CROW AGENCY — It has been 148 years since Custer’s Last Stand, and years later the Real Bird family has been hosting the Battle of the Little Bighorn Reenactment for over three decades, with the U.S. Cavalry School participating in the show.
“We’re just having a great time. This is a great experience," Greg Casteel, a staff member of the Cavalry School said on Friday. “My great-great-uncle was First Lt. Absalom Smith, who was in charge of Company E.”
The school trains anyone from beginners to experts for the battle show.
“It’s really nice to be able to take somebody that knows nothing to get them to be able to ride in the re-enactment like this,” Casteel said.
The school teaches participants how to ride, the history of the battle, tactics, and weapons. They complete training with the re-enactment.
“We teach people to come out here and ride for five days of training. They graduate by dying in the re-enactment,” said the school's owner, Keith Herrin. “You get shivers, you know sometimes enjoying the different sights and sounds and locations where history happened.”
The Real Bird family has put on the re-enactment for over 30 years.
“This is the Indian way that we do. All of the spirituality is Indian, and that’s what we portray here,” Henry Real Bird said. “We had a Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1990 and our first cluster was a motorcycle driver that just came down the road and camped with us, and he's from Chicago.”
The battle re-enactment will happen on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Medicine Tail Coulee. On Saturday at 7 p.m. at the rodeo grounds, rodeo stars will perform Custer's Wild Bronc Ride and Calvary members will perform.
