[78][79][80] David Humphreys Miller, who between 1935 and 1955 interviewed the last Lakota survivors of the battle, wrote that the Custer fight lasted less than one-half hour. So, protected from moths and souvenir hunters by his humidity-controlled glass case, Comanche stands patiently, enduring generation after generation of undergraduate jokes. [54] Such was their concern that an apparent reconnaissance by Capt. Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield, Friends Of The Little Bighorn Battlefield, Muster Rolls of 7th U.S. Cavalry, June 25, 1876, Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association, Kenneth M. Hammer Collection on Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Charles Kuhlman collection on the Battle of the Little Big Horn, MSS 1401, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn&oldid=1149998396, Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho victory, 55 wounded (6 of whom later died of wounds). Also, Custer retained the conviction that the Seventh could handle any force of Indians it might encounter, and he may have reasoned that taking the Second Cavalry would leave [Colonel John] Gibbon's column susceptible to attack and defeat". Vol. [65], Benteen was hit in the heel of his boot by an Indian bullet. While no other Indian account supports this claim, if White Bull did shoot a buckskin-clad leader off his horse, some historians have argued that Custer may have been seriously wounded by him. The total population of men, woman and children probably reached 6,000 to 7,000 at its peak, with 2,000 of these being able-bodied warriors". ||. Some Indian accounts, however, place the Northern Cheyenne encampment and the north end of the overall village to the left (and south) of the opposite side of the crossing. He was described as 5'6, light hair, hazel eyes with a light . 40, 113114. [232], Photo taken in 1894 by H.R. P.S. During the Black Hills Expedition two years earlier, a Gatling gun had turned over, rolled down a mountain, and shattered to pieces. The route taken by Custer to his "Last Stand" remains a subject of debate. The 7th Cavalry returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln to reconstitute. [50] Author Evan S. Connell observed that if Custer could occupy the village before widespread resistance developed, the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors "would be obliged to surrender, because if they started to fight, they would be endangering their families. [229] Writer Evan S. Connell noted in Son of the Morning Star:[230]. )[140], Custer's decision to reject Terry's offer of the rapid-fire Gatlings has raised questions among historians as to why he refused them and what advantage their availability might have conferred on his forces at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. [65] By this time, roughly 5:25pm,[citation needed] Custer's battle may have concluded. Staff George Armstrong Custer Lt. Comanche was taken back to the steamer. Thus, wrote Curtis, "Custer made no attack, the whole movement being a retreat". Col. George A. Custer and Northern Plains Indians (Lakota [Teton or Western Sioux] and Northern Cheyenne) led by Sitting Bull. [67] By the time troops came to recover the bodies, the Lakota and Cheyenne had already removed most of their own dead from the field. On June 22, Terry ordered the 7th Cavalry, composed of 31 officers and 566 enlisted men under Custer, to begin a reconnaissance in force and pursuit along the Rosebud, with the prerogative to "depart" from orders if Custer saw "sufficient reason". Ordered to charge, Reno began that phase of the battle. Army doctrine would have called for one man in four to be a horseholder behind the skirmish lines and, in extreme cases, one man in eight. [77]:44 Based on all the information he gathered, Curtis concluded that Custer had indeed ridden down the Medicine Tail Coulee and then towards the river where he probably planned to ford it. [64] The shaken Reno ordered his men to dismount and mount again. Comanche eventually was returned to the fort and became the regimental mascot. [56], The Lone Teepee (or Tipi) was a landmark along the 7th Cavalry's march. [64] The retreat was immediately disrupted by Cheyenne attacks at close quarters. [220][221], Some of these survivors held a form of celebrity status in the United States, among them Raymond Hatfield "Arizona Bill" Gardner[222] and Frank Tarbeaux. Gray. Locke on Battle Ridge looking toward Last Stand Hill (top center). Flaherty, 1993, p. 208: "By 