Custer saw the non-combatants in the distance across the river, he charged across (there being little resistance on the opposite bank) but he was shot through the left breast & fell from his horse midstream. The attack stopped immediately, because the troopers had to stop his body from being swept downstream in the knee-deep water. By the time they returned to the bank, the indians were upon them & the terrifying rout began.

Just say that custer was shot earlier on in the battle,do you think this might of had a different outcome on the battle,i.e if reno and benteen on hearing custer being downed might of spured them on to moving up to help the stricken soldiers and establishing a better defence to the braves?

Good thought. What if they had crossed and moved south? That would have placed the warriors between two forces. Going north would have allowed Custer to reach the women and children faster. Also the cavalry would have been on more suitable ground in the valley.

Soldiers in the cavalry do fight better dismounted than on horseback. It was a common tactic and was even noted in the tactics manual of 1874. So I can find no fault with the wing dismounting and fighting on foot while they moved up Deep Coulee. Also this information comes from the warriors facing the left wing. Indians did not understand white man's tactics and they just mentioned what they saw. I doubt the warriors would make up something like this so I have to believe this happened. As for Custer being shot at the ford, I find that hard to believe. He could still be alive if shot, however, everything changes if he is down, wounded or dead. I would suggest the future movements would have been much different if Custer had been hit at the ford.

Medicine Tail coulee was much different in Custer's day, today it is silted-up & much shallower than it was. In those days it was narrower, deeper, with steep sides & a slippery shale bottom, the troopers were able to ride at only two abreast. When Custer started his charge across the river, many of his men were still in the coulee; after Custer was shot through the left breast in mid stream, the attack stopped immediately because his men had to stop his body from being swept downstream in the knee-deep water. By the time they returned to the river bank, the indians were upon them, troopers in the coulee panicked, left their horses & scrambled up the sides & began their retreat at a run uphill, now as vulnerable infantrymen, being clubbed & shot as they went. There wasn't a "little panic", it was total panic, total terror, 40 troopers on foot started to shoot each other and themselves, others ran screaming down hill past the indians, either raising their arms in the air or shooting their guns in the air; they were all killed because the indians had no appreciation of what those actions indicated, they thought the troopers had gone mad, they had gone mad, mad with terror!

It does seem crazy to keep dividing the forces up. But based on the testimony, archaeology, and bodies, it is clear that divisions did happen.

+cmphighpower They shot their horses for cover. By the time everyone was on Last Stand Hill their fate was sealed. The battalion had gone on the defensive and nothing was going to change the outcome except outside reinforcements. As we all know the reinforcements never came.