The Battle of the Little Big Horn

[Hunter]

Hi Steve...all,

Custer was trying what had worked before, with some flying by the seat of the pants adjustments to a rapidly changing situation. He had divided his regiment at the Washita in Nov. '68 in order to hit- what ended up being Black Kettle's camp- from all sides at once. This tactic effectively kept an enemy from developing an organized defense or making an escape. It worked for that reason and because it was winter. The plains Indians were most vulnerable at that time. They would camp along the bluff of a stream for protection from the bitter winds. Their grass fed ponies had lost much weight and could not be ridden very far until spring.

Another critical component was that he moved into position and attacked at dawn. Save for the boys tending the pony herd, everyone was asleep.

Even there, however, 'Custer's luck' came into play. He never bothered to reconnoiter to determine the enemy's exact position and strength. What he didn't know was there were several camps along the Washita. If not for the winter conditions, they could have given the 7th much trouble.

One patrol of 19 men, under Major Joel Elliot found that out when they took off after some of the Cheyennes who had fled in the direction of the other camps. They were surrounded and wiped out. Custer only made a half-hearted attempt at finding Elliot's patrol because warriors from these other camps were gathering in strength to oppose him. This caused a riff in the officer corps of the 7th that existed for the rest of Custer's life and exacerbated an already tenuous situation at the Little Big Horn.

On the dismounting of some of the command...
As Steve alluded to, the 'shock and awe' was the impetus of a mounted cavalry charge; to quickly drive into the enemy and disrupt them before and organized defense could be developed. This is likely what Custer intended to do with his battalion while Reno occupied them at the other end of the camp- even though Reno didn't know that.

The lack of reconnoitering; knowing exactly where the other end of the camp was and (most important) where a ford was to get his command quickly across the river gave the warriors who were not in the Reno engagement time to organize a defense while the warriors from the Reno fight could come for support.

With Reno and Benteen effectively neutralized, all of their combined weight could be concentrated upon Custer's lone battalion. Unlike at the Washita, the separate battalions were no longer acting in unison and the warriors were much better armed, their ponies fat and their moral high after defeating Crook.

At this point, Custer was forced to go on the defensive. The tables had turned and effective action became ineffective reaction. The standard defensive tactic of cavalry was to dismount and form skirmish lines, as outlined in another post. It is highly effective against a European style army; not against a less organized, but unpredictable and highly mobile foe who gave no quarter and had no misgivings about their own mortality. It was to them, 'a good day to die.'

Despite the continual belief that the 7th Cavalry was an elite outfit, the reality is that most of these young men (almost half of them immigrants) had never seen combat and none (not even the veterans of other campaigns) had seen fighting on this scale.

As the skirmish lines began to falter and the fighting became close-quartered, the remaining soldiers would instinctively bunch up into little groups as frightened herded animals would do. Command control would be gone. Shear terror would overcome training and discipline; accentuated by the fact that their constant companions and lifeline - their horses, along with the vital extra ammunition they carried- were either dead or scattered to the wind.

At the last moment, some would shoot themselves; others would just get up and run into the coulées in a vain attempt to reach the trees along the river. For the ecstatic Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, it was now like a buffalo hunt, with the terrified quarry mercilessly cut down at close quarter; the slaughter hidden by the clouds of dust and smoke.

[Phil H]

Interesting post, Hunter.

It brings to mind two intertwined aspects of Custer's character.

First, that he is very much a cavalryman "type" - part of a line that runs back to Prince Rupert (Royalist commander in the English Civil War); through Murat (Napoleon's cavalry genius) to Herman Goering (a fighter "ace" in WWI).

All liked flamboyant costumes, invented uniforms for themselves; were reckless and daring in their tactics and for a while very successful. None were especially bright intellectually, but all attracted (even courted) "celebrity" in their day". All were egotists and narcissists. The flaws in all of their make-ups eventually proved fatal.

Rupert's dashing charges meant he forget the battle and concentrated on looting. Murat was a political fool who ended up being shot ("save the face!"); Goering was sentenced to death at Nuremburg (but took his own life) as a war criminal.

Secondly,that in all these cases their "daring" made them and destroyed them to an extent.

