Seized Artifacts Returned To Custer Battlefield Museum

GARRYOWEN, Mont., March 31, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nine years ago today, on March 31, 2005, a government assault of the Custer Battlefield Museum at Garryowen, Montana, was waged, during which armed federal agents and law enforcement officers seized numerous items with eagle feathers, which were said to have been contraband and against the law to possess.

The Custer Battlefield Museum is pleased to announce that nine years of fruitless government investigation and unsubstantiated criminal allegations of wrongdoing have come to an end. On February 20, 2014, the United States government agreed to return the last of the 19 items that had been seized from the premises of the Custer Battlefield Museum, on the condition that the Custer Battlefield Museum terminate all court proceedings against the federal government and its agents or agencies for damages inflicted as a result of the raid.

Following countless hours of investigation by federal agents, several thousand pages of court documents, and the diligent effort of the Museum's attorneys working to correct the wrongs inflicted on the Custer Battlefield Museum, all court proceedings have come to an end. No charges were ever filed, and the last of the 19 artifacts seized by the federal government have been returned to the Custer Battlefield Museum.

The Custer Battlefield Museum houses an impressive collection of Indian artifacts from the famous 1876 battle that saw the annihilation of five companies of the U.S. 7th Cavalry led by George Armstrong Custer. It also contains memorabilia from those who participated in the battle. Photographs, artifacts, displays, and a video presentation are among the many highlights.

And the future is just beginning at the Custer Battlefield Museum. During the past decade a sister non-profit museum has been created around the collection of the documents of General Custer and his widow, Elizabeth "Libby" Bacon Custer. Following the death of General Custer, Libby spent the rest of her life documenting and building her husband's legacy. Now a new facility has been designed to house the thousands of documents of her collection, which were written over a span of 75 years. For more information about the Elizabeth Custer Library and Museum, please go to: http://www.custerlibrary.org/newsbhc.htm.

The Custer Battlefield Museum is open year round. Summer hours: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. For more information, please go to: http://www.custermuseum.org/.

SOURCE Custer Battlefield Museum