Fort Custer
A view from 1939:
SITE OF FORT CUSTER, (3,041 alt.), on the bluff above
the confluence of the Big Horn and Little Horn Rivers. It
was built by Lt. Col. George P. Buell in 1877, the year after
the Custer battle. Since there were no further uprisings
in the vicinity, the soldiers had plenty of time for entertainment.
John Maguire, pioneer impresario from Butte, occasionaly
visited the fort on his tours of the settlements. In March
1880 he presented Captain John Smith, using Crow in the cast.
At the point where Pocahontas was pleading for the life of
John Smith, a Crow burst into the theater, shouting that
a band of Sioux had stolen the Crow horses from the hitching
rack outside. While the bugler blew boots and saddles Chief
Plenty Coups called a hurried war council and the Indians
joined the cavalry in pursuit of the thieves.
Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written
by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration
for the State of Montana; September, 1939.
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