Custer wasn’t in charge of the men under his direct command.
400 men of his own regiment didn’t join him or support him during the combat.
As it turned out I think Custer did make a mistake in going in with a divided force, not that the division of itself would have been fatal but because Reno failed to hold a leg even if he couldn’t skin.
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Lieutenant Edward Godfrey, Company K, 7th cavalry, after Little Bighorn
(Sklenar, Larry, To Hell with Honor, p.262)
Let’s see. I have 650 men. The enemy has 1,500 (although Custer may not have known this).
My plan to deal with being outnumbered more than 2/1 is to split my men into three roughly equal-sized groups, inviting defeat in detail.
Sounds like an excellent plan to me.
- From what I’ve read before, Custer did not realize the number of Indians facing him and, on top of that, his arrogance led him to believe that the Indians would flee upon his approach. The cavalry had a good record up to that point in winning skirmishes against Indians and Custer could not believe that this battle would turn out any different.He was probably the most surprised man at the Little Big Horn when he realized that the Indians were not about to run away.