BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A group is working to rename Custer Park in Bismarck because of the “historical trauma” it says is associated with its namesake, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.
Custer, as a military officer, served during the Civil War and fought against Native Americans on the Great Plains in the 1860s and 1870s before leading his men to death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. He spent several years stationed at Fort Abraham Lincoln in Mandan before his death.
Two Bismarck women representing the group say the Native American community has negative views of the Custer name.
“What we want to do is come together as one whole community and begin that healing process,” said Ali Quarne, the mother of two Native American children.
M. Angel Moniz, a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes, said she was born in Bismarck and was “baffled” after she moved back in 2005 to find places in the area named after Custer, according to the Bismarck Tribune.
The two women said they are representing a few hundred people in the community who support stripping Custer’s name from the park. The Park Board will consider the request Thursday.
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