I invite you to stand atop the rim of the Wolf Mountains in southern Montana while 36 year old Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer scans the western horizon. Hidden to his eyes, 15 miles distant in the middle horizon (above) campfire smoke rises from Sioux and Cheyanne lodges in the valley of the Little Big Horn river. His Indian scouts can see the smoke clearly, but Custer remains blind to his fate.
It was about 6:00am local time, Monday, 25 June 1876. Finally, in frustration, the half Crow, half white scout Mitch Bouyar warns Custer (above), "General, I have been with these Indians for 30 years, and this is the largest village I have ever heard of." One of the Crow scouts, White Man Runs Him, had no doubts about the Indian numbers; "There were camps and camps and camps," he said.
Resting below the ridge were the 650 officers and troopers, 36 scouts and civilians of the Seventh Regiment of the United States Cavalry. Sergeant and cobbler, 25 year old Charles A. Windolph of "H" company remembered, "None of us had much sleep for several days, so we were glad to lie down and grab a rest." The men had spent 18 of the last 24 hours in their saddles, pushing to catch up to what the army figured to be about 400 native American lodges. Windolph added, "When daylight came...we made coffee, but the water was so alkaline we almost gagged on it."
When Custer returned from The "Crow's Nest" he told his officers it was his intent to rest his men and horses for the day, while scouting out the Indian camp, and then on 26 June to launch his assault. But within minutes that plan changed.
A trio of troopers had been dispatched to recover a box of hardtack lost off a pack mule. In backtracking they stumbled upon a 10 year old Lakota Sioux boy named "Wicohan" (or "Deed" in English) exploring the rations (above). They shot the boy to silence him. He was the first human to die this day. Two other Sioux teenagers, Brown Back and Drags the Rope, managed to avoid the soldier's shots in their rush to give warning.
When told of this Custer decided the attack must be made before the Indians could escape. As Sergeant Windolph (above) wrote, "It was around 8 o'clock when we got orders to saddle up. We marched about ten miles, when we were halted in a sort of ravine. We'd been told to make as little noise as possible and light no fires (and that) There'd been no bugle calls for a day or two."
About noon they crested the divide on the ancient path used by Sioux and Cheyenne called the Lodge Pole Trail, and followed a small stream into the valley of the Little Big Horn, The regiment was then divided into three. Forty-one year old contentious Captain Frederick William Benteen (above) rode along the south bank of the creek, leading 125 men (companies D, H and K).
On the north bank the front of the column was lead by 41 year old Major Marcus Reno (above), in command of 140 men (companies A, G, and M).
Custer followed on the north bank, with the main body of 225 men, divided into 2 battalions; 32 year old Captain George Yates (above) was in command of companies E and F....
...while 36 year old Captain Myles Walter Keogh (above) lead Companies C, I and L.
Bringing up the rear was 31 year old Captain Thomas Mower McDougal (above) leading company B, which guarded the 150 pack mules, carrying 15 days of hardtack rations and 50 rounds of additional ammo per soldier. As added security, five men from each of the remaining 10 companies were assigned to guard the Pack Train.
The river and presumably the Indian camp, were still hidden by bluffs along the Little Big Horn. So Custer ordered Benteen to angle his command to the left, to see if there were any hostiles to the south. Custer did not want to be surprised by an attack on his rear. And within a few moments Benteen's 125 men disappeared into the rolling stirrup high dry brush.
After a few hundred yards, looming up from the undulating terrain, appeared a single Sioux tepee. Inside lay the dead body of a man. To insult his spirit, the scouts promptly set the tent on fire, producing a column of grey smoke, which now marked the regiment's appearance and progress.There had been rumors all morning of soldiers being seen over the Wolf Mountains, but, in the words of the Oglala warrior Low Dog, "I did not think anyone would come to attack us, so strong as we were." In fact, running on foot across the difficult terrain Brown Back had delivered the warning of the approaching soldiers just moments after Reno crossed the river.
According to the 29 year old respected Cheyenne warrior Low Dog (Ishaynishus in Cheyenne) (above) "We thought, all we thought was to dance all day. I went to water my horse at the creek...and then took a swim myself. I came back to camp afoot. When I got near my lodge I looked up the Little Horn towards Sitting Bull's camp. I saw a great dust rising. It looked like a whirlwind. Soon Sioux horsemen came rushing into camp shouting, "Soldiers Come! Plenty white soldiers!" I ran into my lodge and said to my brother-in-law, "Get your horses; the white man is coming. Everybody run for horses."
Panic and anger sent the population scrambling. Women and old men hurried to gather children and the elderly, rushing them up stream or to the cover of the river bank or the higher ground to the west. Some warriors ran back and forth, gathering weapons, putting on war paint, and raising dust to obscure the vulnerable village, while most ran a quarter mile to the west, to recover their ponies hobbled on a grassy terrace.
About half a mile south of the first tepees, and with still no sign of Custer, Reno called the command to halt. He explained later that he believed if had continued to charge the village, all his men would "still be in the valley to this day".
Private William Slaper noted "Our horses were scenting danger before we dismounted, and several...became unmanageable and started straight for the open among the Indians, carrying their helpless riders with them. One of the boys, a young fellow named Smith of Boston, we never saw again, either dead or alive." And the horse carrying 26 year old Private Henry James Turley from Troy, New York, also bolted. "M" company Sergeant John Ryan watched Turley disappear into the swirling dust cloud, adding, "That was the last I saw of him". Ignoring those unlucky fellows, Reno order his command to dismount and form a skirmish line about 300 yards from the first tepees.
As they had been trained, every fourth trooper took the reins from his three compatriot's horses and retreated thirty paces. The other three spread out to form a skirmish line, each man eight to twelve paces apart. That reduced them to 105 guns, with 35 men holding the horses. That produced a battle line from the trees westward about 200 feet - a city block - out into the valley with their left wing hanging loose. Just before the troopers began their slow steady fire with their single shot "trap door carbines, 23 year old Irishman, Private John Donahue, usually serving in K troop, remembered seeing Custer's battle flags to his right. The skirmish line was intended to keep the enemy at a distance. And it had worked a decade earlier against Confederate Infantry.Now Bloody Knife (above) leaned forward to say something to Reno when an errant shot exploded in the man's head, covering the Major's face and eyes with bits of the scout's brains, blood and skull. Stunned, Reno shouted the command to dismount, and did so. For a few minutes Reno was in a state of shock. When he had recovered enough he shouted again, "Mount up", and then, "Any of you men who want to make your escape, follow me!"
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