🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

(Explore the history and landscape of the United States with us as we approach the 250th anniversary of American Independence. Get out your homeschool atlas and almanac and follow along!)

Montana is our homeschool state-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today with your students learning about one of Montana’s most important historical places: Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, which commemorates and interprets the events surrounding the Battle of Little Bighorn in June 1876.

“Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument was first set aside as a National Cemetery, memorializing the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry Regiment who died in the 1876 battle. Over time, interpretation of the battle and the participants on both sides spurred the designation of a national monument in the 1940s. Today the National Park Service manages the site to protect its cultural and historic resources for future generations.”

The Battle of the Little Bighorn was fought along the ridges, steep bluffs, and ravines of the Little Bighorn River, in south-central Montana on June 25–26, 1876. The combatants were warriors of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, battling men of the 7th Regiment of the US Cavalry, along with their Crow, and Arikara scouts. The Battle of the Little Bighorn has come to symbolize the clash of two vastly dissimilar cultures: the buffalo/horse culture of the northern plains tribes, and the highly industrial based culture of the United States. This battle was not an isolated confrontation, but part of a much larger strategic campaign designed to force the capitulation of the nonreservation Lakota and Cheyenne. (nps.gov)

You can find a wealth of additional information about the Monument’s history, landscape, location(s), and visitor facilities on the webpage for Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument from the National Park Service, and also on the Monument’s page on Wikipedia.

Explore America’s National Parks, National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, National Monuments, and more via Wikipedia and via the U.S. National Park Service’s website today.

What historical American treasures will you and your students be exploring in your homeschool this Hercules Term? 🇺🇸

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool Geography posts featuring important natural and historical sites in the United States. Print your own copy of our River Houses American Heritage Calendar and follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎

❡ We set to-day a votive stone: If you want a wonderful long-term history and geography project for your homeschool, explore the Historical Marker Database online (hmdb.org) and make a plan to find all the markers that are listed in your local area. Add any new ones you know of that are missing, and add new photos or descriptions for the ones already included. Your students will gain a better appreciation for your local community and will learn a wealth of new information about history and geography. 🏛

❡ Print this little lesson: Down at the bottom of this post you’ll find a special “Print” button that will let you create a neat and easy-to-read copy of this little lesson, and it will even let you edit and delete sections you don’t want or need (such as individual images or footnotes). Give it a try today! 🖨

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses atlas and almanac for more information about any of our homeschool states-of-the-week. The almanac has detailed profiles of all the U.S. states and territories, and the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found. 📚

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓

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❡ Join us! The aim of the River Houses project is to create a network of friendly local homeschool support groups — local chapters that we call “Houses.” Our first at-large chapter, Headwaters House, is now forming and is open to homeschoolers everywhere. Find out how to become one of our founding members on the Headwaters House membership page. 🏡