Battlefield Biker is situated at the intersection of Motorcycle Touring and Military History and their relationships to Current Events.

Some features of the site include;

• Battlefield Biker TV Pilot (NEW!!).
• Battlefield Biker Tours (NEW!!)
• Descriptions of rides.
• A blog which discusses various topics about the site, current events and the business associated with it.
• A reading room where you can find the books and movies associated with Military History and Motorcycle Touring.
• A store where you can buy Battlefiled Biker gear. This includes the NEW Battlefield Biker Ride Guides.
• A maps and navigation page for finding the information you need to ride around battlefields confidently.

Come on in and take a look around. If you like what you see, please tell others who might enjoy Battlefield Biker.

Battlefield Biker TV
Below is an 8 minute pilot that we are using to pitch an 8 episode TV series.

Here's a good article on why Americans don't cherish the memories and soldiers of World War I as much as they do with WWII, the Civil War, etc.
No conclusions really, but it has set me to thinking. I, too, haven't spent as much time visiting WWI sites and battlefields. (in fact, I have done hardly anything on the American participation)
I think it is high time I broke this mold and started doing more WWI work here. Yes, the Civil War, WWII and, to a lesser extent, the Indian Wars are what bring in traffic, but I think it is time we Americans remember more about our WWI past.
Stay tuned for more WWI rides and comments.

Gavin Robinson over at Investigations of a Dog is thinking about starting a blog carnival on military history. I've offered to participate. How about joining us?

At the confluence of the Two Medicine and Cut Bank Rivers is where the Marias River begins and flows east for approximately 60 miles to Lake Elwell, then on for another 80 miles where it meets the Missouri River near Loma, Montana. Somewhere along this stretch of river (possibly here), there lies an ancient site where Major Eugene Baker of the U.S. Army took his mixed detachment from the 2nd US Cavalry and the 13th Infantry to surround an encampment of Piegan Indians on 22 January 1870. (See a picture of Baker and some of the 2d Cavalry officers in 1871, here) What happened next is clear, but why is not so clear.
The area had seen an altercation between two hotheads, one white, Malcolm Clarke, and one Indian, Owl Child. Clarke beat Owl Child, who he claimed had stole his horses. Owl Child retaliated by killing Clarke. As so happened in those days, this caused cries for the army to make sure another white was not killed by another Indian, so Baker was sent to teach the Indians a lesson. Baker's detachment left Fort Shaw on 15 January 1870 and rode north to find a group of Indians known as the Piegans. Baker found an encampment at a big bend on the Marias River and surrounded it in the winter's night of 22/23 January 1870. There is some debate as to whether Baker knew it was the camp he was looking for or another one.

On the morning of the massacre, Chief Heavy Runner tried to stop the attack by showing papers that he claimed gave him and his people clear passage in the area. Regardless, Baker issued the order to fire on the camp and many women, children and elderly were killed, the camp was burned and the survivors set afoot in the Montana winter without provisions.

Some said Baker knew that it as the wrong encampment, some said he didn't care, some said he was a drunken commander and didn't know what was happening. None of the PR options were good and the Army made it worse by ignoring, at the least, but probably covering up the massacre. As so often happens in these cases in the U.S. Army, a young soldier steps up where his superiors have fallen down and tells the truth. Lieutenant William Pease, acting as a Blackfoot agent, reported the massacre to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Ely Samuel Parker. Parker, a Civil War veteran, confidante to U.S. Grant and an Iroquois Indian whose real name was Donehogawa, demanded a investigation, but the outcome was prevarication as the Army closed ranks with General Sherman saying he would prefer to believe his soldiers.

In the end, no official recognition of the massacre was forthcoming and only time has brought a gradual acceptance of the fact of this massacre. Author Dee Brown, in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, puts the casualties at 33 men, 90 women and 50 chldren. Best research on the topic seems to be by Stan Gibson. He and Jack Hayne are working on a book on the topic.

Books from Amazon.com

Motorcycle Ride

This is a long ride starting and ending at Browning, Montana at the Museum of the Plains Indians. The ride passes through the origin of the Marias and also runs about 5 miles north and parrallel to the Marias for a good while on the beautiful U.S. Highway 2.

Maps

I am a fortysomething guy who loves military history and riding motorcycles. Its that simple. I combine the two loves into this site to help provide information and inspiration to others who may share my tastes.

I was originally inspired by a motorcycle trip to the D-Day beaches a few years ago. Like so many others, I was awestruck by the solemnity of the sites, but I also realised that riding my motorcycle gave me some unique advantages to understanding the sites. Experiences like exposure to the elements, having to pay attention to road and path conditions, map reading whilst on the move and walking around with a lot of protective kit on vaguely simulates some of the challenges faced by the historic players. Not to mention the more mundane advantages of easy parking and avoiding long traffic tailbacks around popular sites.

I am a veteran of the Persian Gulf War (December 1990- April 1991) and the Cold War (June 1988 - October 1990). I served for seven years in total and I am the son of a veteran of both world War II and Viet Nam. Although I claim little special insight into the historic combat I write about on this site, I do feel I have a special connection to my brothers in arms, regardless of nationality. Whether 1644 or 2007, warriors have always been willing to put their beliefs to the ultimate test. That's why I ride to remember.

I hope you enjoy the site and, more importantly, I hope you are inspired to use some of the information found here to do your own rides.

Ride To Remember

Battlefield Biker