The area we live in was once the stomping ground of Lt. Col. George Custer and the 7th US Cavalry, and evidence of his campaigns can be found widely across the area. Yesterday we went through Cheyenne, a town with a long Indian history and the site of the famous Battle of the Washita. We visited the brand new museum on a ridge above the battlesite and toured the exhibits. It was not hard to visualise one of the darkest days in American history looking out across the Plain. Many women, children and Indian ponies were slaughtered in the battle, after a surprise attack was launched by Custer on Black Kettle's innocent and unsuspecting camp.
This is stuff European's have only seen depicted in the many Western movies and to actually stand where a famous battle happened is strange, as I only have the Hollywood version as reference.
After visiting Elk City, we headed home via the Flying W Ranch for dinner, a favourite stopover and the setting for a recent 'Cowboy U' series. Being a few minutes early, we wandered around this reconstructed old style town and stopped to watch a man trying to ride the mechanical Bull. We had seen the couple returning from a trail ride, something else offered by the Ranch. It was hubby who noticed their accents, I guess it was the last thing I expected to hear out in the middle of the Plains! They were a young couple from Essex...as soon as we got chatting I recognised the strong Essex accents. They had hired an RV, were taking 6 months to drive from Florida to California and had stopped off in the Wild West!
It can be a very small world sometimes....
2 comments:
how funny, see the brits are all over OK for some reason. i have a theory that the world was colonized by the brits because they were looking for somewhere warm. anyway, there is a movie called Little Big Man, starring Dustin Hoffman (when he was a young man) that depicts the Battle of the Washita. It was on TV recently, so made me think about it.
I have heard of that movie Pam, but did not realise it depicted this battle, I am off to add it to Netflix - thanks!
Post a Comment