Posted on 06/25/2007 6:45:11 AM PDT by drzz
In Memoriam: Custer's Last Stand, June 25, 1876
Private William Slaper : «Each man had secreted himself behind a slain horse. »
Lieutenant Charles DeRudio: “The horses were laying as if to suggest a barricade.”
Lieutenant Luther Hare: “The evidence on the Custer field indicated very hard fighting.”
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Reno court of Inquiry: “In regard to the severity of the fighting on General Custer’s battlefield, did you see any evidences that there was hard fighting there, or the contrary?
Lieutenant Godfrey: “I think there must have been a very hard fighting.
Reno court of Inquiry: “You think there was a hard struggle?”
Lieutenant Godfrey: Undoubtedly, there was a very hard struggle.”
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Lieutenant Edgerly: “I believe Custer fought very desperately.”
Lieutenant Edward McClernand, of Terry’s column: “Horse remains in a 30-foot diameter circle not badly done, evidently used as breastworks.”
Lieutenant Edward McClernand, of Terry’s column: “(The Custer Hill stand) showed more care taken in deploying and placing men than was shown in any other part of the entire field – including, of course, Reno’s several positions.”
Thunder Hawk’s wife: “It was quite a fight” (on Custer Hill)
Wooden Leg could see “that all the soldiers were killed except for a band that remained hidden behind their dead horses.”
Flying By: “(the stand) was made in the place where Custer would be killed, down at the end of the long ridge.”
Flying Hawk: “Custer made a stand on his hill.”
Gall: Gall neared the end of the ridge where the last soldiers were making a stand. “They were fighting good” he said.
Lights: he could see the soldiers who had fled the Keogh fight joining those making the stand on the hill.
Two Eagles: The most stubborn stand the soldiers made was on Custer Hill. From his position a short way north and west of that point, Two Eagles noticed the hilltop was very level and the soldiers took the spot to continue their defense. (…) “They were killed on top of the ridge” Two Eagles declared.
Red Hawk: The bluecoats were “falling back steadily to Custer Hill where another stand was made”, said Red Hawk. “Here the soldiers made a desperate fight.”
Two Moon: (…) Two Moon turned back to watch the fight. (…) The “grey bunch" was still fighting.
Standing Bear: Moving north along the ridge to where he could see better, Standing Bear noticed dismounted soldiers holding their horses by the bridles. “They were ready for us”, he said, and they began to shoot, “the bullets were just raining”. (…) Bear Horn rode up too close (to the last stand) and was himself shot down.
Iron Hawk: On Last Stand Hill, Iron Hawk saw about twenty men on horseback and about thirty men on foot. “The Indians pressed and crowded right in and around them on Custer Hill” But the soldiers weren’t ready to die. Said Iron Hawk,“We stood there a long time.”
Big Beaver: Big Beaver crawled back down the coulee to put a bit more distance between himself and the deadly soldiers bullets. (…) The Indians were rushing toward the hill where the soldiers were making their desperate fight.
http://www.custerwest.org
We went about 10 miles on a dirt road to get closer to the Devil’s Tower. Had to see it after Close Encounters......
Custer wasn’t in charge of the men under his direct command.
400 men of his own regiment didn’t join him or support him during the combat.
As it turned out I think Custer did make a mistake in going in with a divided force, not that the division of itself would have been fatal but because Reno failed to hold a leg even if he couldn’t skin.
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Lieutenant Edward Godfrey, Company K, 7th cavalry, after Little Bighorn
(Sklenar, Larry, To Hell with Honor, p.262)
What was Custer doing leading his men into the Little Big Horn that day?
Starting his presidential campaign.
I have a nice story about the Devil’s Tower. We were still on the road at night and we didn’t find any hostel. We just passed near the Devil’s Tower on 1 a.m. and eventually found an excellent ranch after having thought of sleeping in the car.
When we came back to Switzerland, everybody was excited about our picture of the Devil’s Tower at night... :-)
The presidential theory is an hoax.
Custer had freedom to pursue the Indians and get them if he could.
What screwed up that day was Benteen’s and Reno’s behavior during the battle.
Let’s see. I have 650 men. The enemy has 1,500 (although Custer may not have known this).
My plan to deal with being outnumbered more than 2/1 is to split my men into three roughly equal-sized groups, inviting defeat in detail.
Sounds like an excellent plan to me.
It was my impression that Custer’s men were uniformly equipped with single shot carbines.
The Indians also had carbines too but not to the same extent as Custer’s men did. They made extensive use of the bow and arrow.
Here’s another good map (it’s from the NPS’s web site):
http://www.nps.gov/libi/planyourvisit/upload/LIBImap1.pdf
Front and flank attack, movement, offensive, surprise.
That’s the way to attack a force in the cavalry, and that’s what Custer did. As US general in chief Nelson Miles and Confederate cavalry general Rosser said, the plan was good.
The front columns didn’t do their job, and the flank column, with Custer, was left alone.
On top of the mountain it was snowing. Fortunately, we trudged forward and eventually descended out of the snow. I was really scared for about 20 minutes.
In Red Lodge, a police cruiser followed us through the town. I knew he was there. I was doing 33 MPH after seeing a sign for 35.
On the other side of town he pulled us over and gave me a ticket for speeding, saying it was 25. The wind blew his hat off and he bent down in front of the car to pick it up. My 8 year old daughter yelled, "Floor it dad." Apparently he didn't hear her.
I had read a story just before our trip about a guy whose drug defense was that the Red Lodge police planted cocaine during the search of the house. All of his witnesses swore he never touched the stuff. All I could think of was that I was going to do 10 years in a Montana prison.
They had single shot carbine, Springfield, but long-range carbine, which was better than short-range repeating carbine used by Indians (to shoot while being mounted)
That’s an AMAZING story !
Thanks MplsSteve - that’s a great map with movement & position references. Good find.
Curiously enough in the annals of the French Foreign Legion, a platoon of Legionaires held off a huge number of Mexicans. (Emperor Maximillian"s brief reign). All wiped out. This is - or was, celebrated by the French Foreign Legion as a glorious thing annually
I cannot understand the derision of Custer. Oh, those darn historians- whatever suits 'em. (lol).
You can see on the NPS map that there was no “enormous village” with thousands of Indians, but only an 1.5-mile-long village with 1’500 warriors.
The specific number of warriors Custer expected to fight. His decision to attack was sound.
But Benteen and Reno didn’t do their job, as the testimonies show... http://www.custerwest.org
Excellent post, peter!
The Legion’s last stand was Camerone.
Custer’s decision to attack was sound according to everything: the enemy (the Indians weren’t as organized as we say today), the strength, the surprise (Custer achieved surprise), the location...
Custer acted well. But his subordinates didn’t. When Custer reached the village, he couldn’t believe that he could loose the battle. Everything had gone better than he expected.
That’s why so many lies were spread about Little Bighorn. The real responsible of the disaster, the traitors Benteen and Reno, couldn’t explain their actions, unless the village would be enormous and Custer’s decision to attack would be foolish.
131 years of lies and myth - and Custer’s honor tarnished.
I had a similar experience there in 1999.
He took my license and went back to his car. He then returned and gave me a warning. I was very relieved.
We spent the night along the interstate and left early the next morning.
In the panhandle, we went through a curve and there were two troopers in the median facing in opposite directions. One came after us. I knew I was going to jail.
He took my license and went back to the car. Now I knew I was a goner. He returned and issued me a ..................warning. I drove the rest of the way through Nebraska at 60 MPH.
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