Posted on 06/25/2011 8:15:40 PM PDT by EveningStar
Today marks the 135 anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn near present day Garryowen, Mont. After all this time the death of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer remains a mystery.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedickinsonpress.com ...
You’re right. They’d have slowed him down so much he’d never have gotten near the Sioux and the Little Bighorn would be just another obscure creek in Montana.
BS. There's all kinds of historical accounts detailing the route of the 7th Cavalry between Ft. Abraham Lincoln and the site of the battle.
Custer believed strongly in pomp and circumstance with the Garry Owen, being the melody played at all appropriate occasions.
The 7th cav, carried this traditon on into Vietnam, and possibly beyond:
Agree.... Lack of proper tools to counter superior numbers at the little big horn fight makes one appreciate the mere firepower a modern fire team can present.
Time machine tactics weighed with just a simple what if....
Stay safe !
****The battle field is closer to Crow Agency.***
That is because it IS Crow territory. The Sioux and Cheyenne were the enemies of the Crow, who were allied with the US Army.
After the battle of the Rosebud, the Sioux and Cheyenne invaded the area and Custer’s men with his Crow scouts attempted to drive them out.
Moving the artifacts is absurd, Kortlander said. “We keep hearing excuses such as safety and preservation, but they (the items) have been here this whole time without incident. What does Tucson have to do with anything?”
The artifacts are to be moved temporarily but no return date is set, according to the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association.
The Little Big Horn has had sever flooding this season. A good part of the lower battlefield has been in water. Moving the artifacts temporarily may not be a bad thing.
LOL
No mystery here. There were a number of Crow scouts who came on the scene shortly afterwards and found Custer’s body at the ford. One scout’s widow told the whole story to Frank LIndemann a/k/a “Signtalker” (because he was fluent in plains sign language). Book is still in print, “Pretty-shield - Medicine woman”
The extra cavalry wouldn’t have made a difference. Benteen wouldn’t have made a difference had he obeyed Custer’s command to bring packs and arrived on time. It was a poor site for cavalry operations, the 7th wasn’t prepared for that type of fight, and they were far outnumbered and separated.
He did deliberately leave the gatling guns behind. They also left their sabers behind for the same reason - they were trying to move quickly.
Not to say that statement is wrong, but consider this, for a moment:
Custer did have extensive experience against the Indians.
In all previous encounters the Indians had displayed the same tactics:
Hit-retreat-hit again.
The Indians realized this plan was not working.... they changed tactics.
LBH was the first time the new tactics were displayed: Combining tribal forces, going on the offensive and not retreating.
To say Custer "screwed up" is simplistic (and I do not mean that offensively against your comment) but for Custer to have proceeded otherwise, would mean he would have had to anticipate the changed tactics of the Indians.
The Crow scouts never found Custer's body at the ford (by this I take it you mean Medicine Tail Coulee). The Crow scouts fought with Reno then left the battlefield. Curly was with Custer but never made it to the ford or Custer's area of battle. He did view it from a distance, but his testimony has changed over time.
Custer's body was found on Custer Hill by the soldiers under Gen. Alfred Terry once they arrived at the battlefield. The present marker is an approximation of where the body was found.
The wife and I were on a coach trip of the western national parks in 2003. One of the stops was at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Our guide was a National Park Service guy who was a member of the Crow nation. Excellent presentation. All it lacked was a sound track playing “Garry Owen.”
Some of Custer’s mutilations weren’t reported until after Libby Custer died in the early 1930’s.
Possibly because there was no band to play "Garry Owen" that day...
I agree.
Every year during Custer Days (the anniversary week) there are two reenactments of the battle. One is on the open area close to Hardin. The second is conducted on The Little Bird Ranch which is adjacent to the battlefield.
The Little Bird version preparation includes an actual "Calvary Camp" for a week prior that is conducted each year for the soldiers that reenact the battle. Most of these actors come from out of state each year and live as close to the actual conditions the 7th Calvary endured. One of the organizers of the camp is named Custer, but he claims no relation to the general.
Of the two reenactments the Little Bird version is the best. It tells a completely different story of the end of Custer as portrayed in movies and books. It is a legacy story that was told from generation to generation as to why Custer was killed and how. Their version says that Custer and his men attacked an Indian camp in the previous months and killed many women and children. Word spread that a blonde soldier was responsible so Custer was on the Indians most wanted list. When he showed up at the Little Big Horn they were ready to seek their vengenace on him. In the Little Bird version they say Custer met his end at Medicine Coulee when he was knocked off his horse and drug up to the shore and staked to the ground and eventually the warriors cut his heart out.
I would have rather read a story about this theory of the end of Custer than the Dickenson story.
As someone upstream said — Custer was out manned and out gunned (and cut off).
Here in Hollywood, I had lunch months ago with a Paramount biggie. He claimed that after the failure of Oliver Stone’s “Bush” that Stone feverishly tried to knock on every exec’s door about a script he had that claimed the Feds wanted Custer dead because he had dirt on Gen Grant, so Grant had him assassinated. by screwing up the intelligence.
...and that he was a Republican. The Republican part was the eyes roll up moment for them. Stone was adamant about the Republican part..
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