Relive the Battle of Little Bighorn

A frayed American flag, found under a dead soldier on the Little Bighorn battlefield, recently brought $1.9 million at an auction at Sotheby's in New York. The swallowtail Culbertson guidon, named after the soldier who found it, had been owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts for more than 100 years.

That sale is just the most recent evidence of our fascination with the Battle of the Little Bighorn, a pivotal moment in U.S. history. Dozens of books have been written about every imaginable aspect and key player of the June 1876 battle.

The story of the battle, also known as Custer's Last Stand, has been retold in movies and song, mostly painting the swaggering Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry as heroes. Nearly all -- about 270 men -- were wiped out in the battle. Estimates of Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho casualties vary widely, from just 36 to 300. There is no argument that the Indians were victors in the battle, but the clash between two cultures would not end well for them. They ultimately lost the buffalo grazing grounds that sustained their nomadic life.

Today, the plains of southeastern Montana remain strongly associated with history. Hardin, a farming town of 4,000 people, celebrates its Old West heritage with a weekend Bighorn Days festival every June. A parade goes down Central Avenue, past Fort Custer General Store and other small businesses. Afterward, many head to the reenactment site, where Custer's final moments are played out four times over three days. Then they return to town for a crafts fair, Indian tacos and live music. The thought is warming in the midst of wintry spring.

For a more solemn remembrance of Custer's Last Stand, we drive a few miles farther east to the actual battlefield along the Little Bighorn River. The National Park Service operates the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

Looking out on the vast plains, that famous Montana big sky forming a dome over us, we can't help but be moved. We're on the Crow Indian Reservation, and the weight of what the Indians lost is immense. The grandeur and vibrancy of the land constituted their freedom, and the clash with Custer was the beginning of the final, crushing blow.

Though the government and the Indians lived and traveled the region in a tenuous balance created by joint treaty, the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, in what is now South Dakota, changed the deal. President Ulysses S. Grant's budget was in dire shape and he wanted the gold. Custer -- who had been successful as a commander during his wartime promotion to major general in the Civil War -- and his men marched west.

We walk up to Last Stand Hill, where Custer and his brother, Tom, along with many other soldiers, were killed. Memorials mark the spots where they died, and all of the bodies remain except Custer's, which is buried at West Point Cemetery in New York.

Not far from the hill is the new Indian Memorial, an open, circular walking path carved into the earth. A "spirit gate" faces the cavalry obelisk on Last Stand Hill, symbolically welcoming the dead. The names of Indians who died in the battle are carved on the walls.

History on a grassy 'stage'

Even from its cheesy beginnings, the reenactment proves to be surprisingly moving. Joe Medicine Crow, the elderly Crow Indian historian and anthropologist who wrote the script, is helped onto the grassy "stage" to speak. He is 97 now and last year was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He speaks in his native language, stopping at times to catch his breath; his words and the translation come over the loudspeakers. There is gravity to his voice, which rises and falls lyrically, as he welcomes us to the tableau.

And then the program begins. It's a Wild West show, though not the Annie Oakley variety. It starts with the expedition of Lewis & Clark, touches on Sacagawea, and then portrays how both the pioneers and Indians lived on the plains. There is a ridge at the far side of the field, and we know that a line of men on horseback will eventually appear there. At least they do in the movies.

Indians ride bareback and cavalry post up and down in full regalia. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse make their appearances, as does, of course, Custer, with his curly flaxen hair peeking out from a worn hat. The battle begins, and men fall all over the now-trampled field, affecting injury and death.

We know they are just reenactors, but like any good actors, they've suckered us in. The weight of history is heavier than even the corn dogs and funnel cakes in our stomachs.