This video is a follow-up to "Was Custer a Mad Man?" In this episode, we follow the the 7th from the Crow's Nest to Reno's retreat. Here's a link the Custer and Little Bighorn Playlist: • Custer and the Little ...
I’m from Monroe, Michigan.. home of Custer. I found this channel because of Cumberland Gap video because my mom is from Harlan, KY and my dad is from Tazwell, TN.. both off 25 East.
I am glad you found the channel, Kevin. I spent a lot of time in Monroe as a kid. I used to live in Harrogate with a view of the Gap out my window. It's nice to meet people who have similar journeys in life.
While I believe Custer had an ambitious nature and an ego, I don’t think that was reasoning for his premature attack. He had driven his command hard and was going to rest them when a report got to him they were found by natives finding some food supplies lost by the pack train. His plan was to capture non combatants and use them to get the natives back onto the reservation. Had he accomplished this with reinforcement a day away this could’ve worked. More natives than expected and their immediate response stopped this plan. Hindsight is always clearer.
True, nobody could know where George was. He kept moving and dividing again. Thank goodness the balance of the Force made good decisions. This was a given before it started.
If Custer assumed that Gen. Crook was only a few miles to his south why didnt he have forward communications established before deciding on an attack? That would have been standard procedure. No, he had no communication and was reckless in his actions.
Was he reckless, sure. Are you suggesting that he didn't know that Crook was to join up with him? Custer relied on the Golden Rule He thought that other officers would do as he had always done: go in the direction of the shooting. He was wrong to assume that notion and that Crook was nearby. He clearly wasn't. Thanks for writing! Barry
No its that if he thought Crook was only a few miles away he should have made some attempt to ascertain Crooks location and coordinate the attack. There was no contact at all so he could not assume that Crook was there. Couriers were not dispatched, or received, previously to determine the whereabouts of Crook or further orders to coordinate the attack so he could not assume anything.
Custer wasn't expecting support from Crook, ir even Terry and Gibbon for that matter. When the War Department sent three columns into the field that summer they were expected to act independently. No coordination between the columns was planned. The War Department estimated that there would be 800-1,500 warriors and any of the three columns could handle them. It was 1876 and there was no way for the columns to communicate in such a vast area. Terry and Gibbon joined up mostly by chance as they were following the same trail. It's also misleading to call Custer reckless for attacking a village with so many warriors. The Indians didn't have an organizational structure like the cavalry. They fought as individuals or small groups. Custer was overwhelmed because Reno and Benteen took themselves out of the fight. Had they continued Custer would have had a chance to capture enough hostages to force the warriors to surrender. And Reno was only covering his butt when he claimed that he expected Custer to support him from the rear. Reno was a combat veteran of the Civil War and would have known that when he saw Custer swing up the bluffs and ahead of him that support wasn't coming from the rear. Reno and Benteen both needed to put the blame on Custer to take attention from the fact that they both failed in their duty that day. This discussion begins with a faulty premise and reaches faulty conclusions.
I don't recall Custer ever making any attempt to contact Crook. I don't think anyone has any reason to imply Custer was concerned with Crook in any manner.
You are right. I don't recall reading that Custer tried to contact Crook, but I think he thought that Crook would join the fray when he heard the volleys. He wasn't stupid. The Rosebud was only 40 miles from the Little Bighorn. Crook was there a week earlier.
@@BarryVann The truth of the matter is that none of the columns made any effort to communicate with each other. None of them knew anything about where the other actually was or what they were doing until Terry and Gibbon actually met.
@@flintlockhomestead460 They were presumably following the plan laid out before June 22. There were a lot of assumptions that commanders would follow through with those plans. I suppose in a world in which communication in the field was not efficient, we have a hard time of relating to their circumstances.
