Did he take scalps and disembowel soldiers?

@@andytyrrell5153 I don't know. Seeing as it was nearly 147 years ago, it is difficult to answer that question with any certainty. I'm not aware of any discerning historical accounts relating to that question with respect to Knife Cheif in particular. Why do you ask? What difference would it make one way or another if Knife Chief did take scalps and/or disembowl soldiers at BLBH? If he did, it would be in line with Lakota custom, not to mention it would be in keeping with Plains warfare writ large. Just as treaty violation, enforcement refusal, non-combatant hostage taking, biological warfare, food supply depletion, teepee burning, etc is in line with US Army custom in their dealings with Plains Tribes including, but not limited to, the Lakota (Sioux). I don't hold any particularly distinguishable ill-will toward either side from a moral or honor standpoint. Despite the clashing cultures and misunderstandings of the time, I find it notable that there are numerous accounts from both sides detailing mutual respect for the bravery and fighting prowess of soldiers and warriors alike.

But you wear the german name Meyer

@@user-xm2cl3qy6x Perhaps his father's name is Meyer ? DUH ! ! !

@@andytyrrell5153 If he did not take scalps and gut some troopers, he should have. The Cavalry started the battle in the bottom by firing directly into lodges. They killed women and children indiscriminately. If your family had been killed or wounded in that volley you damn sure would scalp and do some knife work at the minimum. Unless you are a pacifist ? In any event, the warriors were fighting for their families and relatives.

According to an article in National Geographic, the entire area was subjected to thorough archaeological research sometime in 70's. That's when the complete skeleton of a soldier (about 19 years old) was found in uniform and with weaponry.

Thats a cool ancedote, hope you kept some of those finds

Excellent

Isn't that great news.

Yet the men Reno left in the timber, survived. Only a couple of troopers were killed at that point, Indian testimony said they couldn’t understand why they left a defensible position in the woods.

That sergeant should never be a leader of men let alone be in the military.

@@drstrangelove4998 Reno was probably trying to withdraw to a better defendable position,And that being the closest high ground with a good 360 degree circle with good field of fire in all directions. He may have also been making sure to put the river between his command and the Indian warriors. Its possible Reno didn't recognize his position in the trees was better than trying to get to high ground? I think Reno made the right choice,he just took much longer than he should have to make that choice

@@stephengreene1856 Reno was a coward. simple as that, Benteen was a disobedient, petulant child, simple as that. They killed Custer nd his men just as much as the Indians.

Pure gold.

One final comment-the 7th had Spencer repeating rifles available and had used them on prior campaigns, but Custer assumed any battle with the Sioux near the LBH would be on wide-open terrain and he wanted the advantage of longer range carbines. That's why Troopers were issued Remington Trapdoor, single shot rifles instead of the Spencers, they had longer range. The irony was, during the final stages of the engagement on LSH the ranges were very close, the Warriors used the coulees and ravines to creep close to the Troopers before firing. Had Custer's men had the Spencers they could have given a much better account of themselves, though the offset in numbers would probably still have doomed them.

@@pimpompoom93726 I wa always under the impression that the 7th used the Springield trapdoors not out of choice but because that was what they were issued. The rpeaters they had, based on what I've read, were not a part of their arms room but were used during the Civil War and were exchanged for the Springfields some time after the war.

@@Riceball01 There were issued Springfield Trapdoor carbines for this campaign, because they thought it would be conducted on the open plains where the greater range of the .45-70 cartridge would prove an advantage. In prior Indian campaigns they had been issued Spencer Repeating Rifles which used the .56-56 Spencer cartridge, which was very range limited. It was a shorter cartridge designed so that the rifle could carry a lot of them in the magazine. The.45-70 cartridge had a 30% greater muzzle velocity than the .56-56, but of course the Trapdoor Springfield was a single shot weapon without an internal magazine. As it turned out, the LBH battle was conducted on terrain with lots of gulleys and ravines, allowing the warriors to close the range considerably before coming under fire. Repeating rifles may have saved the 7th at LBH, but of course it's all hindsight and speculation.

It was not Custer's choice but the Dept of the Army to change over to the 1873 Springfield. The change was made for the entire army and cavalry during 1874. Yes, Custer had a rolling block 45/70 and did prefer the cartridge for long range just not the POS Springfield. He did not want the weapon and would have kftept the Spencers if he could. 4th Cav and 5th Mounted Infantry were changed over at the same time. They did learn lessons from LBH though about the copper cartridges.

I agree... except... by now most historians agree that the evidence does not support Custer being shot at the river. Aside from anything else, his making it up to last stand hill in the stress and chaos would seem to confirm his making it that far...

The warriors obliterated his body, smashing his face so that he was unrecognizable. Only a tatoo on his arm identified in as Tom Custer. I have no idea why the indians hated him so much, but there's a story there.

Dear Sir, with your knowledge and having been to the battlefield, are there any specific books you could recommend?

@@wimsele Touched by Fire. The Last Stand. Enjoy. Your library and Amazon will have many choices.

I too have had, as an Englishman, a lifelong interest in Custer and the LBH and a goodly library. I think Benteen not only hated Custer, he suffered from a pathological jealousy of his superior. He dragged his feet all the way along the back trail, walking pace, wasted time at the morass watering companies individually, despite two verbal and one written order to come quickly. In short both he and Reno were extremely fortunate not to have a court marshall. The Army wanted to whole disgraceful affair over and forgotten as quickly as possible, Custer being dead, made a convenient scapegoat.

@@drstrangelove4998 In just the last 6 months I've been to Gettysburg and Little Big Horn. There are probably no other American battles that have so many people obsessed, despite the disparity in the number of men involved. Perhaps it is because of the great 'What Ifs' posed to the decisions made by Custer and Robert E. Lee.

