The man was ambitious, attacking the Indian camp and underestimating the enemy forces without waiting for the Army reinforcements that were on their way. It will be a mystery, forever, why a young and smart officer like George Armstrong Custer, a hero of the Civil War and one of the youngest high officers of the Army, made such a banal mistake. If you look carefully at his black marker you can imagine him fighting. You can see the fear in his eyes, you can feel him sensing the end approaching. Tourists are quiet here.
Nobody shouts, nobody runs.
Even taking pictures here becomes a discrete operation. Many don't take any photos thinking there is no sense smiling in front of a grave with 260 soldiers and 100 Indians. And in this quietness full of tension you can almost hear the battle's fury, carried on the wind. The shots of the Winchesters, the whistle of the arrows, the cries of the wounded men. Nobody knows who was the last one to die, says the Indian guide with the National Park Service.