Washington Redskins Quiz: 1) Passing yards, career? 2)
Rushing, season? 3) Touchdowns, season? 4) Passing yards,
season? 5) Passing yards, game? Answers below.
North Dakota Update
It’s Tuesday and I was supposed to go Spearfish, South Dakota
today, but they have 14 inches of snow. It was going to be a long
drive anyway, with no big towns to stop in along the way if I got
stranded, so I’m spending a second day in Medora. Now don’t
get me wrong, my first day here was pleasant enough but there is
only this one tavern open…and Teddy Roosevelt National Park,
though the prairie dogs in the latter haven’t been cooperating as I
attempt to take an award-winning photo.
Anyway, I thought I better get started on a Bar Chat for
Thursday, because, who knows, I may not make it out of the Iron
Horse Saloon.
Little Bighorn
Folks, you’ll have to forgive me, because I told this story last
year when I visited Montana and the battlefield, but I wasn’t able
to do any new sightseeing with the weather and all, so we’re
going to retell this important chapter in American history.
Actually, it dovetails nicely with my previous story on Tuesday
about the Fetterman Massacre. Following this debacle, and the
completion of the transcontinental railroad, the US Government
signed a treaty at Fort Laramie, Wyoming with the Lakota Sioux,
Cheyenne and other tribes of the Great Plains, granting the
Indians a large area in eastern Wyoming that was to be a
permanent reservation. Whitey promised to protect the Indians
“against the commission of all depredations by people of the
United States.”
But in 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills (current day
South Dakota, specifically near Lead and Deadwood), yet this
was part of the Indian reservation. No problemo, said the white
man and soon thousands of prospectors were swarming all over
the region, in direct violation of the Fort Laramie treaty. The
army actually tried to keep the people out, and then the
government tried to buy the Black Hills from the Indians in order
to avoid another confrontation, but the Indians had learned their
lesson.
The Lakota and Cheyenne began to openly defy authority and
many opted to leave the reservation, attacking settlements
outside the agreed upon boundaries. In December 1875, the
Commissioner for Indian Affairs ordered the tribes back to the
reservation by January 31, 1876, or they would be treated as
“hostiles” by the army. Of course the Indians didn’t comply and
the cavalry was called in to deal with the situation.
By June 1876, the army decided to launch three separate
expeditions to seek out the Sioux and Cheyenne, led by General
Crook, Colonel John Gibbon and General Alfred Terry. They
were to converge in eastern Montana, where the Indians had
begun consolidating under the leadership of Sitting Bull and
Crazy Horse.
Crook’s forces were knocked back on June 17 in the Battle of
Rosebud (about 25 miles southeast of Little Bighorn…as we try
to paint a picture for you). The Indians were full of confidence.
“That’s right…we showed ‘em who’s bad around these parts,”
said Crazy Horse. [Actually, I have idea what he said.]
Meanwhile, Terry and Gibbon gathered about 50 miles northeast
of Little Bighorn. They suspected they would find a large Indian
encampment in the Little Bighorn Valley, so Terry sent
Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry
along the Rosebud Creek to approach from the south, while
Terry would accompany Gibbon’s forces back up the
Yellowstone River to approach from the north.
Custer’s 7th numbered about 600 men and at dawn on June 25, he
spotted the Indian camp from a spot called the Crow’s Nest, in
the Wolf Mountains some 14 miles away. Custer had to
underestimate the strength of the Lakota and Cheyenne at this
point (they numbered about 2,000 warriors), because he divided
his forces into three battalions. Of the 12 companies, Custer took
five, while assigning 3 each to Major Marcus Reno (no relation
to Janet, as best as I can ascertain) and Captain Frederick
Benteen. [The last ‘company’ watched the pack train.]
Benteen was then ordered south to scout around, while Custer
and Reno headed directly toward the Indians in the Little
Bighorn valley.
In continuing to paint the picture for you (I’m assuming you have
a beer coaster that you can doodle on), Custer and Reno are
about 4-5 miles from what would be the last stand at this point.
Custer then turns straight towards what would be his final resting
place (from the right on your coaster), while Reno is ordered a
little to the south, where he is to cross the river and attack. At a
spot now known as Garryowen, a large force of Lakota greet
Reno. “Yoh, wassup?” “I’m here to take you out,” said Reno.
Fighting commenced and Reno was immediately forced to
retreat, first into some woods, and then back up into the bluffs
(about 3 miles to the right of Last Stand). It was total chaos for
Reno. Benteen then joined him, after receiving orders from
Custer to “Come on; Big village, be quick, bring packs.” [These
were the actual words, not your editor’s. Benteen didn’t “come
on.”]
At this point, no one knew for sure where Custer was, but Reno
and Benteen heard heavy gunfire miles away. Captain Thomas
Weir took a company to a point where he could see Custer’s
battlefield, but by this time the firing had stopped and nothing
could be seen of Custer or his men. When Benteen and Reno’s
forces joined Weir, they were attacked by a large force of Indians
and Reno ordered a retreat back to the original position they had
established before breaking up. So these seven companies
entrenched and held their defenses throughout the day and most
of the next. The Indians opted not to storm the position and then
withdrew when word reached them that General Terry and
Colonel Gibbon’s forces had been spotted.
As for Custer, his precise movements are not known, but what
you see from the battlefield, where markers have been placed
where extensive research revealed individual members of his
company to have fallen, it was a fairly organized, but bloody
retreat to Last Stand Hill. You see a few clusters of 20-30 dead,
and then you have the final resting place, where Custer and 41 of
his troops met their end.
