Great movie too.
Did you know (did you need to know) that Michael Caine spent his entire fee for the film on a painting by the mad midget Toulouse-Lautrec.
SBW

Didn't some of the troopers a few miles away from the main site under a Maj. Reno survive? Who knows about Maj. Reno?

Imagine if those Indians had Mathews Bows and Bow Techs back then?

The people of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia remember Custer pretty well, too. Just as Sherman Marched to the sea, destroying much of Georgia, Custer destroyed so many homes and farms in the Shenandoah, that some of the folks there still celebrate his disasterous loss at the Little Bighorn. Custer seemed to only know one type of fight, hell bent for leather, It had worked against farmers and defenseless Indians.

I’ve read quite a bit about war and battles, particularly WWII. Battles seldom go the way of logic even if the outcome goes as predicted. As Eisenhower said about D-Day; The plan was useless. The planning was invaluable.

Relative to the Zulus at Rorke’s Drift, they had just come off a victory earlier that morning and their blood was up. Then they followed the same basic plan and it failed. And you could say without too much reservation that they quit as much as they lost (although the eventual outcome is far from assured).

Relative to Custer, his strengths and weaknesses were comparable to Hitler’s. Commanding presence without command ability. Charismatic and inspirational among admirers and galactic arrogance among detractors. Surrounded by admirers more than men of needed qualification. Believers in destiny and their own infallibility while more than just a bit out of touch with the reality.

Custer and his men entered the battle awash with all of these weaknesses intact and the Indians proceeded to out-fight and out-general him. Crazy Horse watched hidden behind a hill while another chief set up a classic pincher movement that would have made Patton proud. Waiting at for the right time, Crazy Horse and his men split Custer before he knew what hit him and the 7th fell apart to be slaughtered at the Indians leisure. They could have had M-16s and it wouldn’t have mattered once you drop them on the ground and run.

Kind of reminds me of the slaughter I witnessed last night. The Indianapolis Colts were the Native Americans and the New Orleans Caints were Custer. To quote a wise man (DEP) leadership is everything. Tony Dungy and Manning are the very definition of leadership.

As usual by the time I read one of these topics almost all I know has already been stated. For those of you who are interested and have not visited the Little Bighorn site, study the landscape and locations of warriors of each side. That in addition to Custer's well known and long standing inept "leadership" created disaster for the U. S. Army from the time he entered Montana. Additionally as a matter of interest I remember that somewhere around a dozen Victoria Crosses were awarded as a result of the services rendered at Rorke's Drift.

The best text book I found was "Custer’s Luck" by Prof Edgar I.Stewart, Oklahoma Press. While researching a history paper I found archive in SUNY-Genesseo’s library’s gov’t section the entire Court Inquiry testimony. Incredible reading Major Reno’s and Capt Benteen’s testimony, amongst the other officers and enlisted, especially Capt Weir’s and Lt Edgerly’s.

I also had opportunity to physically be at the Custer Battlefield. I was taken back by how quickly it just comes into view.

Custer’s plan of attack was a sound two-prong, but it just unraveled. US Command attitude the Indians would scatter and retreat, and not make a last big fight was fatal from top to bottom. Even if Custer pulled his battle plan off, it would have been costly.

“Quick! Bring Packs. Big Village. Brings Packs!” Those last two repeated words say it all. Custer’s Adjutant knew it’d be a big fight. Packs had the additional ammo.

I’m amazed at how the public’s opinion of Custer changes in time. He’s gone from hero who did his duty, to buffoon, to glory hungry killer, to evil war-monger, to flawed sex freak, and then buffoon-killer. This blog is just one more chapter in the legend.

I can't figure out how to use the fonts on this blog for proper writing guide criteria!!!!

I've had the great privilege of helping do field research at the Battlefield and always enjoy standing on Reno's position and imagining the desparation those men felt fighting for their lives. While I do believe Custer got what was coming to him, the tragedy was that he took all those enlisted men with him.

Dave, I've gotta disagree for once: Mounted Indians armed with Winchester lever-actions are hardly comparable to spear-chuckers, whose tactics were to send intermittent waves of warriors, allowing the Brits to re-load between each massacre.

The jammed rifles as a contributing factor of Custer's defeat have been shown to be a myth. Well over a thousand .45-70 cases were recovered from the battle site and less than 1% sow evidence of being pried from a jammed weapon. Since he got his command destroyed, people have been looking for excuses for Custer. It was his fault, plain and simple.

I agree whole heartedly, Custer was most difinitly a DUMB-ASS!

I suggest everyone take the time to read "CENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN" by (I believe) Dr. Grey. George Custer made several mistakes in this campaign, no question of that. His biggest was not listening to his Crow Scouts who correctly advised him that the "Sun Dance" ceremony held by the combined indian force, was clear evidence that the hostiles were not going to run, but would fight. Custer rejected this out of hand. His next biggest mistake was splitting his force in the mistaken assumption that the indians were going to ":cut-and-run" as soon as the US Cavalry appeared. Benteen was sent on a southern swing while Reno charged up the Little Big Horn Valley into a hornet's nest of indians and was soon deflected and routed.
He was able to organize a hasty defense on what I think is now known as Reno Hill and save his command. He did abandon some of his men in the madcap filight to gain refuge on the hill and was forever-after criticized for that fact. The indians never stormed his position in great numbers, choosing to snipe and harrass, probably thinking that once the main body dealt with George Armstron Custer, they could all pounce on Benteens smaller force. The arrival of Benteen probably discouraged that thinking.
Meanwhile, Custer rode north along the Little Big Horn River far enough that the sounds of what surely was a horrific battle, never reached the ears of those on Reno Hill.
Custer ignored the Crow Scouts opinion that the far-off village noted by his Crow scouts, that was able to be viewed from a lofty overlook albeit obscured by smoke - duh, little wonder there was so much smoke - probably a thousand cookfires a'burning, contained about 1000 to 1500 tepees. At roughly one-and-a-half braves per tepee, that was a lot of hostiles.
The actual forensic evidence at Last Stand battlefield clearly reveals that Custer and his meager force were overwhelmed and fought a desperate and disorderly running battle with the hostiles with the outcome clearly inevitable to all the participants.
As to bringing along several Gatling guns, they were heavy and unwieldy. Custer's supply train lagged the main body of troops by half a day or more during the long and difficult march in blistering heat and the added burden of the Gatlings would have added to their misery and would almost surely have been
abandoned.
Dr Grey is not as condemning of Custer as you and most of your respondents. He was clearly a man with faults but bravery certainly wasn't on the list. Curiously, he had a disdain for indians that didn't square with the facts. The US military almost never prevailed in a confrontation with armed indian braves. They
(the indians) were often described as the best mounted cavalry in the world and employed tactics that were ingenious and clever. Our troopers were, in the main, poorly trained and ill-prepared to deal with indians who lived and survived in a warrior society in which fighting and mortal struggle was a way of life.

Custer's widow spent her final years defending her husband with an admirable, if misguided, tenacity. The Army, as has always been the case, made the expected attempt to shield and, indeed, to shade the facts to protect their own. Both Benteen and Reno disliked Custer and were probably villified unfairly for their role in the proceedings - based mainly on their failure to support the Custer contingent and for their subsequent testimony which clearly reflected their dislike of LTC GAC.