I guess that was what I was referring to as hills. i was at the site and remember it was not entirely level. We started buy the center and went out and down a decline where some markers indicated where items were found. Maybe they would have pout the guns up on the bluff and waited there?
“...I was at the site and remember it was not entirely level. We started buy the center and went out and down a decline where some markers indicated where items were found. Maybe they would have put the guns up on the bluff and waited there?” [morphing libertarian, post 166]
The only flat terrain is the primary floodplain of the Little Bighorn River, which is about one mile wide at the battle site and extends southeast to northwest for several miles. The river winds through it and is quite close to the eastern edge for most of the length of the site. Timber patches and dense underbrush grow along the river.
Surrounding terrain away from the river varies: the low hills and gently rolling prairie you posted about, interspersed with dendritic drainage patterns cut into the soil, of moderate to deep depths. The steepness of the washes, gullies, gulches, draws, and valleys increases and the features go deeper as the river is approached. There are no clear pathways from southeast to northwest, the direction the 7th Cav had to travel to approach the site from their encampment of the night before.
Apart from the muddled and fragmented memories of the surviving cavalry troopers, and the oral traditions of the American Indians present, no one really knows how the engagement played out. Archaeological clues (expended cartridges, dropped equipment, broken weapons) cannot tell us everything.
Since it was impossible for the Gatling guns to have been brought into action, and employment doctrine was embryonic, their emplacement and use in action remains imponderable.
Best guesses as to how the clash played out seem to run along lines of Custer’s detachment being surprised, overrun, and annihilated in detail before he & troops in his immediate vicinity could react - conceiving a defense plan, digging in, and countering the Indian onslaught was out of the question.
The other two detachments were too far away, possessed of inadequate intelligence, and insufficiently familiar with the ground to provide support in the short time available. Serious personal tensions existed between the commanders, which could only have slowed their response in any event. Marcus Reno seems to have suffered a personal crisis at the key moment. Frederick Benteen was known to harbor antipathy toward George Custer and was jealous of his entire family.