The Gatling guns he left behind would have made a big difference.
“*Reconnaissance - there was none and the results showed.
*He clearly didn’t trust his scouts or officers. “
Clear and indisputable failure of leadership.
This put quite a damper on the centennial ceremonies back east. Couple of weeks later Wild Bill Hickok was murdered. Jack McCall shot Hickok from behind as he played poker at Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory on August 2, 1876. Hickok held 2 pair. Aces and eights forever after known as “dead man’s hand”.
The gov’t needs to just leave peeps alone.
I like the illustrations showing the battle field movements. Thanks for posting!
Bttt.
5.56mm
He never should have separated his troops and split them up.
“His armaments were single shot Springfield rifles.”
IIRC, battlefield archeologists found many Springfield cartridges with large scratches on them. This was indicative of extraction failure. It sounds like (and I’m merely guessing here - don’t flame me) Custer’s troops were unable to keep up a steady rate of fire that may have kept the Indians at bay.
We lived in Montana for several years and I spent many hours at the battlefield imagining and trying to understand Custer’s circumstances and decisions. Fundamentally, he made a series of poor decisions (no recon, split command and having expectations of subordinate leaders that they would not/could not meet). Also, the topography of the battlefield was not friendly—while it looks like wide open spaces, it is not and provides a lot of hills and gully (or as Montanans call them -coolies) concealment
My bucket list includes a ride on horse back of that battlefield. The Indians have tours of it or did the last time I was there. I know a lady whose grandmother was a little girl in an Indian camp at the battle site. I believe they fought so hard because they had their families there and broke camp because they knew who they had destroyed and didn’t want their families at further risk. Custer was an egomaniac and an azzhole. IMHO.
Last night I watched the Twilight Zone episode where the National Guard tank crew travels back in time and joins the battle!
I heard that Miles Keough was an Irish immigrant who had previously been a Papal Swiss Guard. He was wearing a ring that had been given to him by the Pope. The story is maybe the Indians did not mutilate his body because they thought that the papal ring had magical power.
I took my daughter there when she was thirteen.
Note to any Dads out there: Your average 13 year old daughter is not the least bit interested in “cowboys and Indians.” I can only imagine the horror of going there with a woke 13 year old girl.
We laugh about it now, but it was not a good day for us.
I read CUSTER’S FALL about fifty five years ago and this got my interest in it.
Twas there in 2013, and went by in 2015.
Now here is a little something I came up on about fifty years ago...
There is a name on that monument of a man who was not killed there. He died in 1944, after being an Oklahoma sheriff.
On a visit, he was shocked to see his name there. He was originally transferred to the 7th, but suddenly was transferred to the 5th Cavalry.
He protested to the Dept of War, and they checked into it and said that since he had originally been listed as KIA at Little Big Horn, he would have to stay killed at LBH.
Wonder how many can name him.
I also like to point out that this battle took place in Pro-US CROW territory. It can be classed as a massive invasion by their enemies the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho.
He did a reasonable job. Didn’t recce? If he had, the enemy would probably flee - except THIS time, the enemy had the numbers. But many cavalry knew the frustration of spending months chasing and never catching up with the Indians. His job was to ENGAGE, not to LIVE FOREVER.
Split his forces? Not a bad option. It can work very well and can work against a bigger enemy. But Reno and Benteen lacked the aggression needed.
Biggest problem was BAD LUCK. This time, almost uniquely in the Indian Wars, they caught up with a BIG group that was ready and willing to fight.
The thing I find most interesting about Custer is that during the Civil War his men seemed to love him and would follow him anywhere, but after that war ended, and he went out west, he became widely hated by his troops. At West Point he was a prankster and always skating within a demerit or two of being dismissed, but after the war he became a different person.
I had no idea the Battle of the Little Big Horn took place on my Dad’s birthday. If still living, he would be 99 years old today. So the battle took place 46 years before he was born. How the world has changed in that time!!!
A good set of questions. Tipping my old cavalry Stetson to you.
Regarding the recon and trusting his scouts and officers: 1) Reno’s earlier detached ride was a recon as was Benteen’s to the north of the column. I think we forget how much slower sending out a scouting column and its return was then versus now to get its report back to the Custer (aka command group).
2) Trusting versus believing the scouts and being able to comprehend the actual size of the combined Indian tribes. I think Custer didn’t grasp the size of the force against him. Remember, this gathering was unprecedent in size for the Western frontier where the Army usually fought Indian groups of a couple of hundred warriors, NOT 2,000 or more in a single battle.
3) Custer apparently trusted Mitch Boyer, since he took him as his lead scout, but “couldn’t get his head around” the actual size of the enemy force.