Phil

[kensei]

I don't have any level of scholarly knowledge of the battle of Little Big Horn as everyone else in this thread seems to have, but I did visit the battlefield as a teenager back in 1985 while on a youth group trip, and the cemetery and museum there. I remember many weapons and other artifacts collected from the place on display, including some pretty vicious looking Indian war clubs such as one with a two-foot wooden handle adorned with multiple six-inch steel blades that I would definitely not have wanted to be hit with. There was a very large panoramic painting there showing the battle in progress, and I remember soldiers crouched behind dead horses firing their rifles over them. I also recall a tour guide lecturing about how the cavalry soldiers of that day were outfitted in ridiculously hot wool uniforms that left them sweating and exhausted in the sweltering summer heat, ill prepared for battle.

Just curious- is it known by what exact means Custer was killed? What type of weapon felled him, and was it wielded by an Indian whose identity is known?

In my 20s I studied Commercial Art in a technical college and my class went on a field trip to an advertising firm in Fargo, North Dakota that had designed some t.v. commercials for tourism in the region, including one that whimsically described how visitors to Custer's old home sometimes saw the ghost of his widdow waving goodbye from the front porch. I remember seeing that commercial- it showed the apparition waving, and then fading away. They told us that they'd totally made that up- no one had ever actually reported seeing such a ghost at the Custer home. But since their commercial had started airing, now they were!

[Phil H]

Kensei

MY reading states that Custer was essentially hit by two bullets, one in the side that penetrated the chest cavity, and a second in the temple which would have been fatal) from long enough range that there were no podwer burns around the forehead wound.

The lack of burns suggests that Custer did not commit suicide, as has been alleged, but does not rule out the possibility of either a mercy killing by his brother (who's body lay quite close by) or some other comrade.

Neither is it known - so far as I am aware - when the chest wound was received. There are accounts - I personally believe mistaken - that Custer was killed or wounded early in the action. The indian accounts may have been a reference to another officer.

I seem to recall (no sources with me) that Custer's chest wound had also caused a slight wound to his arm.

Post-mortem, at least I hope it was - an arrow was driven into the General's private parts. Indian woman claimed to have driven an awl into his ears, as in life he had not listened.

The conventional account is that he had not been scalped (perhaps because he was balding) and also that the body was not mutilated. That may have been to spare his wife, Libby's sensitivities - but as the arrow wound only emerged years later, it is not impossible that Custer's body was subjected to reprisals and mutilation.

Phil

[kensei]

Thanks for that, Phil. So Custer was shot. I dimly recall seeing in a movie- was it "Little Big Man"?- an Indian running up behind him and giving him a tomahawk to the back of his neck. I guess that's Hollywood for you.

I also remember reading somewhere a few years ago that a new movie version was in the works that actually had Brad Pitt slated to play Custer, but apparently it fizzled. First reaction was kind of negative, but after some thought- Brad's good, I think he might have actually pulled it off.

[Phil H]

Wasn't Errol Flynn ridden down by a horde of mounted braves?

Little Big Man was a hugely enjoyable romp, but very much of its time (IMHO). Custer was depicted as a raving maniac and nothing was too bad as his end.

Phil

[jason_c]

Kensei

MY reading states that Custer was essentially hit by two bullets, one in the side that penetrated the chest cavity, and a second in the temple which would have been fatal) from long enough range that there were no podwer burns around the forehead wound.

The lack of burns suggests that Custer did not commit suicide, as has been alleged, but does not rule out the possibility of either a mercy killing by his brother (who's body lay quite close by) or some other comrade.

Neither is it known - so far as I am aware - when the chest wound was received. There are accounts - I personally believe mistaken - that Custer was killed or wounded early in the action. The indian accounts may have been a reference to another officer.

I seem to recall (no sources with me) that Custer's chest wound had also caused a slight wound to his arm.

Post-mortem, at least I hope it was - an arrow was driven into the General's private parts. Indian woman claimed to have driven an awl into his ears, as in life he had not listened.

The conventional account is that he had not been scalped (perhaps because he was balding) and also that the body was not mutilated. That may have been to spare his wife, Libby's sensitivities - but as the arrow wound only emerged years later, it is not impossible that Custer's body was subjected to reprisals and mutilation.

Phil

Custer had his hair shaven off before the campaign at LBGH. A mixture of him going bald and his unwillingness to become a target for a sharpshooter or scalping. This last point does at least indicate there was at least some survival instinct in Custer. He was not looking for a glorious do or die charge. Im also intrigued by the fact that Custer's aide heard him swear twice in the hours leading up to the battle. Swearing was something Custer frowned upon, very few had heard him ever swear. Outwardly he oozed confidence before the battle. Was he under great stress, trying to hide his fears?