@@drstrangelove4998 At the battle of the Washita in 1868, Benteen wrongly accused Custer of abandoning Major Elliott and nineteen men to their fate. Ironically, eight years later at the Little Bighorn, Captain Benteen would abandon Custer and over two hundred men to their fate. Benteen did this despite receiving urgent orders from his commander to "come on" and "be quick". Benteen was a querulous, persnickety malcontent, and his self-absorbed, unwarranted hatred for his commander colored everything he said and did.

Well he did not have a lot of choice. Reno was the ranking officer at the point Benteen could have actually done something useful. And then told him to hold until it was too late.

Benteen really helped save the day for the command after the retreat. As for Custer's poor decisions, he was hampered by the age-old problem in decision-making of embracing faulty assumptions. The entire officer corps above him had those same assumptions. That is a video I want to make on how the modern military tries to overcome those biases.

@@MilitaryHistory317Here is a question for you, I have read that when the battle was fought the temperature was in the upper nineties. Therefore the wooded area that Bentsen was taking cover was wet/damp, so much so that the NA’s were unable to fire the wood, how is that so 🤷🏽‍♂️

That area is quite flat and any storm could cause small, local flooding. When I was there last year, Montana had its wettest summer in the last 30 or 40 years and the Timber was like a swamp in places.

😅😊​@@MilitaryHistory317

No, Terry's orders explicitly state Custer could do as he saw fit. The orders are easy to find by Googling them.

Bullshit. The Indians had about 2-3 times more warriors than the 7th and they were better armed. It was the largest encampment of hostile Indians in North American History! I've always though the real villian(s) here were the crooked Indian agents who did not give the Indians their full rations/annuities on the reservations. Had the agents not stolen so from the Indians, you probably wouldn't have had nearly this big a camp...

@@jimsatterfield8748 Well, we also have to consider that they fought General Crook to a standstill only eight days earlier at the Battle of the Rosebud, putting Crook right out of the campaign. Instead of warning the other army columns out looking for the tribes, he went fishing and didn't lift a finger beyond that. Sitting Bull had also held a sun dance ceremony that told the Lakota and Cheyenne they would be the victors in the coming battle with the army. So they weren't giving up or running like the army expected, but stuck around to fight it out. The vision Sitting Bull saw told him the army soldiers would be delivered to them in the tribes' own camp. The rest is history ...

@@ToddSauve You are right as hell about Crook being derelict on that campaign! And also that the Indian behavior was about 180 degrees from their historic MO of scattering to the wind ahead of the long knives.

gcav: I'm constantly amazed how ignorant people are when it comes to knowing the facts about the Battle of the Little Bighorn. You are no different. "I don't believe the Indian nations are given enough credit. They knew soldiers were looking for them. They spotted Custer's column before the fight and let the Indians know". What the hell does that mean? Indians spotted Custer's column, and let the Indians know? WTF? I have some factual news for you, dimwit. When the Seventh Cavalry attacked the village that day, they surprised it. "Splitting his command was a blunder". Really? How the hell would you know that? Are you an expert when it comes to Anglo-Indian warfare on the Great Plains? No. In truth, I don't think you know much about it at all. Listen, lamebrain, encircling a Native village and attacking it simultaneously from different sides, was a tried and true tactic called envelopment. In order to perform this maneuver it was necessary for a commander to divide his column into 2 or 3 separate battalions. "Pride has its costs". "Pride" had nothing to do with Custer's defeat at the Little Bighorn, you moron. "He should have sent "scout" (sic) and waited for Benteen to return". No, Benteen should have sent Custer a scout with information regarding the progress of his reconnaissance to the left. And Custer did wait for Benteen; he waited until he could wait no more, but Captain Fred Benteen dawdled even after Custer sent him an urgent order to "come on" and "be quick". "He should have waited for Terry also..." First of all, waiting for General Terry's column to arrive was not part of Custer's "directive". Secondly, Custer was in the Little Bighorn valley on June 25th. Terry advised Custer that his column might arrive at the Little Bighorn from the north on June 26, but that was only an estimate (Terry's column did not reach the site of the village until June 27). Finally, since the morning of June 25th, Custer was operating under the assumption that the Sioux and Cheyenne were aware of his regiment's presence. Custer initially wanted to attack the village on the morning of June 26 - the very day when the Montana column was purportedly suppose to arrive - but because he believed his regiment had been observed by the enemy, Custer made the correct decision to attack the village as soon as possible; his scouts even encouraged him to do so. "He (Custer) should have waited for Terry also".... yeah, that's a brilliant observation, let me tell you. You're a nincompoop. You actually believe Custer and his entire regiment should have sat idle for two whole days and nights, waiting for Terry's column to arrive, while the Sioux and Cheyenne, knowing the Bluecoats were near, packed up their village and fled? That would have defeated the purpose of the entire campaign, would it not? Chucklehead. And did it ever occur to you that, while waiting for Terry's column to arrive, Custer could have been subjecting his entire command to a massive ambush from 2,000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors? Duhhhh. You know little about this battle, gcav, and you know even less about the Indian wars on the frontier, and George Armstrong Custer. I don't think you should ever wear your "cav Stetson" hat - you'd just disgrace it. You're a fugging idiot.

Confederate Army should have made an alliance with the Sioux

@@jasongriffin17 that would make sense both cultures are pretty good at losing wars.

I agree that this is a great channel. I've been fascinated by the whole Little Bighorn story since I was very young...and that was many years ago. I really enjoyed The DataMeister's account of the Rosebud battle as well.

Thank you Sir!

Great to hear from you!

I think that you bring up a good point and one that's often overlooked in most videos about the Battle of the Little Bighjorn. From what I've read, while Custer was generally liked, maybe even loved, by the enlisted troopers, that wasn't the case with his officers. It seems that opinions on Custer were sharpl;y divided amongst the 7th's officers and they either loved him or hated him with nothing in between.And it didn't help that a clique of Custer fans formed within the 7th and those not part of it were not favored by Custer and the rest of his clique. The fact that Custer played favorites played a definite role at the Little Bighorn. As I understand it, when Custer split his command, all of the Companies that he took were all commanded by officers that were part of his inner circle of favored officers. The other two were commanded by officers who were not part of the Custer fan club and I've always felt that that played a role in Benteen's hesitance to follow orders and assist Custer. If Bentenn had been a part of Custer's immediate command and one of Custer's favorites had been in Beneteen's place, things might have turned out differently.

