Battle of Little Bighorn 135 years ago today

[frogmarch]

Guard honors Little Bighorn Soldier



Guardsmen from 20 states and Guam marched a training route early Sunday ending at Black Hills National Cemetery with a tribute on the anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Exactly 135 years ago to the day Sunday, Sgt. Charles Windolph provided cover fire as others retrieved water for wounded soldiers during the Siege of Greasy Grass. He was awarded the Medal of Honor and Purple Heart, and became known as the last living white participant from the battle until his death at age 98 in 1950.

More than 100 soldiers finished their march Sunday with an “eyes right” and pass-in-review past Windolph’s marker at the cemetery. They discussed Windolph’s contribution to the battle and had a moment of silence.

“It’s good for them to see heroes who did their duty for their country,” said Maj. Mark Boardman, who lead Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 196th Regiment, an Officer Candidate School at Fort Meade. “Ending up here could also be the consequence of a bad decision.”

~~

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_3e1ca9fa-a06a-11e0-82d5-001cc4c002e0.html

[damntexdem]

1. Thanks for the note. I like to celebrate great historic victories, ...

even if in losing causes: Little Big Horn, the Alamo, and so on.

Hey, when Texans say "remember the Alamo," I always agree -- great victory.

[frogmarch]

5. I like to remember them

but I don't celebrate many, including the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Custer was a risk taker during the Civil War, and in the case of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, he was also a fool.

[roguevalley]

19. he was an egomaniacal tool who decided to get a reputation to

run for president by killing Indians. That he got his ass handed to him and took all this men with him is a stain on his name that is his forever. A lot of work has been done there by archaeologists and most of the men who didn't get killed trapped in spots ran and were shot down. I would have run too, don't get me wrong. But the frigging images of him as a hero making a stand were concocted by his wife who spent the rest of her life spinning tales.

The Indians who survived were said to have abetted the lies to keep their people from being punished worse than they were. The heroes were the tribes protecting their families and people from a marauding idiot who thought his little band could take on the congregated tribes who were camped there.

Custer really pisses me off.

But I will say that the troops walking along there look very nice. I just don't believe in commemorating Custer and his company. They were here to kill every Indian they could find regardless of age just like they did before.

[frogmarch]

21. Thanks. Well said. nt

[yellerpup]

28. +1

The heroes of the day survived.

[oldlib]

31. I agree with your analysis.

Custer was over confident and I believe that when he observed the Indian village, he did not see any braves, and thought that attacking the remaining women and children would be an easy victory. Little did he realize, is that the braves were following him and would ultimately destroy him.

[Aristus]

14. The cause the defenders of the Alamo were fighting for was the expansion of slavery

to the West. Not a very noble cause. They're not heroes.

I say that as someone born and raised in San Antonio.

[Sequoia]

2. Custer was a fool. Honor the Red Man instead !!!!

Hooray for Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull !!!!

[demosincebirth]

4. +1000

[frogmarch]

6. I agree Custer was a fool.

He got what was coming to him.

I've always sided with the Native Americans in this.

[truebrit71]

7. Agreed 100%

n/t

[RebelOne]

27. Agreed. 200%!! It angers me to see the atrocities that we have done to the Native Americans.n/t

[blindpig]

11. A fool and a murderer.

[ieoeja]

16. What makes him a fool?

Plains Indians up to that point had only ever attacked US Army forces from ambush. When they could not ambush, they always ran to fight another day.

The Indian Bureau told Custer how big the opposing forces were likely to be. The actual number was three to four times that size. And more than twice the largest native military force encountered west of the Mississippi prior to that day.

A US Army division was tasked with the job of preventing the natives' escape from the south. That division was ambushed and the commander wounded. Instead of continuing the operation, the wounded commander ordered his forces to withdraw. Worse yet, he made no attempt to inform the attacking divisions of the ambush, his change in plans, or of the fact that the native force was much larger than expected. He simply abandoned the field.

Having failed to make contact with the southern division, the northern division commanders ordered Custer to take a much smaller command to the south. On his way with orders to "block their escape", they were spotted by native scouts. Given his still faulty intelligence on numbers and knowledge of their past tactics, Custer hoped a brief raid would disorganize their expected attempt to escape delaying them long enough for the attacking force to arrive.

One company did not even attempt the hit-and-run Custer ordered them to do. Instead, they stopped short of the camp, took a few potshots at the camp, and then ran. Because of that the encampment was not in the expected turmoil when Custer arrived. As soon as Custer saw what he faced, he changed tactics reversing to a defensive stance. He also ordered up reinforcements. But the courier spoke poor English causing the commander of the reinforcements to misinterpret his orders.

Custer was hung out to dry. He was pretty much the only military or civilian official who did what was expected of him that day.

