Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Today In History: Please, Mr. Custer...
On this date in the centennial year of 1876, Col. George A. Custer managed to get most of five companies of the 7th Cavalry trapped in a classic double envelopment by Gen. Haste and Maj. Hubris. Armed with single-shot M1873 Springfield carbines, they were overwhelmed at close range by attackers armed with carbines and bows & arrows and killed to a man.
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9 comments:
And, he left the two gatling guns behind, so he could "move quickly".
...but not a brave horse named Comanche who gave his all.
Actually there were several surviving horses and perhaps a dog- all taken as gifts by the Souxi and Cheyenne. Commanche was so shot up he wasn't worth driving off when the indians left the next day.
Commanche is still on display stuffed at U. of Montana, I think.
This year is also the anniversary of the establishment of the NRA.
I shot the Texas Concealed Handgun course once, with a perfect score, using a S&W .44 Russian Revolver sold in St Louis in 1874- two years before Custer got it at the Little Bighorn. Nice pistol. Custer had a pair of Webley .44s that were never recovered though some of his and the 7ths stuff was.
Comanche is at the U. of Kansas.
The version I heard was that Custer had a pair of Deane & Adams double action revolvrs, not Webleys. Definately English though.
Anyone else remember 'The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms'?
'Too bad you couldn't bring up the tank. It woulda helped.'
Ben - -
Thanks for mentioning that Twilight Zone episode. I was thinking of it just the other day, but didn't recall the title. You provided me with an hour's interest Googling. And you and Tam gave me a topic for my own blog.
Best,
JPG
Custer knew the Indians well. Too well. He knew that there couldn't be more than a few hundred Indians, as they didn't have the logistical train to support more than that in one place for long.
The trick was for long. Several sub-tribes met up for several days, giving them an unusually large number. If he had brought the Gatlings, he would have not have caught up to the Indians at the express time when they had over 15,000 present.
And, years later, Custer was featured in the Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai. Now, that's just a fate worse than death.
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