@@Riceball01 I'm not sure. The entire 7th could have easily been wiped out had they all gone in. It was a serious error on Custer's part not realizing just how big a force he was going up against. He should have trailed them and waited until Gibbon showed up.

@@tomservo5347 You are mistaken. Custer had a very good idea how big a force he was going up against. "He should have trailed them and waited until Gibbon showed up". Really? You don't think the Sioux and Cheyenne would have noticed a regiment of Bluecoats "trailing" them? But what the hell do you mean exactly by "trailing" them? The Seventh Cavalry had been following an Indian trail for three days - that's what led them to the village on the Little Bighorn. The trail, by the way, grew larger and larger as they regiment drew closer to the Little Bighorn valley. The trail they leave is a good indicator as to how big the Natives' village is going to be, don't you think? Duhh. You don't make a lick of sense.

@@tomservo5347 That was his orders from the book I read. He was not suppose to engage the natives. So much knew knowledge has come out since the late 1980s. Not much here in Canada sadly.

Confederate Gen. Richard Ewell made a similar quote after the War by accepting his responsibility regarding his actions or lack thereof @ Gettysburg. It so impressed me that even after 30+/- years, it's stayed in my memory but not from what source. I think it was from the 4 Volume "Battles & Leaders of the Civil War" (1882), of which I don't have; neither do I think Ewell left a memoir ~ however, if he did, I'm positive I've not read it.

I soundly agree!!

Benteen, the man who can destroy a regiment,,a POS he is!

@@ronniebishop2496 Ronnie, you are mistaken, do more research and stop letting others do your thinking for you.

If Benteen was TRULY a good soldier, he wouldn’t let his feelings towards Custer sway his decision making. But as you said, we can’t really know. And maybe it isn’t as black and white as I’ve just stated. But I’d like to think he wouldn’t be so callous as to purposely leave Custer and his men to die. Then again, he probably had no notion that Custers entire command was about to be totally wiped out.

Patrick M. Jr. People should remember that Captain Reno was absolved of all the charges against him. When he was faced with overwhelming odds he saved half his men. If he had been like Custer they would have had 2 massacres on that fateful day, instead of one.

@@spaceted3977Was he not a Major. Here are a few questions for you 😁. An Officer who left a portion of his command, who didn’t even know that their commander had retreated. Is that not a possible offence sometimes called cowardice. Reno’s charge towards the village, did not two of his men not have sufficient control of their horses & kept going into the village & be killed. Or did they not hear his command. After his civil war service having a man’s head explode next to him, would that have freaked him out to the point of losing control. Some of the things he would have witnessed during that conflict would have been bloody awful. One last one, his court marshal. Did the fact the he was (in the past) an assist provost marshal influence their decision. Maybe a political decision. Even though I am a Brit, the Battle of the Little Big Horn has always been fascinating. Oh, have you watched the CusterApollo series of vids. Very well done. Enjoy your day 🇬🇧🇺🇸

Benteen was among the last of the entire brigade to see just how large the Indian camp was and how many warriors were involved in the battle. His opinion is almost completely irrelevant...once he decided to bring the pack train up slowly and once Custer decided to split his forces and head downriver away from the pack train, the rest was history. The rest of the 7th cav only survived because they were not exposed to the main force of Indian warriors.

@@touristguy87 Slightly tipsy here, but tourist guy is pointing some (maybe basic axioms of military campaigns) 1. Do not divide your numerically inferior forces in the face of a numerically superior enemy. Yes, I know, Robert E. Lee did this frequently during the Civil War with success (i.e. Chancellorsville 2nd Manassas...Wilderness)...Native Americans never read these books. 2. This one is a little closer to seeming common sense....scout your enemy, the lay of the land, their disposition, and note any weakness to be exploited. He was the commander and failed in a number of ways. The native Americans new the terrain had the numbers and took advantage of both. No tragedy here. Just a failure of command by Custer. This should be noted on the battlefield, give the 1st nations their due they won that day.

@@gumboclaymation7885 ok Joe Blow. Thanks for your criticism of Custers' Little Big Horn. 150 yrs after the fact.

I always liked how Ken Burns' 'The Civil War' talked about what happened to Custer in the final episode. "Custer went on believing in his own invincibility. In 1876, the Sioux and Cheyenne proved him wrong."

The battle began with soldiers attacking a sleeping Indian encampment and murdering women and children. There, no bravery could be spoken of. Gal, the Indian chief, later testified that when the soldiers murdered his wife and two children, his eyes filled with blood and he showed no mercy to anyone in the fight.

@@mtgne5351 More than likely it was Custer's Indian scouts who killed the few women and children at the Little Bighorn. Custer's Arikara scout, Bloody Knife, and the Hunkpapa warchief, Gall, were personal, lifelong enemies. Bloody Knife's mother was an Arikara woman, and his father was Sioux; as such, while growing up in a Sioux village, Bloody Knife was constantly harassed by Gall and others. He would eventually move in with his mother's people, but he always vowed to avenge himself against Gall. When Reno initiated his attack upon the village, he attacked from the southern end of it; in other words, the Hunkpapa section of the village. Bloody Knife well-knew Gall and his family were residing there; and it was he, along with the other scouts, who doubtless opened fire into the lodges there, thus killing Gall's family. I don't believe the soldiers shot into the village at all, truth be told.

@@Eadbhard thanks bro

Outstanding.

R u old enough to remember the British Telecom advert of the 80s using Custer’s last stand as backdrop? Hilarious.

