By Neil Mangum

Webmaster's Note: Former Superintendent of the Little Bighorn and current board director of the Friends, Neil Mangum, with the assist of Chief Historian John Doerner,  presented a slide show at the Friends' second symposium, "Little Bighorn: The Aftermath and Development of an American Icon" on June 23, 2002. Neil's presentation consisted of many great photos demonstrating the changes of Last Stand Hill over the years. We present the photos here -- many never before published until now. All photos courtesy of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument unless otherwise noted. A special thank you to John Doerner for gathering the photos.

Last Stand Hill and Battle Ridge

Last Stand Hill, site of the last stand fought between Custer’s forty plus soldiers, officers, and citizens against Sioux and Cheyenne warriors is a photo opportunity for tourists, postcards, and websites. With an elevation of just over 3,000 feet it can appear as tall as Mt Everest.

Unlike Everest, which stands unchanged to time, Last Stand Hill is ever changing. It has seen several monuments come and go, different styles of fences, and styles of soldier markers.

Today, we will show you photos, some rare and unpublished of those changes on Last Stand Hill.

Photo by John H. Fouch, courtesy of Dr. James Brust

John Fouch shot the earliest photos in 1877-1878 while he was post photographer at Ft. Keogh. His photo shows the sun-bleached bones of horses on top of Last Stand Hill. If you look closely you can see wooden stakes protruding from the earth -- the first markers for unknown soldiers of the Custer Battalion.

Stanley Morrow took one of the most famous early photos of the battlefield in the spring of 1879. The scene he captured still showed a battlefield of horror with human and horse remains still scattered throughout the hundreds of acres. A lone marker can be seen here that reads, “Unknown.” Most soldier markers remain that way today, but one “Unknown” became... known and the marker replaced with the name, Mitch Bouyer. You can read more about this marker at Mitch Bouyer.

Morrow

The late 1870s witnessed great changes to Last Stand Hill.  In 1879, Capt. George Sanderson and soldiers from Ft. Custer (near present day Hardin, Montana) erected a cordwood monument on Last Stand Hill. The soldiers' gathered the horse bones and placed them inside the monument. Afterwards, the battle site was a bit more pleasant.

1879 -- Construction of the cordwood monument. Note: Horse bones are visible inside the monument.

Completed Cordwood Monument 1879

In July 1881, Lt. Charles F. Roe and Company C, 2^nd Cavalry placed the 7^th Cavalry Monument on top of Last Stand Hill. Transportation of this monument was, needless to say, monumental! Weighing about 18 tons, it was constructed in three sections. It traveled by boat up the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes and then by land via railroad to Bismarck. A river steamer transported it up the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers to the mouth of the Big Horn River, and from there it traveled overland to Ft. Custer.

As the granite monument was erected, Roe's soldiers gathered as many of the remains of Custer's soldiers they could find and placed them inside a mass grave that still sits today below the 7th Cavalry monument.

2nd Lt. Charles F.  Roe

ca 1882 -– one of the earliest photos of the monument.

ca 1882 photo by D. F. Barry -– wooden stakes are easily seen

1882 photo by F. Jay Haynes-- Haynes is man standing left and man on right is Custer’s scout, Curley

 ca 1896 photo by Christian Barthelmess –-  A fence has been installed around the Monument. Visitors chipped away at its surface for a keepsake. Notice the dog at lower left.

ca 1896 photo by Christian Barthelmess-- Similar shot to the one above. That dog sure liked posing for photos!

Date Unknown

In 1888 Last Stand Hill would undergo its most dramatic change, even through today. Capt John French and soldiers of the 25^th infantry from Ft. Custer transferred the remains of Fetterman’s soldiers from Ft. Phil Kearny to Last Stand Hill. French’s soldiers also replaced stakes to mark where Custer's unknown soldiers lay. They found four exposed remains and reburied them where they fell.

ca 1891 -– 7^th Cavalry Monument and the Fetterman soldiers

In April 1890, Capt. Owen Sweet and soldiers of the 25^th Infantry took 10 days to replace the wooden stakes with white marble markers. Each marker spots the approximate location where officers and soldiers of Custer’s command fell during the battle.

 ca 1894 photo by H.R. Locke -– notice the damage to the monument

 ca 1894 by H.R. Locke -– photo taken from the wagon road on Battle Ridge looking toward Last Stand Hill top center. Wooden Leg Hill can be seen at the far top right.

ca 1900 -– white marble markers. The wooden cross is for Custer. To its right is the marker for his brother, Tom Custer.

ca 1898 photo by Fred Miller -– Custer’s cross.

The 20^th century brought many changes to Last Stand Hill and the battlefield. The Fetterman soldiers were re-interred to the National Cemetery (The Fetterman soldiers got around more dead than alive). The U.S. Army graded the wagon road along Battle Ridge in 1938. 

The National Park Service took over management from the U.S. Army in 1940. The NPS graveled the road in 1941, but gave it a modern surface in 1954 allowing the road to remain open the entire year. The first warrior markers made of red granite were placed along Battle Ridge on Memorial Day 1999 for the warriors, Lame White Man and Noisy Walking.

ca 1920 -- Notice there is a fence around the Monument and the Fetterman soldiers

ca 1940 photo by Ken Roahen recent completion of the road -- photo shot from Calhoun Hill loop looking toward Last Stand Hill.

ca 1940 photo by Ken Roahen -- the Fetterman soldiers were buried in this section of the National Cemetery

 ca 1940 photo by Ken Roahen or ca 1931 by Col. Moore

Just prior to W.W. II., the battlefield discovered the horse cemetery on Last Stand Hill. The discovery came while in the process of pipe work for the above-ground water tank. You can read more about this discovery in our website.

ca 1950s -– the water tank with planted trees in attempts to obscure it.

Water tank and Monument

1941 photo by Charles Belden -– This is one of my favorite photos. You see Last Stand Hill, the water tank with the trees planted around it, the recently paved battlefield road, and the National Cemetery with recently planted trees. The first row of headstones on the left in the cemetery are the Fetterman soldiers and Fort C.F. Smith Marker with path leading to it. The clump of trees at the top are next to the Stone House. Outside the frame of the photo above the Stone House is the original entrance to the battlefield. Please note the broad open basin in the center left of the photo and to the left of the road – this will be the future site of the visitor center.

1951-52 Construction of the visitor center and its parking lot. Part of the same project included the construction of the underground water tank adjacent to Last Stand Hill -- seen at top right.

The new museum and visitor center was dedicated on June 25, 1952.

June 25, 1952 -- The new visitor center is opened. Note: trees around the water tank on Last Stand Hill

ca early 1950s -- Last Stand Hill is top left. The visitor center is top-left-center. The two-story building at bottom center is the Stone House. It was built in 1894 as the Superintendent’s home. It was recently converted to the White Swan Memorial Library, the Park Historian’s office and conference room.

During the 1950s the above ground water tank was replaced with a large 100K capacity underground water tank that is still operational today.

ca early 1950s -- construction of the underground water tank. Monument inside fence and makers of Last Stand Hill in the background.

ca early 1950s -- site of completed underground water tank

Eventually, the fence around the 7^th Cavalry Monument was removed. On April 23, 2002 construction began for the first Indian Memorial placed on the battlefield. It stands 75 yards northeast of Last Stand Hill. Its dedication was held on June 25, 2003.

Construction of the Indian Memorial

We’ll make sure to cover future changes to Last Stand Hill here at the Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield’s website.

If you enjoyed this presentation, we hope that you would consider joining our organization. Your membership dues help support this website.

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