Sorry, drzz, but Custer was never the Indian fighter that Ranald Slidell Mackenzie was. Not to say Custer was totally at fault at the Little Big Horn as most critics claim, but he wasn’t the brightest star the military had at that time.
Many claim Crook to be the best, but he had few actual engagements and preferred negotiation over military tactics. Nelson Miles was also successful, but much of his ascension came through his marrying William T. Sherman’s niece (although Sherman didn’t like him). Miles & Mackenzie clashed in 1875 when Mackenzie was placed in command of the western section of the Department of Missouri. Sheridan ultimately sided with MacKenzie over that issue.
It was Mackenzie who proved the Llano Estacado to be far less formidable a Comanche/Kiowa stronghold than others believed. It was Mackenzie who raided the Kickapoo village in Mexico on only a handshake and promise of support from Sheridan. It was Mackenzie who, in the Red River War, attacked and destroyed the Comanche & Kiowa villages at Palo Duro causing the beginning of the end of their raids in Texas and West Oklahoma. And it was Mackenzie who attacked and destroyed Dull Knife’s village after the Little Big Horn battle. This was arguably the most influential Indian fight that brought the roamers back to the reservation...for good. Yes, it took another few years for Sitting Bull to comply from his Canadian hideaway, but the Dull Knife fight was the ‘writing on the wall’.
MacKenzie, while a great Indian fighter, wasn’t good at command. He was domineering, argumentative and an all-round jerk. But he fought and won. Sadly, he died young after a complete mental breakdown.
Just my opinion :)
Hello bcsco
I never said that Custer was the best. McKenzie was a great fighter, although the BEST was Nelson A. Miles, who smashed Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph!
What’s interesting is that Nelson Miles, when he became US General-in-chief, defended Custer in a book and in public. He said that Custer had been betrayed and that Custer himself was a great fighter.