1873, Indians 'used the traditional bow and arrows and war club along with firearms such as the muzzle-loading Leman rifle, issued as part of treaty agreements, and rapid-fire Henry and Winchester rifles, obtained through civilian traders'. However, it would incapacitate and few troopers would fight on after an arrow hit them.". It was not until over half a century later that historians took another look at the battle and Custer's decisions that led to his death and loss of half his command and found much to criticize. [105], Oglala Sioux Black Elk recounted the exodus this way: "We fled all night, following the Greasy Grass. . Members of the Seventh Cavalry Killed as a Result of the Battle of the Little Big Horn Name Rank Company/Position Co. Total W.W. Cooke 1 st Lieutenant Regimental adjutant, Hdqtrs. July 13, 2009, Copyright 1999-2013 Bob Reece Revised:
Paxson", "Prisoners in the Indian Camp: Kill Eagle's Band at the Little Bighorn", "Context Delicti: Archaeological Context in Forensic Work", Account of Custer's fight on Little Bighorn, MSS SC 860, Custer Battlefield Museum, Garryowen, Montana. They reviewed Terry's plan calling for Custer's regiment to proceed south along the Rosebud while Terry and Gibbon's united forces would move in a westerly direction toward the Bighorn and Little Bighorn rivers. At one point, he led a counterattack to push back Indians who had continued to crawl through the grass closer to the soldier's positions. The 7th Cavalry took the heaviest losses. Board of Directors |
The number of cartridges indicated that about 20 warriors at this position were using Henry repeating rifles. [41], With an impending sense of doom, the Crow scout Half Yellow Face prophetically warned Custer (speaking through the interpreter Mitch Bouyer), "You and I are going home today by a road we do not know. [69] The soldiers identified the 7th Cavalry's dead as well as they could and hastily buried them where they fell. On January 2, General Sheridan had quoted Lee's report of agent malfeasance in a supplement to his annual report, which continued the General's running battle with the, Libbie Custer "spent almost sixty years commemorating her marriageand her memories of it quite literally kept her alive.she was quintessentially the professional widow, forcing it to become a very touchy matter for any military writer or officer to criticize Custer for having insanely launched an attack without taking the most elementary precautions or making even an attempt at reconnaissance. This defect was noted by the board of officers (which included Major Reno) that selected the weapon in 1872, but was not considered particularly serious at the time. Fox, James Donovan, and others, Custer proceeded with a wing of his battalion (Yates' E and F companies) north and opposite the Cheyenne circle at that crossing,[48]:17677 which provided "access to the [women and children] fugitives. Although other cavalry mounts survived, they had been taken by the Indians. From this point on the other side of the river, he could see Reno charging the village. Although Custer was criticized after the battle for not having accepted reinforcements and for dividing his forces, it appears that he had accepted the same official government estimates of hostiles in the area which Terry and Gibbon had also accepted. [45] They advanced a mile, to what is today Weir Ridge or Weir Point. Around 5:00pm, Capt. Could this indicate a malfunctioning [carbine] that was discarded and therefore could not have left its marked [pry scratched] casings on the field? Questions regarding interments at the national cemetery call (406) 638-2621. The Case of the Men Who Died With Custer. For the army, far more was at stake than individual reputations, as the future of the service could be affected. The 7th Cavalry was seriously understrength as it left for the Montana Territory with only 597 men instead of a nominal full-strength of 845. ", Gallear, 2001: "A study of .45-55 cases found at the battle concludes that extractor failure amounted to less than 0.35% of some 1,751 cases tested the carbine was in fact more reliable than anything that had preceded it in U.S. Army service. Lawson, 2007, p. 48: "[Three] rapid-fire artillery pieces known as Gatling guns" were part of Terry's firepower included in the Dakota column. I am hoping that some day all of these damned fakirs will die and it will be safe for actual participants in the battle to admit and insist that they were there, without being branded and looked upon as a lot of damned liars. Map of Battle of Little Bighorn, Part III. When the Crows got news from the battlefield, they went into grief. There were many survivors of the battle, so they are interred in locations around the world. 