@@flyingphobiahelp😂 - I am ‘reinforcements coming boys….they should get here tomorrow’ 😂

Not a clue. George Crook sent no messengers to the Terry/Montana columns.

Nicely done!

Sorry pls DM etc read what I suggested. All best friends but a man's good name at stake and no detail or inquiry. In considering you still don't know what happened with LC GAC until you read the other reference in Jesu Mary's Divine Mercy way

100% spot on. Benteen was level headed, pragmatic, and not a glory hound. If he'd have been in overall command of the 7th cavalry on that expedition we would not be reading in history books today about Benteen's Last Stand.

renos condition was according to the son of the morning star probably due to shock.he was splattered with the brains of his ree scout and this was inches from him.having brains all over your face can crack the hardest soul and reno was never that.he may well have been drunk as well .he was what wed call today a functioning alcholic.probably in garrison life under no stress his failings were excused but of course under fire he came apart.he was also by any standard far from sane.his subsequent disgrace when he imagined a young wife of a fellow officer was about to run off with him proves that! although told it was all in his head by the girl he stalked her for months leering through the window at her at meals for example.custer as well as despite the movies was generally loathed by his men not the popular hero as played by errol flynn.they near mutinied when told neither reno or benteen would be replacing him full time,and petitions supporting bth officers signed by all the men were sent to washington.custer was no carer for horses either .indeed his death ride to texas with the 7th which earnt him their contempt was made in the hottest part of the year.he ordered his men to wear full winter kit and uniforms and refused several water stops while riding himself in just a shirt! the toll on the horses was worse two thirds had to be destroyed or died on the way .this was to garrison the state after the war so there was no urgency.several men died of heatstroke and custer earned the hatred of the 7th for shooting others out of hand for desertion.also his habit of abandoning men in the field as he did in the fight with black kettle who then died which earnt him benteens hatred and his cavalier style leaving the entire command in enemy territory whilst chasing buffalo was not popular.dont forget his command of the 7th was only due to grant reinstating him after his court martial for desertion.

@@mikekemp9877 I agree that whatever was holding Reno together shattered along with Bloody Knife's brains all over his face...apparently even in his mouth. "Heavy drinking" was not a career killer in those days... unless you could not perform your duty. Didn't help that Reno's combat experience in the Civil War... not against "uncivilized" warriors. . Custer could ride seemingly forever without rest or decent rations. Good trait...unless a commander decides that his exceptional performance can be matched by his entire command. Remains of troopers discovered at the Little Big Horn in the last 40 years shows average trooper malnourished. Custer's wife wrote that he never asked his troopers to do anything that he wouldn't... Uh, he left his command in the field and absented himself to be with his wife... He threatened to shoot his men for riding off on their own. . May well be that by 1876 Custer's "eternal youth" wearing thin. At 36 his resilience may not have been all that it used to be. Had he not been running a major sleep deficit, he might have made decisions reflecting a bit more thought. . Custer was popular with many of his troopers... in the Civil War... Not so much on the Plains. Most of his troopers referred to him as "hard ass..." and half his officers (the ones not related to him by consanguinity or marriage...and a few others) disliked him... intensely so in the case of Reno and Benteen. . ...On June 25th, Reno fell apart. Benteen definitely hated Custer... but he would never have "abandoned" him... because to do so would mean abandoning five troops of soldiers... and Benteen was far too good an officer to ever throw them under the bus... YP

Tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice...add them to the list.

A boozer referred to as 'useless' I agree with your point. What was SO important to Reno that it warranted him leaving his command for over 30 minutes to recover Hodgson's body? I agree with you-there were written orders that would have incriminated Reno. I feel sorry for a capable soldier like Benteen having to answer to this buffoon.

It wasn't so important; it wasn't so courageous either (when Reno went down the hill to recover Hodgson's body, most of the warriors were downriver fighting Custer). Recovering Hodgson's body wasn't important, but that was the whole issue. Being the commander, Major Reno's priorities should have been centered upon the men who were still alive, namely his wounded. His all-consuming necessity to recover his adjutant's body was inexplicable. Reason? In a word, the man was drunk. Drunkenness explains a lot of Major Reno's decisions and actions at the Little Bighorn. Just to name a few.... at one point, the Major was observed shooting at some Indians with his revolver; however, the warriors were a good 300 yards away - well out of pistol range. On the eve of the battle, Reno reportedly got into a fight with a civilian mule packer on Reno Hill. While down on the valley floor, Reno posted no rear guard action to cover his retreat. The fact that Major Reno ordered a retreat across a river with 8' high riverbanks, then up a steep bluff with only one narrow draw that allowed access to the top, is something no officer in his right mind would have attempted, especially since that retreat led his men out of a well-protected stand of timber that offered plenty of cover and concealment. Furthermore, as any old frontiersmen well knew, turning your back and fleeing is the worst thing you can do when fighting Indians. Then there is this, according to Captain Benteen, on the eve of June 25th or 26th, Major Reno suggested to him that they should just leave the wounded where they lie and escape from the hill (Reno Hill) with their lives. Finally, shortly before Major Marcus Reno died in 1889, he apparently confessed to his former editor that he was, in fact, drunk at the Little Bighorn. Reno supposedly admitted this because he felt the need to explain his erratic behaviors during the battle.

