DaytonBuck;1723424; said:
2 days ago in 1876 Mr. Custer and his officer corp met their maker. I always respected their command as they met their maker. Custer's various troupes formed up on a hill and met their fate.
The true hero's of this country are the ones who met their maker in the hills of south dakota
No. They were a disorganized clusterfuck of an attack, with Maj. Reno losing his grip on command when his Indian scout's brains were splattered on his face, Reno telling the troops on his "prong" of the attack to dismount and mount and dismount until they basically ran away in panic to save their lives at the Indian Village being chased and pulled off their horses. Had he not met up with the smarter Benteen and his group won high ground after killing their horses for breastworks they all would have died too.
Meanwhile, Custer's group was surrounded and killed while they ran - or stayed in small groups and fought, and - according to eye witnesses - blew their own brains out instead of fighting to avoid being caught by the Sioux and Cheyenne and tortured.
One black soldier in particular was treated with respect by the Sioux - the bugler, his horn was all bent up from being used as a weapon in hand to hand in his final moments. Miles Keough's men were said to have stood their ground while many other men threw away their weapons and ran, or in one instance gave their gun to an astonished Sioux warrior. The Indians in that fight had little to say in favor of the way the battle was fought by the 7th. Their culture valued bravery, and the fact that many of the soldiers threw down their guns was considered cowardly. They said the soldiers' horses were so tired that they were useless to the 7th.
Also, the 7th was comprised of anything but professionals. At various times half of the 7th would desert, they called it "the big bounce", and the troop enlisted men would join to get through the winter with food and shelter, and then leave for the gold fields or other pursuits. Many were Irish immigrants, and the one man from Custer's command sent by Custer to get ammo from the pack train spoke (an Italian) such bad English that Custer had to write it out on paper instead of relying on his ability to communicate English. It was not the disciplined troops of movie and TV, and Custer wanted glory more than he wanted to follow orders.
They were put in a bad way by Custer, who attacked after dividing his forces. Had they stayed together that amount of firepower would not have been overwhelmed. When he divided his force into three parts he came close to dooming them all. And it is possible that he was shot before all of the "Last Stand" happened, as he tried to cross the Little Big Horn river with his troops - which resulted in more panic from the start.
Tom Custer was a hero - and was awarded TWO Medals Of Honor in the War Between the States. Custer was absolutely personally brave, and I am not saying he was not, but whatever his strengths as a commander, they were not on display on that day on the plains.
While new evidence was come out since its publication, I cannot praise the book "Son of the Morning Star" by Evan Connell more highly. Great book about Custer and his troops, filled with the type of stuff that is too incredible to be made up, and giving a real idea of what it was like to live in those times. Ambrose wrote a good book about the parallel careers and lives of Crazy Horse and Custer. That is a good one too.
