Destination: Yellowstone Park

After a good night sleep, we went to visit the Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, located near the Missouri and Heart rivers. This park includes a reconstructed complex of an infantry and cavalry post with a cemetery. From this post, Lt. Col. George Potter led his cavalry in the Battle of the little Bighorn in 1876 where the Sioux Indians defeated him. At the cemetery, we could read how the men had died (frozen to death, poisoned, an accident, etc.). The State Park also contains the ruins and reconstructions of an old Indian village. In this village, the Mandan Indians used to live. The Mandan Indians were farmers and traders and built their houses from mud. They normally became very old (in the ninety’s), but small pox, brought by the European traders, killed more than ¾ of the villagers and they had to mingle with other Indian tribes.