@@Eadbhard Of course it was..the fact that the adjutants note book was missing while all his other personnel effects were present is important. I’m not disputing Reno’s drunkenness but your quite wrong as there were still warriors present. Pilfering the dead. It had to be important for Reno to take that risk and I believe it was his orders contained in Hodgson’s book. My own guess he found the book and destroyed the contents..written orders (I’m guessing to ‘hold at all costs’..).. His running, if he was the anvil, doomed Custer’s command. That’s the speculation for eternity… Personally I still think Custer fell at the ford and the one opportunity, and element of surprise, died with him. That’s when the battle was lost… 👵🇦🇺🇺🇸

@@madlenellul3430 I, for one, don't believe Custer fell at the Ford. Upon realizing that Major Reno quit the whole scene, and with no sign of Captain Benteen anywhere, I believe Custer made his way north, all the way to Ford C, in a last ditch effort to save himself, his men, and possibly still achieve a victory, by capturing some noncombatants. Unfortunately, Sioux and Cheyenne warriors were all over the place. Custer just didn't have enough men with him to capture any noncombatants. As a result, he withdrew his men away from Ford C to the high ground which is now known as Custer Ridge. Ford C, which is located on the river directly west of where the LBH Visitor Center now stands, was the approximate location where Mark Kellogg's body was found. Kellogg was the civilian newspaperman who accompanied the regiment during the Little Bighorn expedition. By all accounts, during the battle, Kellogg rode up front and was continuously by Custer's side. Then, of course, there's the simple fact that Custer's body was found on Last Stand Hill; and some reports say shells from his Remington sporting rifle were found all around his body. Without a doubt, Reno's actions at the Little Bighorn caused the 7th Cavalry to be defeated that day. When the Major first initiated his attack at the south end of the Indian camp, he caught the village completely unawares. In the beginning, Reno met with little resistance (most of the warriors ran to the benchland west of the village to retrieve their ponies), and if Reno would have charged through the village, as he was ordered to do, the Seventh may have won the day. No, I do not think I am quite wrong. If there were hordes of Sioux and Cheyenne still surrounding Reno Hill when the Major went to retrieve Hodgson's body, I don't think he would have even contemplated it - drunk or not drunk. Pilfering and mutilating Reno's dead soldiers occurred during Reno's retreat, but once the warriors heard there was another force of Bluecoats at the north end of their village, they quit their attack on Reno's beleaguered battalion and concentrated all their forces upon the new threat at the Medicine Tail Ford - Custer. Drunk as he was, I don't think Reno gave a continental curse about Hodgson's "book", if he even had a "book". Being Reno's adjutant, we can assume Hodgson kept some kind of notes, but that is only assumption. If Hodgson did keep some kind of journal, the warriors may have taken it to draw pictures on, but who the hell knows? Hodgson may have lost any notebook he kept when he was in the river fighting for his life. I believe that is the most probable scenario.

Gallant Cavalier. I second that request! 👍

oh that would be great probably slam trash the natives/ aboriginals hard ..........the vikings landed in newfoundland, canada, on the North american contiinent 500 years before Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas. (basic common history Knowledge) Both did not know there were peoples there 15,000 years earlier, well before them.... holy 💩what kinda history do they teach in the school system

Who uttered the famous line upon discovering the collection of Custer's fallen command, who remarked "my God how white they look." Benteen or Reno, or someone else?

I've studied the LBH for many years and I think Reno would have died trying to fight through the Indians, or if Benteen ever reached Custer the same thing would have happened. There were just way too many Lakota and Cheyenne for the army that day, and they won. As simple as that.

@@ToddSauve I certainly appreciate that but "likely annihilated too" does not change the dereliction of their actions IMO.

@@walterbrown9651 What dereliction though? You can only do what you can do in the circumstances you find yourself in. By the time Benteen arrived at Reno's position everything was in a shambles and Custer was a goner.

@@ToddSauve Benteen sat around while Reno wasted time instead of moving to the gun fire. It was over quickly but to wait there as if in a vacuum,is outrageous. Consider had Lt.Col Custer not attacked the village,he'd have been derelict for not engaging. This is why LBH is so interesting. Reno had also not attacked earlier in the campaign,Custer tried to have Reno court martialed for what Custer called cowardice. Gen.Terry is also culpable for not getting the 7th under control.

@@walterbrown9651 There are so many possibilities but what happened is what happened. We weren't there so we can never really know much more than a divided command and fractured officer corps turned into a recipe for disaster. Especially since Custer apparently never grasped how outnumbered he was. His Indians scouts warned him but he refused to listen to them. So the army lost and the tribes won. There is no point in gnashing one's teeth over the outcome. It is what it is. 🤷‍♂

Thank you kindly

Moon landing ?

@@dks13827 Nearly, just 3 years shy of "Uri Gargarin's" First orbit of earth. Ps when I say ICBM I mean the German V2 rocket at least two of which landed close by.

Characteristics like that, from the sources I have read, can be more or less the norm for Army Officers on the frontier in the Post-Civil War era. They have their attributes, but they also have their vices. Coming off of a war and being national heroes to a western backwater where you are reduced in rank from your Civil War career led to a lot of this.

@@gallantcavalier3306 That makes sense. Particularly when there was so much competition and jockeying for promotions.

@@gallantcavalier3306 Custer too was reduced in rank like many others after the Civil war.

Benteen may have been suicidal,,that is the source of his so called bravery, he wanted death by Indian. He is a man that could destroy a regiment, a man you steer clear of and dismiss.

So were officers after WW-1, some of our greatest.

If I may, I am retired from DOD procurement. In 1984 I took the class on military procurement. One of the lectures was cost control. In this class, it was discussed that so much material had been purchased during Civil War, contracts could not be cancel ed, The uniforms, ammo, FOOD was paid for and stored in Depots. There was so much "stuff" The US Army lived off of the stockpiles for 10+years. Toward the end of the 10 years, uniforms were disintegrating from storage and the Food was becoming non nutritional. Note best by dates on cans in Your pantry. With time the explosive power of gunpowder deteriorates. This happened 1876? 10+ years after the Civil war? Interesting fact-oid ??

In military procurement the priority of acquisitions : Beans, Bullets, Blankets, Boys.

That is the first time I ever heard of Union soldiers as being motivated. Most of them just wanted to end the war and go home. Proof of this is the rebellion in the Union army and among future draftees, that took place after Lincoln "freed the slaves". Of course Lincoln never freed one slave, ever.

