June 25, 1876 .... Battle of Little Big Horn ...."A Good Day to Die."

[1srelluc]

Broken Arrow!.....But no air support available at The Little Big Horn.

Excavations at the site showed lots of separated/broken .45-70 cartridge heads. Some claim at least half of the Trap-Door Springfields were inoperable due to separated cartridge heads.

I read somewhere long ago that news of the disaster at LBH didn't reach most east coast cities until July 4th, 1876 when everyone was focused on celebrating the country's 100th birthday. Quite a shocker I imagine.

Sad that M3 Stewart tank was nearby, it would have helped.

 

[Meister]

I just saw a two part series called 'Sitting Bull'.
what an incredible story to the lead up of the Little Big Horn event.

It sure gave me some perspective of how and why it all went down.
I knew the Native Americans were getting screwed, knew that as a child.
What I didn't know was the amount of details on how bad they were getting screwed.

 

[whitehall]

Custer was a fearless Union general when others were running from the Confederates. Hollywood usually portrays him as a clown except for the movie "Died with their boots on".

 

[Manonthestreet]

 

[LuckyDuck01!]

Custer was a fearless Union general when others were running from the Confederates. Hollywood usually portrays him as a clown except for the movie "Died with their boots on".

Custer was a headstrong fearless officer in the Civil War, but he was no strategist or logistical officer. He just kept charging his cavalry into the rebel position again and again without a concern for his casualties.
At the Battle of Little Bighorn (or Greasy Grass as the Natives called it), he made the mistake of ignoring the offer for a Gatling Gun and also split his forces without significant awareness of the strength of the force he was going up against. In short, he killed his men and as far as I'm concerned, deserved what he got.
The various Lakota/Sioux and Cheyenne tribes had been guaranteed that they could have the Black Hills region. A claim of gold being found meant whites began pouring into the tribe's land and the military was tasked with protecting the whites and pushing the tribes out of the land that was promised to them. To this day, the same tribes have repeatedly gone to the federal courts in attempts to get back what was stolen from them. The courts refuse and only offer them financial compensation, which the tribes reject.

 

[sparky]

~S~