The Custer Battlefield Museum is located in the tiny town of Garryowen, Montana, within the Crow Indian Reservation on the Little Bighorn River. The museum sits near the Garryowen bend of the river at the southern end of the long Native village that stood here in June 1876, in an area used for generations as a summer hunting and camping site by many Plains tribes. This was where Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull's camp was located when United States Army troops of the 7th Cavalry approached, and it is widely recognized as the place where the Battle of the Little Bighorn began on June 25, 1876. From Garryowen, visitors can see or easily reach key battlefield locations such as Reno's hilltop defense site, Weir Point, Last Stand Hill, Medicine Tail Coulee, the Crow's Nest lookout, and the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and Custer National Cemetery.

In the 1870s, conflicts grew between the United States government and many Plains tribes over land, broken treaties, and gold discoveries in the Black Hills, an area sacred to the Lakota. In the summer of 1876, thousands of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho people gathered in a large village along the Little Bighorn River, where they were hunting and holding ceremonies. On June 25-26, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry attacked this village in several groups; Native warriors under leaders such as Crazy Horse, Gall, and others fought back and defeated Custer's immediate command, killing him and many of his men. Modern archaeological work at the national battlefield site has mapped where bullets, cartridges, and other objects were found, helping historians better understand how soldiers and Native warriors moved across the landscape during the fighting.

The Custer Battlefield Museum displays hundreds of artifacts from the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the wider period of the Plains Indian Wars, helping visitors connect physical objects to historical events. Items on display include weapons such as cavalry carbines and pistols, war clubs, trade knives, and rifles used by Native warriors and U.S. soldiers, some of which were found in the Reno retreat area and other parts of the battlefield. Exhibits also feature cavalry gear like spurs and guidon poles, along with household items such as enamelware and camp equipment linked to Sitting Bull's camp and other Native families. According to exhibit labels, visitors can see notable pieces such as a golden eagle feather war bonnet worn in battle by Cheyenne leader Little Wolf, Tom Custer's Kerr revolver, and a fully loaded Army pistol found at Garryowen, though historians debate the exact ownership of some privately held artifacts and continue to study their histories.

Cases of Plains Indian beadwork show shirts, moccasins, belts, and decorated holsters that reflect cultural traditions as well as the stressful times of war and reservation life. One exhibit includes a U.S. Army-issue revolver with a holster decorated in Plains beadwork style, symbolizing how Native artists incorporated new materials into older designs. Other items, such as a shovel said to have been used to bury cavalry dead and a necklace reportedly made from a ring off Custer's saddle, demonstrate how stories grow up around objects and why curators and researchers work carefully to verify where items come from and who used them.

One of the museum's most famous features is its large collection of photographs by David F. Barry, a 19th-century photographer known for his portraits of American frontier figures. The museum displays more than 100 Barry images, making it one of the largest Barry exhibits available to the public. These photographs include well-known portraits of people connected to the Plains Wars, such as George Armstrong Custer, Marcus Reno, Frederick Benteen, Sitting Bull, Gall, Low Dog, and Tom Custer. Many of these same images, often printed from Barry's original negatives, are also held in other major collections like the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where they are studied for what they reveal about clothing, identity, and photography in the 1800s.

Historians remind students that photographs from this era were often carefully posed, sometimes with props or costumes, so they show how people wanted to be remembered rather than a simple snapshot of everyday life. When students look closely at Barry's images, they can ask questions about who controlled the camera, who chose the poses and clothing, and how those choices might shape the way viewers imagine Native leaders and U.S. military officers. Used along with archaeological evidence and written accounts from Native participants and soldiers, the photos become one more type of evidence that helps build a more complete picture of what happened before, during, and after the battle.

In front of the museum stands the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which contains the remains of one unidentified 7th Cavalry trooper discovered nearby during irrigation work in the early 1900s. In 1926, on the 50th anniversary of the battle, a large "burying the hatchet" ceremony brought together thousands of people, including veterans from both sides, to dedicate the tomb and to honor the dead. The memorial today includes bronze sculptures of Sitting Bull and Custer and serves as a place where visitors can reflect on the cost of the conflict for Native people and soldiers alike. Modern park and museum programs encourage visitors to think about multiple perspectives on the battle, including Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Crow views, rather than seeing the event as only a story about Custer.

The Custer Battlefield Museum is open year-round in Garryowen and welcomes families, school groups, and history enthusiasts from around the world. The museum houses more than a thousand artifacts and documents related to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Plains Wars, along with beadwork, bronzes, paintings, and rare papers such as a contract for Sitting Bull's later appearance in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Students walking through the galleries can move from large dioramas that model battle movements to cases of original objects, making it easier to picture how the landscape, weapons, and decisions of different leaders all affected what happened. Admission is typically charged for adults, while children under 12 are often admitted free, and groups are encouraged to contact the museum ahead of time to arrange tours and learning experiences.

Because the museum stands so close to where the first shots were fired, a visit connects classroom lessons about U.S. expansion, Native resistance, and broken treaties to the real ground where those events took place. After exploring the museum, visitors can travel a short distance to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument to see additional markers, interpretive signs, and memorials to Native warriors and U.S. soldiers. Together, the museum, the tomb, and the national battlefield site help students understand that the Battle of the Little Bighorn was not just a single "last stand" but part of a much larger story of survival, loss, and change on the Northern Plains.