@@thomaswayneward early on, yes the soldiers were all volunteer. After 1/2 of the Union soldiers died of Illness, Napoleonic tactics and just plain officer idiots, that is when the draft was started See NYC draft riots. That is where the black soldiers came in. On Streaming site Kanopy, they have the 4.5 hour Epic "Gettysburg".

The US army statistically evaporated every 3 or 4 years due to desertion. So the 7th cavalry were indeed not some elite unit. Custer may have bragged that way, I don't know. But they were a fairly rag tag unit of mostly newcomers. A lot of them immigrants from Ireland.

You obviously inhaled too much Agent Orange.

The source of his anger was the Lyman Kidder incident, where Custer abandoned his patrol to be butchered and scalped by natives they were pursuing. Benteen was a close friend of Kidder and as with many other officers who detested the self promoting and glory mongering habits of Custer. Custer was a very flawed man and the massacre was the result of his gamble to make headlines in newspapers, as journalists put him up to it. He ruined his military career by running his mouth with hearsay accusations at a trial of an indian agent appointed by president Grant. Custer entertained political ambitions and as usual was willing to risk his officers and troopers as a means to this end. Custer was detested by his fellow officers and troopers where ever he served, Benteen was just the most demonstrative of this situation as every other officer would happily have dueled him. I have studied this man and found him fundementaly out of control, at the fight he purposfully sent Benteen on a fool's errand to stay back and cut off the escape of the natives. Benteen did the right thing by hearing gunfire and he immediately marched his command to the sound of the engagement, which was the Reno rout and without Benteen it is certain Reno's command would have been wiped out also. In the end Benteen was not an idiot, it was Custer who earned this title time and time again who had no qualms about throwing away the lives of his men for the "greater glory" of the Custer name.

@@bobwhite3895 lol you know nothing

@@gocatoon4591 Oh, of course!, when faced with your detailed response to counter my argument, " you know nothing" I can see your details that unravel my historical education.

@@bobwhite3895 It was Elliot not Kidder that Benteen was good friends with. Kidder was a different incident. Do not comment on things you know little about.

@@bobwhite3895 how did Custer specifically earn himself the title 'idiot'? I won't cast judgement, but I find it quite common for folks to blast Custer more than they should

Agree and Benteen had to have figured this. Custer had created a catastrophe for everyone involved and Benteen and Reno's alignment saved the remaining companies. The native's had their day and had to have known that Terry and Gibbon were on their way and thus their breaking camp and leaving rather than continue the battle The Little Bighorn. I applaud the bravery on that day of Reno and Benteen and those who fought and survived this.

First of all, Benteen had direct, written orders from Custer to "come quickly". Any orders Major Reno gave to Benteen did not countermand the orders of the overall commander. Secondly, when Benteen arrived at Reno Hill, there were no warriors around - they were all upriver fighting Custer. Lastly, if Benteen did ride on to Custer, why the hell would Reno not go with him? WTF? And who's to say the combined forces of Reno's battalion and Benteen's battalion could not have saved Custer? To quote Napoleon, "When you have resolved to fight a battle, collect your whole force (Benteen, come on, be quick...). Dispense with nothing. A single battalion sometimes decides the day." It is ignorant and erroneous to say the "entire 7th Cavalry would have been wiped out to the last man" had Benteen and/or Reno tried to save Custer and his men. There are too many indeterminate factors and facets to make such a conclusion - that is why historians and scholars never assume such a presumption. I guess you're someone special, eh, tonyp? Anyway, one thing is for certain...7 out of 12 companies of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry sat on a hilltop while, five miles away, over two hundred of their comrades were fighting for their lives. From a military standpoint, there is something inherently wrong with that picture. The men on the hilltop even heard the firing, and they heard the sounds of volley firing (distress signals). Oddly enough, neither of the two commanders, Major Reno or Captain Benteen, recalled hearing any sounds of gunfire coming from upriver. The troops on the hilltop were getting antsy, anxious, and restless. 'Why were they not doing anything!' they cried. Finally, Captain Weir took matters in his own hands. He mounted up his own company and moved to the sound of the firing. Weir's initiative shamed Captain Benteen and Major Reno into mounting up their own companies but, by then, it was too late; Custer and five of his companies had been wiped out. Could Benteen and/or Reno have saved Custer? Possibly. No one can know for sure. But one thing is for sure... neither of them really tried.

@@Eadbhard dang man, who put a burr under your saddle. You're quite rude and quite wrong. Reno wouldn't have followed Benteen, he had too many wounded men and men with no horses. Secondly, Reno gave Benteen a direct order as a superior officer. Benteen did nothing wrong by obeying that order, especially upon seeing firsthand how bad Reno's situation was. And lastly, Benteen even with Reno's half strength would have absolutely been wiped out right along with Custer. They barely held as it was. And Weir even stated that by the time he reached Weir point, all he saw was a swarm of braves shooting at objects on the ground. There's a good chance that Custer's battle was effectively over by the time relief could have even made it to them.

@@tonyp1040 At the time Reno had, at most, ten wounded men. He could have left a small detachment of troopers on the hill to help Dr. Porter care for the wounded. There were no warriors within the vicinity; they were all fighting Custer in the north. Reno was second-in-command; as such, his orders would not supersede Custer's orders. Benteen was under Custer's orders when he came upon Reno on Reno Hill. That's simple military protocol, you dumbass. Reno's "bad situation" had passed. All the warriors were now engaging Custer. The fight was now upriver, not on Reno Hill. As I mentioned before, there are too many variables to make the assumption that Benteen/Reno would have been wiped out with Custer had they attempted to aid him. It's just your opinion, nothing more. And in your ignorant opinion, you don't take into account all the different scenarios that could possibly take place had Benteen and/or Reno rode to Custer's aid. For example, Benteen's sudden arrival could have served as a diversion for Custer. Benteen could have linked up with Captain Keogh's wing, and while they engaged the warriors, Custer could have made his way toward the river and captured some of the fleeing women and children. That's just one of several possible scenarios. Again, the men on Reno Hill were idle. Weir was fuming. He requested to ride to Custer, and was denied. Some time had passed before Weir took the initiative himself and mounted up. Yes, it was too late. Any move to assist Custer should have occurred minutes after Benteen arrived at Reno Hill.