The more I think of it the more I believe Custer's downfall was sealed when Benteen stumbled upon Reno. Custer could not have predicted this. Without this Benteen probably reaches Custer before Custers battle becomes seriously heated.


Again, im an armchair general with admitted sympathies towards Custer.

[Phil H]

The swearing was something I'd picked up in my early reding. I have it marked down to think about further.

Of course, being cynical for a moment, it could be that the people who recalled the incidents only found them meaningful in retrospect. Custer may have sworn more often than anyone thought, but after his death these occasions were remembered.

But it is a valid question, was Custer under strain - did he perhaps fear Terry or Crook stealing his thunder. Was he worried that the indian camp might break up before he got there? was a victory attributable soley to him vital to his future plans (whatever they might have been)?

Phil

[jason_c]

The swearing was something I'd picked up in my early reding. I have it marked down to think about further.

Of course, being cynical for a moment, it could be that the people who recalled the incidents only found them meaningful in retrospect. Custer may have sworn more often than anyone thought, but after his death these occasions were remembered.

But it is a valid question, was Custer under strain - did he perhaps fear Terry or Crook stealing his thunder. Was he worried that the indian camp might break up before he got there? was a victory attributable soley to him vital to his future plans (whatever they might have been)?

Phil

All of the above? I also believe self preservation and fear would be valid reasons. Even for Custer battles werent an everyday occurrence. In the decade since the Civil War Custer would have fought very few of them. Of course some individuals may thrive on these battles, Custer included. I take much of his bravado with a pinch of salt. Its a commanders job to give an air of confidence. Underneath he may have had his own doubts leading up to the battle.

[Hunter]

Good points, Phil and Jason.

Some of Custer's officers recalled that their commander was a little more reserved during the march up the Rosebud than was his usual custom. At a couple of officer's calls he appears to have tried to extend an olive branch out to Benteen; at one time even, to compliment Benteen's handling of the pack train, which was contradictory from what Custer's original orders were. Of course, Benteen was not going to make any amends with Custer.

At the Reno inquiry, Benteen made a fairly blatant statement about his decision to stay with Reno after joining with him at Reno Hill... and this in light of the orders that were already given to him from Custer via Sgt. Kanipe and trumpeter Martini, "Reno did not explain to me why he had retreated from the river bottom to the hill; nor did he express any solicitude or uneasiness about Custer. Nor did I. I supposed General Custer was able to take care of himself."

I still believe that Custer didn't perceive any great danger until it was nearly over. He kept riding north, even after apparently deploying Keogh's three company wing in the rear to confront the warriors coming up from Medicine Tail Coulée and wait for Benteen's expected arrival on that part of the field. He was apparently looking for a ford to cross at the northern end of the village to capture the escaping non-combatants fleeing in that direction; knowing that if he captured them, the warriors would stop fighting to ensure no further harm would come to the women and children.

By the time he saw that he couldn't affect that maneuver, Keogh's and Calhoun's men had been routed and the survivors were fleeing in his direction. Within minutes, he was surrounded. All he could do was to move back to high ground in the hope that Benteen would see where he was and come to his rescue. What went through his mind at that last moment on Custer hill, we will never know. He didn't get very long to reflect.

He left some personal effects with his wife, Libby, that he normally carried with him in the past...Premonition?

[Phil Carter]

Hello Hunter,

Am I correct in saying that it took another 5 years before Sitting Bull finally agreed to enter a reservation.. was it 1881?


kindly

Phil

[Hunter]

That's about right Phil.

After the Little Big Horn, the Northern Plains Indians were pursued relentlessly by the Army; never given a chance to congregate again or even hunt the buffalo before winter set in. Many, including Crazy Horse, capitulated and went to the reservation within a year after the Little Big Horn.

Sitting Bull took what remained to Canada, where they wouldn't be molested. But the buffalo seldom ranged that far north, the winters were brutal and the Canadian government considered him an intruder. He held out as long as he could, until starvation had taken its toll.

He toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for a while, then returned to the reservation; only to be killed by Reservation Indian Police during the Ghost Dance uprising in 1890.