Custer's second biggest problem (after the incompetence of every body else) was not knowing how to lose. Having defeated J.E.B. Stuart the first and every subsequent time he encountered this supposed superman probably did leave him too confident. His career following the Civil War, in particular dealing with US Army forces out west, was not too good. Western service was unpopular and tedious. The soldiers he encountered out west were not up to the standards of the forces he led in the Civil War. And he didn't handle that frustration very well.

[roguevalley]

20. hear, hear. +1,000,000

[CJvR]

24. Dont forget...

...Red Cloud - he actually won his war with the US.

[cilla4progress]

29. Right friggin' ON!

[grasswire]

3. I was on that battlefield on the 100th anniversary

Wow, time flies. It was an eerie experience to be there. Not far from our campground (RV) there was a Native American encampment. Eerie.

[frogmarch]

8. Yes, it must have seemed eerie.

I've never been there, but I'd like to visit the site someday.

I read today that among the U.S. soldiers who died in the battle were Custer's middle and youngest brothers Thomas Ward Custer and Boston Custer, his nephew Harry Armostrong Reed, and his brother-in-law James Calhoun. I wonder if their survivors considered George a hero.

[grasswire]

25. lots of wild roses all over that battlefield

Pretty pink wild roses. I wonder how many people have gone through there with metal detectors, of course though it is against park rules to remove anything.

[meow mix]

9. good work, crazy horse.

custer split up and cowardly left men to die, but once he was spotted.. all the fighting then focused to putting a club on him :toast:

[lynne]

10. Custer was an arrogant, narcissistic fool and I've -

- never been a fan of how we treated the native's. Just makes no sense to me - we fight one war to free one group of people and then proceed to eliminate another group. :shrug:

The biggest lesson that we can learn from Custer and the battle is that "Karma is a Bitch".

[Brother Buzz]

12. Still trying to outsmart me, aren't you, mule-skinner

Jack Crabb: General, you go down there.

General Custer: You're advising me to go into the Coulee?

Jack Crabb: Yes sir.

General Custer: There are no Indians there, I suppose.

Jack Crabb: I didn't say that. There are thousands of Indians down there. And when they get done with you, there won't be nothing left but a greasy stain. This ain't the Washite River, General, and them ain't helpless women and children waiting for you. They're Cheyenne brave, and Sioux. You go down there, General, if you've got the nerve.

General Custer: Still trying to outsmart me, aren't you, mule-skinner. You want me to think that you don't want me to go down there, but the subtle truth is you really don't want me to go down there!

[JoePhilly]

17. And then Burt waved his arms in front of his chest, snapped his fingers, and disappeared ...

No wait ... that was in Soap. Never mind.

Loved Little Big Man.

One of my favorite scenes is when he encounters an old Indian rival who has become "successful".

The rival tries to brag and says, "I have a wife, and 4 horses", and Dustin Hoffman replies, "I have a horse, and 4 wives" ... sending the old rival off screaming.

[frogmarch]

22. Was the "poison of the goonads" scene right around

there? I've called 'em goonads ever since I saw Little Big Man.

[Brother Buzz]

26. gonads followed the reverse barometer scene where Custer re-hires the mule-skinner

At that moment, I really was crazy, and I was darn near off that cliff when...
The time had come to look the devil in the eye and send him to hell where he belonged.
The only question was how to get him there.

••••••

Sergeant, take this man and give him some clothes. This man will be invaluable to me, Major.

Invaluable, sir?

I almost hanged him as a renegade. Now he asks to be a scout. Oh, his game is very obvious: to lead
me away from his Indian friends.

Well, I still don't quite follow you, General.

Anything that man tells me will be a lie. Therefore, he will be a perfect reverse barometer.

Isn't that correct?

Of course, General.

[Canuckistanian]

13. Custer had it coming

A bumper sticker I once saw on a native reserve.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. My younger brother and I stumbled into the battlefield on this day in 1998

We didn't even know it was the anniversary, so we got very lucky. We sent my father (in NY) a postcard from the mail slot in the visitors center, hoping it would be postmarked Crow Agency, Montana. He had been a bit of an amateur expert on the battle, but had never gotten out west. Postmarked in Billings two days later, dammit! He never let us hear the end of it.

[jwirr]

18. Sorry I am no fan of any soldier that fought at the Little Bighorn. The

whole damn thing was just another way to steal land from the natives. Nothing to be proud of.

Edited to say I have heard the story from the other hand first hand from the children of the native warriors.

[CJvR]

23. On occation...

...the natives did manage to score a win even against serious oppostion. Little Big Horn, Isandlwana - but it is a very short list

[Scout]

30. the Indians called Custer "woman killer" ... he was dick who deserved

to die.