@@Eadbhard why are you so rude? We were all having a pleasant conversation and you have to come in being a bully. And Custer did try to go after the women and children, as he had done at the washita, but was either turned back or found himself in the middle of a much larger village.

More dead soldiers

The death count would of been higher

There were no sabers in the 7th cav under Custer by his own orders. So no. And 200 men charging against 2000 who are better trained at fighting on horseback? The slaughter would have ended quicker.

Conder: Obviously your comment needs to be criticized by critics because you, obviously, have not read enough about this battle to even justify your comment. When Captain Benteen was ordered by Custer to lead his battalion on a scout to the west, Benteen did have to traverse a few hills and ridges, but that was about it - he traversed just a few. As the scout continued, Benteen wisely ordered Lieutenant Gibson and a small detachment of troopers to do the scouting, as the rest of the battalion rested. In short, the vast majority of Benteen's mounts were not going up and down hills and ridges all morning. Secondly, Captain Benteen had plenty of time, and plenty of places to water his battalion's horses. As a matter of fact, when he came upon a large morass located about 6 miles south the Little Bighorn, he lingered there much longer than he should have. Tired, exhausted horses was not an issue at the Little Bighorn. There are documented incidents where a few troopers' mounts gave out: Boston Custer's horse gave out; Sergeant Kanipe's horse gave out; a Pvt. Thompson's horse gave out; may be a couple of others but, by and large, the horses of the Seventh Cavalry were not collapsing in droves from exhaustion. Napoleon once wrote, "When you have resolved to fight a battle, collect your whole force. Dispense with nothing. A single battalion sometimes decides the day". Custer tried to collect his whole force. He sent Benteen a critical and urgent order to "come on", and "be quick", but, for all intents and purposes, Captain Fred Benteen ignored the order. The issue really lies with Benteen and Reno. Both these officers failed to follow their orders. Unlike Reno, Captain Benteen was no coward; nevertheless, his unwarranted, self-serving hatred for his commander colored everything he said and did. Three years after the battle, at Reno's Court of Inquiry, Benteen gave every excuse possible for dawdling, and not coming to Custer's aid. In one example Benteen, "assumed Custer and Reno had already taken the village; as such, he saw no necessity in hurrying up his battalion or the packs".

Cool information brother! God bless you and yours!

I don't find him in Military Register of Custer's Last Command, sorry.

Custer gambled and lost. He captured women and children in a previous battle but this time his luck ran out !!!

Custer lost the battle primarily for two reasons: One, his two subordinates failed him. Two, the Natives at the Little Bighorn were resolute; they stood their ground; and they did not flee, they fought.

@@Eadbhard Custer disobeyed his orders to meet up with the Four US Cavalry Armies and the Gatling Guns, Cannons and thousands of rounds of Ammunition. The US Cavalry knew it would be a huge Battle with Thousands of Indians. Custer ignored the warnings from his Crow Scouts and attacked tbe Indians with 200 men. Custer ordered Reno to make the main attack and he would be there to reinforce him. Reno charged into a Buzz Saw of thousands of Indians and half his men were killed !!! Custer did not turn up to help Reno, and Custer ordered Bentine to scout miles away from the Indian camp !!!! I think the Commanders knew Custer would do something stupid, but the disastrous battle of the Little Big Horn gave the American Government a good excuse to get rid of the Indians. The American Armies fought the Indians until the year 1924, when they finally forced the Indians back to their Reservations !!!!!

Benteen is the only reason anyone in the 7th survived.

​@@michaelhart6318 I think that's a bit of an overstatement.

Correct you never go into a battle without knowing what you are facing. This was all on the genius Custer.

Really? If that were true there wouldn’t be very many going into battle.

@@andrewwood6285 He was a egomaniac who killed his men.

@@robertpapalia Robert E Lees divided his men all the time in offense and defense.

@@andrewwood6285 And when he did it he knew what he was facing not the unknown.

Indeed. It is one thing to "lead from the front" and it is another to lose positive control of your unit.

CusterAppolos videos were incredibly educational, I only knew the old fashioned 1970's and 80's school taught "Facts" of LBH until I watched that series... I see a lot of arguing here about Custer's, Reno's, Benteen's intentions that day...I believe the truth is We'll never know for sure what any of them guys were thinking, none of us were there

Flagrum: Both Major Reno and Captain Benteen denied hearing the gunfire coming from Custer's last fight; they were about the only two individuals on Reno Hill who claimed they didn't hear it. Such as it were, their "reluctance to move forward toward the Custer battlefield" obviously entailed a lot more than just "saving what was left of the regiment". "Saving what was left of the regiment" might have been the excuse Reno and Benteen later relied upon, but with nearly 400 men in their reserve, it's a pretty sorry excuse to use for not aiding their commander and over 200 of their comrades. Some of the firing the troops heard coming from upriver was volley firing. Volley fire was often used as distress signals. Captain Weir was not the only one who waxed desperate and irate over Reno's and Benteen's inaction; many troopers on Reno Hill wondered why they, 400 troopers, were doing nothing as the sound of a battle raged a mere four miles away from them. Fact is, no commanding officer can win a victory with seven-twelfths of his command remaining out of the engagement when within sound of his rifle shots. Custer was doomed, and his two subordinates did little or nothing to try and save him. Saying, "one half hour or so earlier would not have done anything except have them ride into more annihilation" is an erroneous assumption. No one knows what might have happened if 400 more troopers showed up to assist Custer and his 5 companies. If this did occur, there could have been several plausible outcomes depending upon several various scenarios. While total annihilation of the entire regiment could have occurred, who's to say the Indians would not have fled upon seeing the rest of the regiment charging at them? Who's to say Reno, Benteen, and 7 companies could not have acted as a diversionary force, thus allowing Custer a chance to capture some noncombatants in the village? Again, depending on the tactics of Reno and, or, Benteen, their assistance with an extra 400+ men, not only could have rescued Custer from grief, their extra support could even have helped win the battle. Napoleon once wrote: "When you want to fight a battle, assemble all your forces, do not neglect any; one battalion can sometimes save the day." Custer tried to assemble his forces but Benteen never came, and Reno failed to charge the village. What is more, upon retreating from the best protected fighting position on the entire battlefield, Major Reno lost nearly half his men; after that, his battalion was - for all intents and purposes - completely out of the fight. As a result of his subordinates' actions, and with no further support from them, Custer was wiped out when all the Native forces assembled upon his one lone command of 200 men.

