1874 An influx of miners moves into the Black Hills after Custer leads a scientific expedition into the Black Hills and discovers gold.

1876 All Indians off reservations after January 31, 1876 are considered hostile.

1876 March to May military operations are carried out to move Indians onto reservations.

1876 June 17 Lakota and Cheyenne fight Gen. Crook at Rosebud Creek, Montana.

1876 June 25 & 26 Lt. Col. George A. Custer and 262 soldiers, scouts, and civilians attached to the 7th US Cavalry were defeated by at least 1,500 Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho warriors. Custer and all his men died.

1876 Crook destroys a large Cheyenne village under Dull Knife.

1877 In January, Miles fought Crazy Horse at Wolf Mountains.

1877 In May, Crazy Horse reports to Ft. Robinson where he is killed being arrested.

1879 The Little Bighorn Battlefield was designated a national cemetery administered by the War Department.

1881 A monument for the Cavalry was built on Last Stand Hill. The US Army took custody of the site and controlled access and historical interpretation for decades.

1925 Mrs. Thomas Beaverheart, Cheyenne, writes the battlefield custodian and the US Army requesting markers be placed on graves where known warriors had fallen. She never received a response.

1926 The Army and Indians meet at the battlefield to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the battle. The Northern Cheyenne are unsuccessful in their effort to have an additional memorial erected.

1940 The jurisdiction of the battlefield was transferred to the National Park Service

1946 The battlefield was designated a National Monument.

1988 On June 25 the American Indian Movement cements a metal plaque into the grassy base of the memorial which marks the mass grave of the 7th US Cavalry.

1991 On December 10 President George Bush signs changes to the name of the battlefield and ordered construction of a memorial for the Indians under Public Law 102-201. Custer Battlefield National Monument is changed to the Little Bighorn National Monument. The creation of the Aboriginal Memorial itself was commissioned by an act of Congress in 1991.

1996 A National Design competition is announced and 554 entries are received and juried by illustrious aboriginal artists, art historians, historians, architects, scholars and spiritual advisors.

1997 John and Alison Collins, landscape architects, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are announced as the winners of the design concept for the aboriginal memorial.

1997 National Park Service Foundation announces campaign to raise funds for the Indian Memorial and establishes the theme "Peace Through Unity".

2002 The National Park Service mails out requests for proposal/contract tenders to create and install the aboriginal memorial and the Spirit Warriors sculpture. An NPS in-house jury reviews and awards contracts to a design team and a general contractor.

2002 Colleen Cutschall, Oglala-Sicangu Lakota, an artist/professor is awarded the contract for the Spirit Warriors sculpture project in June.

2003 Spring sees the completion of the earthwork memorial and the installation of the Spirit Warriors sculpture.

2003 The Aboriginal Memorial is dedicated on June 25.

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Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

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