[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 88 (Friday, June 22, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S6670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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   SENATE RESOLUTION 114--COMMEMORATING THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
                        BATTLE AT LITTLE BIGHORN

  Mr. CAMPBELL submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 114

       Whereas, On June 25, 1876, the 7th Cavalry of the United 
     States Army, led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong 
     Custer, fought with a group of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho 
     Indians camped on the shores of the Little Bighorn River.
       Whereas, this battle was the result of increasing hostility 
     between the United States and Sioux and Cheyenne tribes over 
     Sioux ownership of the Black Hills and the trespass of non-
     Indians into the area;
       Whereas, the Sioux believed the Black Hills, or Paha Sapa, 
     as they called them, to be sacred, a place they traveled to 
     in order to have visions and pray;
       Whereas, the United States and Sioux leaders agreed to the 
     Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, securing to the Sioux the 
     ownership of the Black Hills forever, and pledging to aid and 
     assist in keeping trespassers away from the Black Hills;
       Whereas, the United States violated the Treaty of Fort 
     Laramie in 1874 by sending, without the permission of the 
     Sioux, a reconnaissance mission to the Black Hills, led by 
     General George Armstrong Custer;
       Whereas, tensions were rising in Sioux Country, where the 
     tribes were becoming increasingly unsettled, and feared the 
     loss of Sioux Country and their way of life;
       Whereas, the Battle at Little Bighorn was preceded by two 
     military engagements, occurring on March 17, 1876, and June 
     17, 1876;
       Whereas, after the second engagement, now known as the 
     Battle at Rosebud, the Sioux and Cheyenne moved their 
     encampment from the Rosebud River to the Little Bighorn 
     River;
       Whereas, Lieutenant Colonel Custer, along with 650 soldiers 
     and scouts, was dispatched to scout for the Indians along the 
     Rosebud and Little Bighorn Rivers;
       Whereas, on the morning of June 25, 1876, Lieutenant 
     Colonel Custer discovered the Indian encampment of 
     approximately 10,000 on the shore of the Little Bighorn River 
     and determined to engage in a battle with them;
       Whereas, Lieutenant Colonel Custer's forces, upon 
     attempting to engage the Indian warriors at the shore of the 
     Little Bighorn River, were forced back up the ridge from 
     which they attacked and forced west, and were overwhelmed by 
     Indian forces;
       Whereas, the 201 men under the command of Lieutenant 
     Colonel Custer were killed and the total losses suffered by 
     the U.S. Army numbered 258;
       Whereas, the Sioux and Cheyenne, led by Sitting Bull, Crazy 
     Horse, and Gall, suffered losses of approximately 58;
       Whereas, the Battle of Little Bighorn occupies a legendary 
     place in American history, a tragic clash of two cultures 
     leading to the demise of the traditional Indian way of life, 
     and the end of the era known in American history as the 
     ``Indian Wars'';
       Resolved, that the Senate,
       (1) honors the memory of those who died in the battle, the 
     Indians fighting for a way of life that they believed in, the 
     cavalry troops fighting for a young nation in which they 
     believed;
       (2) recognizes June 25th, 2001 as the 125th Anniversary of 
     the Battle of Little Bighorn;
       (3) calls upon the people of the United States to observe 
     this day with appropriate ceremonies and respect.

  Mr. CAMPBELL: Mr. President, next Monday, June 25th, marks the 125 
anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn, an event which occupies 
near-mythical significance in the American psyche and one that is 
representative of an era past in the American West.
  In 1990, I introduced legislation which changed the American 
perspective of the Battle of Little Bighorn. The bill, which latter 
became Public Law 102-201, achieved two key goals: First, it changed 
the name of the Custer Battlefield National Monument to Little Bighorn 
Battlefield National Monument. Additionally, it directed that a 
monument be designed and built which commemorated the American Indian 
individuals who died in the Battle of Little Bighorn.
  When I began the process for changing the name of the Little Bighorn 
Battlefield National Monument, my purpose was not to scour and rewrite 
history but to provide a small measure of justice to the American 
Indians who died there, protecting their families, their property, and 
their way of life. Ultimately, the name change signified a shift in 
attitude about the way our Nation views the Battle of Little Bighorn.
  Now, instead of the scene of a bloody battle in which U.S. troops 
were entirely decimated while ``fighting brutal savages who stood in 
the way of westward progress'' as some early reports described it, the 
name now represents what really happened 125 years ago, the inevitable 
and tragic clash of two cultures and the end of an era.
  The Battle of the Little Bighorn, while known as the greatest victory 
of a group of American Indians over the U.S. Army during the period 
known as the Indian Wars, also marks the beginning of the demise of the 
western American Indian peoples in the United States, their loss of 
freedom, and the end of their traditional way of life.
  Today I introduce a resolution that would commemorate the 125th 
anniversary of the battle and honor the memory of all who died in that 
epic battle, Indian and non-Indian alike, for they all believed in what 
they fought for and they all made the ultimate sacrifice for their 
respective cause.

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