#3) Family Trips Chasing the Smoke of The Sioux-Fort Abraham Lincoln and the North Dakota Badlands

This is the third and final post about a series of family trips chasing the smoke of the Sioux. Once again, these photos will likely appear later and in context as this blog unfolds. However, I wanted to chronicle early on our family trips related to the Sioux.

On a 2008 trip, we visited Fort Abraham Lincoln; just south of Bismarck, North Dakota. Fort Abraham Lincoln was the jumping off point for both Custer's 1874 Black Hills Expedition and his fateful ride to the Little Bighorn.

We also visited the North Dakota Badlands. I felt the spirit of Sitting Bull in those Badlands. Hey, you have to give the public some Custer and Sitting Bull. It will be awhile (I think) before I get to the Little Bighorn, but as "The Smoke of the Sioux" will jump around chronologically and geographically, I may delve into the 1874 Black Hills Expedition sooner rather than later.

The first 3 photos are of a white buffalo at the Buffalo Museum in Jamestown, North Dakota.  I couldn't resist posting the 3rd photo, also taken there. I love the little guy in the picture. White buffalo are sacred to the Plains Indians.

The next batch of photos are from Fort Abraham Lincoln. It was sobering to see the names of the soldiers on the beds showing whether they survived the Little Bighorn or not. These 6 pictures were taken either in the soldiers' barracks, or they are in, or of, George and Libby Custer's living quarters. The house was pretty nice.

The next group of photos were taken in 2008, in the North Dakota Badlands. The cool thing is that Sitting Bull likely saw a Buffalo exactly the same place we did.