Historic Oklahoma: The Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

As a landscape design firm, we take pride in showing off historic places Oklahoma has to offer.  Each month in 2017 we will highlight a few places that are on the map. We hope you will follow us on this journey!

This month we would like to highlight 

The Washita Battlefield National Site

NPS Photo/Steven Lang

Congress established Washita Battlefield National Historic Site as a unit of the national park system on November 12, 1996. 

This site recognizes the attack by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his 7th U. S. Cavalry on the Cheyenne encampment of Peace Chief Black Kettle as a nationally significant element of the United States Government Indian policy and the struggles of the Cheyenne to maintain control of their traditional homelands.

Today, as in 1868, the Washita River flows silently through the valley. The river banks are shaded by cottonwoods and sycamore are flanked with waving fields of grass. Ancient hills of red dirt rim the horizons. This peaceful setting offers us hallowed ground to contemplate this watershed event in our shared history, a place to find understanding, meaning, and perhaps healing in the wake of tragedy.

On August 25, 2007 Washita Battlefield National Historic Site staff opened the doors to the new visitor center to the public. Currently our new headquarters feature exhibits depicting the clash of cultures that laid the foundation for the attack along the Washita River. The new visitor center also hosts a Western National Parks Association bookstore, and the park's 27-minute film, Destiny at Dawn.

Visitors take a moment to reflect at the
Washita Native Garden. NPS Photo

In the days before aspirin, drive-thru, and nylon fabric, people relied on the land for medicine, food, and clothing. They did not have a mega-mart to buy things; the land was their mega-mart. Animals and plants provided them with the necessary means for living. To most of us this sounds like an alien culture; using plants as clothing; forging tools from animal parts and trees; or chewing on bark to ease the tension of a pounding headache. But these were time worn traditions to the American Indians. This was their way of life.

In an effort to help the public understand these traditions Washita Battlefield National Historic Site partnered with the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes Language Program to develop the Washita Native Garden. This garden features 21 plant and tree species, all of which are significant to the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes for spiritual and practical uses. These uses are arranged into four separate categories: Daily Living, Home, Edible, and Medicinal. The garden itself is based on the design of the Medicine Wheel. This wheel holds spiritual and astrological significance to many American Indian tribes. It is used for healing rituals and as a source for peace and clarity.

Black Kettle Memorial Highway /
Oklahoma State Highway 47A  NPS Photo

Over the years, SH-47 has seen several notable periods of expansion. On June 19, 1939, the highway was extended form U.S. Highway 183 (US-183) south of Putnam, OK, westward to Leedey, OK. On June 20, 1940 it was extended even further west to Roll, OK, where it intersected with U.S. Highway 283 (US-283). On May 31, 1944, another expansion took the roadway eastward via US-183 to Thomas, OK.

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site is located within the U.S. Forest Service's Black Kettle National Grassland near the town of Cheyenne, Oklahoma.

To go to Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, one must drive on a roadway that has figured prominently in the development of western Oklahoma for over 75 years--Oklahoma State Highway 47 (SH-47). 

The final lengthening of this highway took place on October 1, 1945, when it intersected with US-283 in Cheyenne, Oklahoma. From Cheyenne, SH-47 today travels westward to the Oklahoma/Texas line. 

More changes were still to come for SH-47, but a notable one took place on September 7, 1965. On this date, SH-47A was commissioned to direct travelers to Washita Battlefield National Historic Site's visitor center. In 1998, it was designated the "Black Kettle Memorial Highway."

Read more about the Washita Battlefield at the National Park Service