The Hardin Tribune Herald

Remains of Cavalrymen Will Be Interred at Custer Battlefield

Full military honors will be provided at Custer Battlefield national cemetery, for the August 1 burial of the recently discovered remains of three soldiers killed 82 years ago in the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

The August 1 date also marks the 79th anniversary of the Secretary of War proclaiming Custer Battlefield a national cemetery in 1879.

The remains were found in the course of a recent National Park Service Mission 66 archeological project restoring the trenches and rifle pits on the southern sector of the battlefield, five miles from where the Custer battalion of the Seventh cavalry was annihilated by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, June 25, 1876.

The three unknown Seventh cavalrymen were buried in shallow pits and trenches, inside the troop's defense perimeter, June 25 or 26.

A total of 18 soldiers were killed in this sector of the battle, where the surviving seven companies of the Seventh were besieged by the hostiles for 24 hours after the Custer men had been wiped out.

Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts from Hardin and Crow Agency will participate in according final military honors to the three unknown soldiers.

The beat of muffled drums at the cemetery entrance will signal the beginning of the ceremony at 2:30 p.m. The music, escort, massed colors and participating officials will march preceding the remains enroute to the gravesite. Interment will be in a section of the cemetery where other Indian wars soldiers have been buried. Veteran groups and citizens wishing to attend the ceremony are invited to do so.

An open house tour of the battlefield visitor center facilities will begin at 3 p.m., immediately following the interment. During this tour, the public is invited to visit sections of the building not usually open to view.