“”””Little Big Horn was a battle. Ltc Custer and five companies of the 7th were killed to the last man fighting, not being massacred.””””
This sounds like a real massacre, not collateral damage by a renegade unit at the enemy’s supply/support system.
“Another officer recalled that “eyes had been torn from their sockets, and hands . . . and arms, legs, and noses had been wrenched off. Many had their flesh cut in strips the entire length of their bodies, and there were others whose limbs were closely perforated with bullets, showing that the torture had been inflicted while the wretched victims were still alive.”
No, it is how it is fighting tribalized people. The only captives Afghans took in the retreat from Kabul were a few they thought had value for ransom for the brit and Indian units were killed to the last man, no quarter asked or expected. Same in the Sudan and Somalia. The only survivors of Plunkett’s command (bigger than Custer’s) were some Indian NCO’s who got away while the Mad Mullah’s people were distracted collecting loot and stripping bodies for worthwhile items and specie.