• Along the Washita - 1868 by Gene V. Dougherty

    Washita Battlefield

    National Historic Site Oklahoma

History & Culture

The 1868 Battle of Washita by Steven Lang

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.
 
Native Garden

Native Garden

NPS photo

Explore plants traditionally used by the Cheyenne in the Washita Native Garden. Shaped as a medicine wheel, the Native Garden is separated into four portions: Daily Living, Medicinal, Edible, and Home. The medicine wheel symbolizes the sacred hoop in many Plains Indian cultures. Visitors to the garden will be educated on native plant species and their importance in the tribal communities.

Click on the picture above to learn more about this garden.

  • Washita, by Mary Jane Warde Washita, by Mary Jane Warde

    Interested in what shaped the land that once was home to the peaceful Black Kettle? If so, then take a look at this book by Historian Mary Jane Warde. Read More

Did You Know?

Granite map depicting the attack at the park overlook.

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site was established to protect, and interpret the site where at dawn on November 27, 1868 the Southern Cheyenne village led by Peace Chief Black Kettle was attacked by the 7th U.S. Cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.