The Command and General Staff College have been conducting staff rides of the Custer Battlefield for years. I participated in the first one, consisting of senior officers and the late Congressman Ike Skelton who had pushed the Army to study the Indian Wars. Instead of starting at the Visitors Center, we followed Custer’s approach march, stopping along the way to study the terrain and consider the information that Custer had available to him at that time. Along the way, we discussed the historical record along with the evidence left on the battlefield and the post mortem dissections written by the surviviors and by the historians.
Before setting out that morning, most of us agreed with your assessment. Interestingly, when the staff ride had been completed, most had revised our conclusions. Custer made mistakes, no doubt, but his decisions were not tactically unsound, especially given the Army’s experience with the Northern Plains Indians. His biggest concern was that the Indians in the camp would escape as they had always done and his mission was to prevent this long enough to allow the other columns to come up. He did not know that the Indians had decided to stand and fight which meant that his plan and his actions became problematic.
That evening, over a few beers in Story, WY, we agreed that Custer, Reno, and Benteen were not the buffoons painted by history. Combat veterans, as all of us were, remember that the enemy gets a vote and they get a chance to make their own decisions. On this day, the Indians made good decisions.
What would you have done if your scouts had come in and reported “huge herds of horse”?
What would you have done if one of your chief Indian scouts reported, “I’ve been with these Indians for 30 years and this is the largest village I’ve ever seen.”?
Would you have at least taken a pause and eyeball’d the battle space?
If you were advancing on an enemy’s position and you started hearing a firefight to your flank and BEHIND you.
Wouldn’t you at least try to figure out what going on?
Because Custer didn’t do any of that.
Custer underestimated his enemy and overestimated his abilities. The Gods of War will punish you every time for that.
Michael Donahue has a very interesting perspective on the battle. I’ve read about 20 books on the battle and really never had heard of the theory that he came up with on Custer’s moves.
https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Battle-Lines-Testimony-Custers/dp/0912783451
Seems like according to Donahue, he was hell bent on capturing women and children at the far end of the village and holding them hostage forcing a full surrender. There is evidence that a few skirmishes happened on the southern end of where the National Cemetery is currently located and as they were approaching the gathering of the old men, women, children, that Keogh’s line broke and they had to retreat in panic back to Battle Ridge to cover their rear.
Like you said, Custer didn’t anticipate the uber aggressive assaults from the Northern Plains tribes and thought they would just run. Even in his battles with them in 1873 & 1874 they didn’t run. He should have known better.
He also had no intel on the Battle of the Rosebud where Crook literally had almost twice the men that Custer did on June 25th and he still had to fall back. The Indians tried to pull the surround and wipe out maneuver in that Battle with LT. COL. W. Royal’s small cavalry contingent - and they almost did.
I love reading about the Great Sioux War of 1876. Always learn something new about it, no matter how much I read.
“The Command and General Staff College have been conducting staff rides of the Custer Battlefield for years. I participated in the first one, consisting of senior officers and the late Congressman Ike Skelton...Before setting out that morning, most of us agreed with your assessment. Interestingly, when the staff ride had been completed, most had revised our conclusions...remember that the enemy gets a vote...” [centurion316, post 26]
Covering that ground with Ike Skelton must have been a real treat. One of the better Congressional Reps and a strong advocate for the military.
I recall reading someplace that Army War College did something similar: a sand table exercise, with names, dates & locations sanitized. Supposedly, students started out with the same notions you & fellow riders did, but ended up making pretty much the same decisions as did George Custer and fellow officers that day in June 1876.