, powwows and a Northern Plains Indian Rodeo Association event. Traditional dance contests are always a crowd favorite.
Little Bighorn National Battlefield, right across Highway 212 from some Crow Native Day events, also commemorates the battle anniversary. Representatives from each of the tribes involved in the battle are invited to use the outdoor amphitheater to explain their views on what happened that day.
For the past several years, riders from the Northern Cheyenne Reservation have made the journey to the battlefield in a colorful procession along the highway.
Hardin is about 45 miles southeast of Billings, and Little Bighorn Battlefield is 13 miles further in the same direction.
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Related to this story
The 7th Cavalry, led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, rides along a ridge as warriors gather below as actors prepare to reenact the Battle of the Little Bighorn at the Custer's Last Stand Reenactment in Hardin. Two annual events recreate the famed June 1876 battle.
Rick Williams plays Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer during the Custer’s Last Stand Re-enactment in Hardin. The re-enactment will be canceled for 2015 and is expected to resume.
Headstones dot the prairie at he Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, marking the sites where participants are believed to have fallen. The site memorializes the June 1876 battle between the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne. It is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Memorial Day through July 31 and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 1 through Labor Day.