Northern Cheyenne Chief Two Moon recalled that “the shooting
was quick, quick. Pop-pop-pop very fast. Some of the soldiers
were down on their knees, some standing…The smoke was like a
great cloud, and everywhere the Sioux went the dust rose like
smoke. We circled all around him – swirling like water around a
stone. We shoot, we ride fast, we shoot again. Soldiers drop,
and horses fall on them.”
The 7th Cavalry lost the five companies (C,E,F,I, and L) under
Custer, about 210 men, plus 53 others were killed under the
command of Reno and Benteen. It is said the Indians lost no
more than 100 dead. They removed their dead from the
battlefield, after mutilating the cavalrymen. With Terry and
Gibbon fast approaching (arriving the next day), the Indians
quickly broke camp and scattered in all directions. Many of
them returned to the reservation and surrendered over the coming
years. Reno, incidentally, was exonerated by an 1879 court of
inquiry looking into his handling of the retreat during the fight
and his direct responsibility for the defeat.
Finally, a personal note. As I wrote last year, this battlefield
really is spectacular and the National Park Service has done a
terrific job. An Indian memorial is being built on the site next to
Last Stand Hill, and it promises to be impressive as well.
Medora
The quaint little town of Medora, North Dakota was founded in
April 1883 by a 24-year-old French nobleman, the Marquis de
Mores. He named the town for his bride, the former Medora von
Hoffman, daughter of a wealthy New York City banker. [Custer,
himself, passed through here in 1876, on the way to his final
end.] The Marquis pumped lots of money into the town and built
a meat packing plant, a hotel, stores and a large home. But by
1886 all of his ventures ended in failure, so the Marquis and
Medora returned to France (wimps). Seriously, he would then be
killed by native tribesmen in the Sahara Desert in 1896.
Now back in 1883, another colorful chap descended on the new
town of Medora, that being one Theodore Roosevelt. He came to
hunt buffalo, but finding the large herds gone (decimated by
hunters, disease and their own stupidity…they needed leadership,
like that supplied by the grizzly), TR turned to cattle ranching,
and he established a home called the Elkhorn. He loved the land
and once said, “I never would have been President if it had not
been for my experiences in North Dakota.”
But later he became alarmed about the damage being done to the
wildlife in the region, and he witnessed the destruction of many
of the big game species. Overgrazing also destroyed the
grasslands and conservation became one of Roosevelt’s major
concerns.
When he became President in 1901, TR established the U.S.
Forest Service and in 1906 signed the Antiquities Act, under
which he proclaimed 18 national monuments, as well as
obtaining Congressional approval for the establishment of five
national parks and 51 wildlife refuges. He was a heroic figure in
so many ways, and in this region he is recognized with a
beautiful national park in his name. Now I’m heading into it to
see what’s up with the prairie dogs.
Stuff
–Bowl Championship Series football poll…from which the
national championship game will be set up.
1. Oklahoma
2. Miami
3. Notre Dame…and gaining.
4. Georgia
5. Ohio State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Texas
8. Washington State
9. North Carolina State
10. Iowa
–So I’m sitting in this bar and grill in Medora the other night and
the cook comes out to talk a little football. In North Dakota, they
of course don’t have a pro team to root for instate, nor do they
have a major college team (except for in hockey). But I tell him,
“Heck, in New Jersey we don’t have a college team to root for
either, unless you count Rutgers.” To which my new friend says,
“Rutgers is in New Jersey? Wow, never knew that.” To add
insult to injury, though, when I suggested that some in my state
want to name the school the University of New Jersey, his reply
was, “Shoot, that would only make it worse!” You know, when
you’re in a strange town, you get no respect.
–The following quote was from Newsweek. Australian
photographer Helmut Newton, on working with models.
“Either they are so dumb that they can only sit there silently
staring straight ahead with vacant looks on their faces, or they
get on my nerves because they can’t stop blabbering.”
–I gotta tell ya, haven’t heard one rap tune in all of Montana,
Wyoming or North Dakota. But to Harry K., you’ll be pleased to
hear an oldies station was playing Lou Christie. I didn’t think
they knew of him in these parts.
–The local radio stations are giving away trips to Jamaica. Do
you know how hard it is for someone in North Dakota or
Montana to get there in the first place? This is insane. Mexico
or Southern California is much closer. But then no one here
asked for my opinion.
–There is an exit off Interstate 94 in Montana that reads, “Bad
Route Road.” I opted not to take it.
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/26/68: #1 “Hey Jude” (The
Beatles) #2 “Little Green Apples” (O.C. Smith) #3 “Fire” (The
Crazy World of Arthur Brown)
Washington Redskins Quiz Answers: 1) Passing yards, career:
Joe Theisman…25,206 (1974-85) 2) Rushing, season: Stephen
Davis…1,432 (2001) 3) Touchdowns, season: John Riggins…24
(1983) 4) Passing yards, season: Jay Schroeder…4,109 (1986)
5) Passing yards, game: Sammy Baugh…446 (10/31/43!!)…
from 1940-45, Baugh also had 31 interceptions as a defensive
back, plus, as we’ve noted in the past, he is still the NFL’s best
all-time punter. They don’t make ‘em like him anymore.
Instead, we get Terrell Owens!
*I incorrectly had Arkansas’s head coach as a drug addict for a
few hours last Bar Chat, until Steve G. (a next door neighbor of
mine 35 years ago!) brought the mistake to my attention. [The
story I read had it wrong, but I should have double-checked
myself.] Thanks for setting me straight, Steve.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday. The editor finds his way home.
**Made it to Spearfish…still snowing in the Canyon. Time for a
frosty.