@@BarryVann They were following the plan for the three prong pincer movement that degenerated into a two prong pincer when Terry and Gibbon linked up at the mouth of the Yellowstone. Neither Gibbon , Terry or Custer were aware of Crook's defeat at the Rosebud and subsequent withdrawal. Custer's orders were broad enough to allow him discretion if in close contact with the Indians but his planning was insufficient. Custer had never had a reputation as a great strategist. His plan throughout the Civil War had always been ride to the sound of the guns and attack. His reasons for doing what he did died with him on that hillside and I will not speculate on them. But you know what happens when we assume.
I doubt anyone thinks Custer was counting on Crook. The three columns of Gibbon, Terry and Crook I think were planned to meet on 26 June. A best guess of all of it may be that George saw an opportunity to be George. But this had consequences.
Custer lead 11 cavalry charges during the Civil War, always at the front of this troopers. That was his style and it is unlikely he changed it this day. Cheyenne sources say the first of Custer's column to be shot was riding a mount with 4 white socks which Custer's mount had. Troopers dragged him up to Last Stand Hill where his body was found. Custer was likely dead or mortally wounded before the battle on the hill was fought.
It was military courtesy to refer to an officer by the highest rank he had earned. Custer was a general in the Civil War. Custer called Benteen "Col Benteen" because he had been a colonel in the Civil War.
With payroll records and thousands of eyes on them, I think 269 troopers is pretty accurate. God only knows about the losses suffered by the Lakota. Barry
Custer wanted a victory badly in order to enhance his political ambitions. He ignored the intelligence from his scouts and had no battle plan. He did not discuss the actions he was intending with Reno and Benteen who were his second and third in command. He did tell Reno that his charge into the camp would be supported and then failed to support him leaving Reno high and dry and then Custer supporters try to blame Reno Absolute disgrace
He did support him by flanking the enemy. Reno is a coward. Furthermore Custer was referred to as the hammer. That is what hammers do in fighting, they attack.
@@kakuto500 Reno was a coward, Benteen suffered a pathological jealousy of Custer, dragged his heals at walking pace on the back trail, watered his troops company by company at the morass, pretended not to hear signal volley shooting on Reno hill, concocted their alibi over the months before the Reno enquiry. Both were lucky not to have been courts marshalled, but by this time the government wanted to cover up the whole sordid affair as quickly as possible.
Custer had the sabers left behind to lessen noise. It was Custer's hope to sneak up on the Indians. Prior to this the Indians ran from any soldiers. Yeah, right you're going to sneak up on thousands of Indians. Holy crap! Will you look at all the Indians! They left a trail a quarter of a mile wide! This should have told you that there were a hell of a lot of Indians, and let us get the f--k out here! Fast!! I would have out run my horse! Damn!
Imho George Armstrong Custer's ego wrote a check he couldn't cash! He was offered two additional troops of the 2nd Cavalry and a battery of Gattling guns and turned them down and he divided his command and people wonder how he got wiped out?!
What about the 402 members of the 7th who survived? I think if all of them had went to the Last Stand Hill, they would have met the same fate as Custer and his immediate command. I appreciate your comment, Truly1Tom!
When Reno dismounted the entire plan lost its initiative. Being able to keep Custers command divided and overwhelm with sheer numbers any progress allowed overwhelming numbers of natives to destroy smaller groups of troopers. Had Benteen not arrived when he did Reno would’ve been destroyed. Had the Terry column not arrived when they did, the entire 7th may have gotten destroyed. I think if Custer’s command had gotten across the river and captured a large enough group of non combatants, as he planned, then none of this discussion would be needed.
The gatlings wouldn't have amde a differentce. They were large, cumbersome, slow to haul, and slow to setup. And from what I've read, they more like field artillery than a modern day machinegun and better suited for large set piece battles rather than the small(ish) rapid skirmishes that characterized the kind of fighting the Army typically encountered when fighting the Indians.
Gatling guns and limbers were extremely heavy and unwieldy and had caused much trouble before in campaigns with similar terrain. They would have been useless in that country.
