Cultural Landscape Report, Part Two: Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

John Milner Associates, Inc.; Susan Maxman Architects

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site protects and interprets the site of the Southern Cheyenne village of Chief Black Kettle where the Battle of Washita occurred. The site is located about 150 miles (241 km) west of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, near Cheyenne, Oklahoma. John Milner Associates, Inc. (JMA) in Charlottesville, Virginia, (formerly the Charlottesville, Virginia office of OCULUS) in association with Susan Maxman Architects in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, undertook the preparation of this Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) Part Two, for Washita Battlefield National Historic Site (NHS). Washita Battlefield NHS extends over 315 acres of the approximately 3,000-acre Washita National Historic Landmark area. Located in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, Washita Battlefield NHS was established in 1996 to commemorate the November 27, 1868, conflict between the 7th U.S. Cavalry led by Lt. Col. George Custer and Chief Black Kettle's Cheyenne community camped on the banks of the Washita River. The conflict was the first effort of a new U.S. Army policy to wage war against Plains Indians during the quietude of the winter months, and resulted in the deaths of many Cheyenne, including Chief Black Kettle and his wife. The site retains important cultural and historical value for the Cheyenne and other Southern Great Plains tribes, and its protection supports their on-going struggle to maintain control of their traditional homelands. In addition, the NHS, associated with the Washita River and adjacent floodplain and relatively undeveloped upland areas, serves to protect a myriad of natural resources. The purpose of this Part Two CLR is to further the National Park Service's (NPS) goals of better understanding and managing the landscape of Washita Battlefield NHS. The CLR focuses on short and long term treatment recommendations for the battlefield landscape. In particular, the report provides treatment guidelines and strategies for the preservation and enhancement of historic, cultural, and natural resources, in support of the legislated goals of protecting and preserving the visual scene as closely as possible as it was at the time of the battle, and of perpetuating and interpreting landscape resource qualities and values. As Part Two of the CLR, this document is intended to “articulate a preservation strategy for long-term management of [the] cultural landscape based on its significance, existing conditions, and use.”1 A Cultural Landscape Report is the primary guide utilized by the NPS for treatment and use of a cultural landscape. Based on the historic context provided in a historic resource study, a CLR documents and evaluates the character-defining features, materials, and qualities that make a landscape eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. It provides analysis of the landscape’s development and evolution, modification, materials, construction techniques, geographical context, and use over time. CLRs are generally intended to provide a synthetic and cohesive view of a site's historic and existing features through comprehensive documentation, analysis, and evaluation. Using this knowledge as a basis for decision making, CLRs often provide carefully considered cultural resource treatment recommendations. While CLRs vary in their emphasis and level of investigation, they are typically inter-disciplinary in nature, drawing on information developed by historians, landscape architects, ecologists, botanists, architects, and archeologists, as well as other project-specific disciplines. The level of investigation conducted for a CLR is determined by many factors, potentially including the historical significance and integrity of the site, identified management objectives, past documentation efforts, and landscape alterations or changes under consideration by the owner.

Cultural Landscape Report, Part Two: Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

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