@@Eadbhard With all you stated, ridiculously, you seem to forget it was Custer who divided his companies, which is a complete no-no in military strategy. Especially if one has no idea of the force they are facing. Also they didn't have 400 men that is a blatant lie. Reno had many wounded and killed, and the pact train was still way behind. If they had gone forward they would have been annihilated almost for sure, given they were out-gunned, outnumbered, and had no clue also what they were facing or any instinct for the terrain. I surely wouldn't want you leading a command.

@@Flagrum3 Nothing I state is ridiculous, and I don't blatantly lie. I research; I read; and I study. You should try it sometime. Everything I mention in my comments comes directly from historians, scholars, professors, and biographers. Commanders who divided their regiment into separate battalions in order to encircle a large Indian village employed a tactic called "envelopment". Envelopment was a tried and true maneuver used by not a few officers who fought Native warriors on the Plains. Custer used the tactic at the Washita, Colonel Ranald Mackenzie used it at the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, General George Crook used envelopment at the Battle of Slim Buttes, and so on and so forth. Splitting up a regiment into separate commands, then striking the camp simultaneously from different sides or flanks, was the most effective way to capture an Indian village, especially a large one. At Palo Duro Canyon, Mackenzie defeated a combination of 1500 Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche warriors with just 400 cavalrymen. Like I said, "envelopment" was a tried-and-tested maneuver used during the Indian wars in the West, but you are apparently too ignorant to know anything about it. Custer had a good idea how many warriors he'd be facing at the Little Bighorn, you bonehead. The regiment followed the Indian trail all the way to the Greasy Grass. Following the trail the Indians made is a good indicator as to how big their village was going to be, don't you think? Duh. On June 22, after the regiment bivouacked along the banks of the Rosebud, while en route to the Little Bighorn, Custer had a meeting with his officers. In that meeting, Custer told his men that they could expect to meet as many as 1,000 to 1,500 warriors. Custer's estimate was not too far off the mark. Then, on the morning of June 24th, the regiment saw another Indian trail converging into the one they had been following. Upon seeing this new trail, Custer was heard to say, "There's going to be more of them than we thought". Custer guessed as many as 1,500 to 2,000 warriors, and his scouts concurred (see "The Godfrey Letters", by Lt. Edward S. Godfrey). "They didn't have 400 men"? How many did they have then? All told the Seventh Cavalry comprised of 33 officers and around 566 enlisted men. These numbers did not include the civilians and Indian scouts; as such, the grand total of men in the Seventh Cavalry was closer to 700. Custer's had with him anywhere between 205 - 220 men, five companies. Do the math. All told, Reno had 40 men killed in his ill-advised retreat, 19 men were still missing, and only about 7 to 10 wounded men made it to the hilltop. His ignominious retreat cost him dearly; nevertheless, there was no need for the rest of his battalion to quit the fight all together. Prior to sending Trumpeter Martini with orders to Benteen to "be quick", Custer sent a messenger (Sergeant Daniel Kanipe) to Captain McDougall and the pack train. Before he left, Custer's brother (Captain Tom Custer), said these words to Kanipe: "Go to Captain McDougall, tell him to bring the pack train straight across the creek. If any packs come loose, don't stop to fix them and come on quick. Big Indian camp! If you see Captain Benteen, tell him to come quick - big Indian camp!" This crucial message evinces the need to be quick superseded the need to bring up the packs, and if the pack train was slow in moving, any other officer, except for Captain Fred Benteen, would have ordered a detail of men with extra horses to go back to the pack train, load up some ammo, then hurry back. A response to Custer's imperative orders to "come quick" - with even just a few packs - would have been proper procedure and behavior, but Benteen just ignored his orders altogether. Again, no one knows what might have happened had Benteen and Reno rode to Custer's aid. But saying they would have been "annihilated, for sure" just shows your ignorance about this topic. When it comes to Indian warfare, you obviously no little. Unlike conventional war, there were many uncertainties in Indian warfare. Psychological factors figured more importantly and usually outweighed disparity in numbers. For example, if Benteen and Reno managed to surprise the warriors attacking Custer, flight could be expected no matter what the odds, especially since the warriors' women and children were present in the nearby village. Also, Indians fought as individuals, each pursuing his own aims and instincts, not as organized, disciplined bodies obedient to orders of a leader. Because of this style of combat, small but disciplined teams of mediocre soldiers could hope, in favorable circumstances, to overwhelm large but undisciplined masses of individually superior Indian warriors. This has happened over and over again in the annals of Anglo-Indian warfare on the Great Plains. The fact is, Custer's two subordinates never even tried. They could have tried to create some favorable circumstances, instead they sat impotently on a hilltop while Custer and 200 of his men fought it out alone. Anyway, there's not a single historian or scholar who would say the entire Seventh Cavalry would "surely" have been "annihilated" had Reno and Benteen rode to Custer's support. I guess you fancy yourself an all-knowing expert, yes? Well, here's the truth: it's obvious from your comments that you're an unread, unlearned moron, and your half-baked opinions are ignorantly annoying. If you ever decide to make a reply to me again, I hope it's only after you spent a lot of time studying and researching this subject. Until then, don't waste my time.