RNC Official: N.M. Governor ‘Dishonored’ Gen. Custer By Meeting With American Indians

[ieoeja]

142. Custer did not "dishonor himself" as so many here post. Many, many people failed him.

First, let's remember that Custer defeated J.E.B. Stuart the first and every subsequent time they met. The Confederate cavalry advantage at the start of the war ended when Custer took the field. Giving him credit for doing this almost single handidly sounds like hyperbole. But the US cavalry had begun to retreat when Custer left the command post and charged the Confederates causing his command to turn around and re-engage the enemy to win that first battle.

As to Little Big Horn, Custer had a LOT of help in that screwup.

o Western Indian war parties to that point had been fairly small. Bureau of Indian Affairs estimated this was one of the larger ones, but less than half what it turned out to be. Custer was facing a force more than twice the size he had been informed. Larger than any war party encountered by the cavalry prior to that date.

o Western Indians generally did not attack cavalry in a stand up fight. They hit them from ambush, then ran to fight another day.

o An entire US Army division was supposed to be there, not just Custer. Custer had every reason to believe that division would showup at any moment. But the Lakota had ambushed the other division a few days earlier injuring their commanding officer. The division withdrew without even attempting to notify remaining US Army units of their actions.

o Whether Maj Reno could have followed the plan or not is up for debate. Probably not judging by how badly his retreat went. But he should have informed Custer instead of abandoning Custer. Custer, believing he was the vanguard of a division turned out to be just one company.

o With two other US Army divisions due to arrive in a few hours, all Custer had to do was keep the Indians busy.

o The Lakota had repeating rifles. Custer's command did not. And Custer was unaware of the Lakota's superior weaponry.

That last is pretty big. Custer was too outnumbered to fight a prolonged defense. But without those repeaters, he might have held on long enough for the ordered reinforcements to arrive. Reno had to hear the fighting and would have found his way to Custer had the fighting not lasted mere minutes. Custer would have had 4 times his numbers then. And those other two US Army divisions (actually, I think there were three others, but I know there was at least two) did arrive a few hours later.

Custer gets the final blame for not trusting his Indian scouts and for sending a non-English speaking messenger to bring up reinforcements. But it took a lot of errors by a lot of other people to cause his downfall. He wouldn't have even been there had the blocking division not withdrawn.