History on the Plains -June'09

Summer vacation and ongoing education!

We had planned one educational stop enroute (Ingalls Homestead, S.D.), however, on Day 2, God provided an amazing opportunity. We were reading Canadian History in the car, about the establishment of the RCMP in Alberta, Canada. We also read about how the RCMP came into contact with Chief Sitting Bull and encouraged him to return to his own country. Daddy then noticed a road sign indicating that the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument was 30 km up the Interstate! Amazing coincidence? We decided to stop. Here is the historical significance of Chief Sitting Bull and how he tiesd into Canadian History.In June 1876, a major battle was fought between Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians against the United States Army. These tribes were fighting to preserve their traditional way of life as nomadic buffalo hunters. The U.S. Army was carrying out the Grant Administrations instructions to remove the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne peoples to the great Sioux Reservation in Dakota Territory. Chief Sitting Bull was a champion of traditional Lakota culture and leader of the people. In the winter and spring of 1876, open warfare broke out between the combined Lakota and Cheyenne and the Federal military forces. Sitting Bull was a leading voice in combating the U.S. Army's invasion of what he saw as Lakota way of life. The premier battle of this struggle on the northern plains was the Battle of the Little Bighorn against the U.S. Army involving General George Custer and the 7th Cavalry assigned to accompany General Terry and the Dakota column in the summer campaign of 1876. He and 262 of his men met their death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. After Custer's defeat, Chief Sitting Bull, along with his people, fled north to Canada. Hence the contact with the R.C.M.P. At the encouragement of the R.C.M.P., he then returned to the United States to surrender.

We enjoyed the tour of part of the Battlefield Site and were amazed at the heroism and suffering, the triumph and tragedy that this Monument displays. For photos visit www.nps.gov/libi

Our planned visit was to the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota. We read "Little House in the Big Woods" enroute before arriving.
It was an authentic experience starting with driving through the slough after a day's rainfall(yes the road was a wagon trail!), staying overnight under the stars as Laura did (well, in our Airstream:), breakfast outdoors and chores...

Gideon collecting the eggs
...always laundry to do
then off to school by covered wagon - Peter and Gideon both drove the team
and finally free time to run and play (lassoo your brother!) on the actual Homestead where Laura ran and played, and Mary took care of Carrie.
The boys also made twine rope and we purchased a boxed set of the book series as a memory of this time. Many moral lessons are intertwined in the stories. We also read Farmer Boy and began reading Little House on the Prairie the remainder of the trip to family and friends.