I’ve been reading and learning more about this battle and the outcome. There’s a large and popular mythology that surrounds these events - much of which was created by Custer’s wife after his death.
Some items for starters:
1. Custer didn’t surprise the Indians. Their picket riders ran into Custer and discovered the size of Custer’s forces. This forced Custer’s hand as he was weighing the prudence of attacking what his Crow scouts were telling him was a large group of Indians.
2. Custer did know that there was a very large number of Indians in the area. His scouts and trackers were telling him this, but he refused to accept their interpretation of the tracks.
3. In the end, what did the 7th in was a failure of leadership. Custer failed to maintain unit cohesion, failed to deal with insubordinate officers under his command and he attacked without having a clear plan communicated to all units.
I personally can’t understand why someone wpuld cough up millions for this artifact.
Your susceptibility to slanderous revisionist history is somewhat explained by your understanding difficulties .
“I personally can’t understand why someone wpuld cough up millions for this artifact.”
Well, I’ve been an avid student of the LBH fight for some fifty years now, and if I had that kind of money I’d buy it, and would leave it to the museum in my will.
Libby worked hard to protect the legacy of her husband after the battle. As an aside, she owned the table which Grant and Lee used to sign the surrender at the Maclean house at Appomattox Courthouse. I’ll bet it would bring as much as the flag.