1 / 8. Curley, Custer's Crow scout and interpreter through the battle. It was located near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Bighorn rivers, about 40 miles (64km) north of the future battlefield. Every soldier of the five companies with Custer was killed (except for some Crow scouts and several troopers that had left that column before the battle or as the battle was starting). In 1967, Major Marcus Reno was re-interred in the cemetery with honors, including an eleven-gun salute. While the village was enormous, Custer still thought there were far fewer warriors to defend the village. They were always trying to crawl out and I was always putting them back in, so I didn't sleep much. According to Dr. Richard Fox in. [81] Other native accounts said the fighting lasted only "as long as it takes a hungry man to eat a meal." Atcheson, Thomas - 41 - Private - F - Antrim. Modern archaeology and historical Indian accounts indicate that Custer's force may have been divided into three groups, with the Indians attempting to prevent them from effectively reuniting. The Crow scout White Man Runs Him was the first to tell General Terry's officers that Custer's force had "been wiped out." Custer's scouts warned him about the size of the village, with Mitch Bouyer reportedly saying, "General, I have been with these Indians for 30 years, and this is the largest village I have ever heard of. [25], The battlefield is known as "Greasy Grass" to the Lakota Sioux, Dakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and most other Plains Indians; however, in contemporary accounts by participants, it was referred to as the "Valley of Chieftains".[26]. [130] By the time the battle began, Custer had already divided his forces into three battalions of differing sizes, of which he kept the largest. by Douglas D. Scott 2/10/2017. pistol. ", Philbrick, 2010, p. 99: "Thinking his regiment powerful enough to handle anything it might encounter, [Custer, in addition to declining the Gatling guns] declined the offer of four additional cavalry companies from [Gibbon's] Montana column." [note 11] Several other badly wounded horses were found and killed at the scene. But archaeologists have often wondered at a lack of physical evidence to support the story. "[176] Custer's highly regarded guide, "Lonesome" Charley Reynolds, informed his superior in early 1876 that Sitting Bull's forces were amassing weapons, including numerous Winchester repeating rifles and abundant ammunition. Painted by Edgar Samuel Paxson, 1899. ", Donovan, 2008, p. 191: "[Each] trooper carried 100 rounds of carbine ammunition and 24 pistol cartridges with himas many as 50 on a belt or in a pouch, and the remainder in his saddlebag (the pack train mules carried 26,000 more carbine rounds [approximately 50 extra per trooper]).". Inconsequential as it was, the Arapaho presence at the Little Bighorn provides a cautionary tale for historians who try to reconstruct what the Little Bighorn must have been like without considering the various Indian accounts and the motivations behind them. The June 25-26, 1876, Battle of the Little Bighorn fought in southern Montana was Native Americans' greatest victory . The Twisted Saga of Custer's Unsung Scouts by Bruce Brown, Amazon Kindle Edition. Hatch, 1997, p. 80: "The Gatling Guns would have brought formidable firepower into play; this rapid fire artillery could fire up to 350 rounds in 1 minute.". Stands In Timber, John and Margot Liberty (1972): Calloway, Colin G.: "The Inter-tribal Balance of Power on the Great Plains, 17601850". 65, No. ", Donovan, 2008, pp. Custer's body was found with two gunshot wounds, one to his left chest and the other to his left temple. Each trooper had 24 rounds for his Colt handgun. Mielke . The orders, made without accurate knowledge of the village's size, location, or the warriors' propensity to stand and fight, had been to pursue the Native Americans and "bring them to battle." They approved a measure to increase the size of cavalry companies to 100 enlisted men on July 24. The probable attack upon the families and capture of the herds were in that event counted upon to strike consternation in the hearts of the warriors and were elements for success upon which General Custer fully counted.
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