On June 25th, 1876, as the Centennial Celebration began to unfold in Philadelphia; George Custer and his entire command were wiped out by the Sioux and Cheyenne at the Battle of the Little Bighorn...

George should have kept is ego in check and developed a better relationship with Fred Benteen.

I like the way Harry Reed tells it..

Note to self:

Don't leave the Gatling Guns at home.

Well,George did wear an arrow shirt.Seriously though,dividing your command + grossly underestimating your opponent is a double whammy for disaster.I had forgot that that was today. Thanks.

You do realize that had he won that battle, his next likely moniker would have been Mr. President!

A moment of silence for his men but not Custer. Custer was a murderer (Battle of the Washita near Cheyenne Oklahoma)attacking a peaceful village on the reservation and even used women and children as human shields during battle. The morning of his demise at Little Big Horn, the village awoke to find themselves under siege and had to defend their homes and families. Custer was surrounded as he maneuvered to intercept the fleeing women and children from the village. Perhaps in an effort to again use them a human shields. A moment of silence for the Indians lost that day is also in order.

The whole history of relations between Native Americans and Whites is pretty sad.

A lot of Whites had misgivings about what they were doing, but like in every war, "we were just following orders". It would have been a struggle with your conscientious. (Kit Carson comes to mind.)

"Crimes against humanity" on both sides. I just wish we had kept our promises, or not made them.

As for Custer; his bravery certainly wasn't in question, but his belief in no higher authority other than himself certainly kept him in trouble. I think if he had been the only survivor at Big Horn, he would have preached that it was a very successful operation.

I can see why his superiors liked him, but if you served under him, you were cannon-fodder.

It's a little hard to judge a man from a distance of 140 years.

I took the over bet on the Souix.

Custer made a habit of going in full bore without reconnaisance. Perhaps that was a holdover from the Civil War where the cavalry often was the reconnaisance, but he did it repeatedly, in the Civil War, at the Washita, and at the Little Big Horn. His luck ran out.

As alluded to above, he left the Gatlings behind because he thought they would slow him down. They probably would have, but even if he had brought them, once he split his force, there's no telling where they would have ended up.

After graduating dead last in his class at West Point, he did amazingly well, but his fortunes faded after the war. Some have speculated that he was a glory hound with political ambitions.

Sad day all around. A lot of men who had no choice in the matter lost their lives. The Sioux and Cheyenne prevailed that day, but it sealed their fate.

I have visited the site on a number of occasions. Whatever you think of Custer, its a strange feeling standing there at the top of that hill looking over that battlefield.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:



The Sioux and Cheyenne prevailed that day, but it sealed their fate.

A classic example of several things:

1. Winning battles does not always win the war.

2. Right does not always win out nor justice prevail.

3. The winners of wars write the histories (and justifications) of them.

As a native American, I still wonder just who the hell invited all these white, black, and brown people here anyway?

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:



The Sioux and Cheyenne prevailed that day, but it sealed their fate.

A classic example of several things:

1. Winning battles does not always win the war.

2. Right does not always win out nor justice prevail.

3. The winners of wars write the histories (and justifications) of them.

As a native American, I still wonder just who the hell invited all these white, black, and brown people here anyway?

Why don't you do like the Jews have done?

Claim it back!

You can always use them as an example!!

If it could be done by peaceful means, I'd be on the campaign trail at this moment.

But, unlike the Sabras and the Palestinians I try to be a realist. I understand we all have to live on this planet together and that history is history, nothing more. More fighting & killing in an endless war is not anything in the way of a present or future that any of us need. Not even if we are green, purple, or striped aliens from outer space.

Any leader that targets women and children is no leader I wish to follow.

I will have a moment of silence - for all native Americans. The travesty of genocide over land ownership is nothing to celebrate and the people who commit and honor such tactics is all the more disgusting.

And Custer attacked a SLEEPING Encampment of peaceful reservation indians at Washita. Most all of the men were away when Custer ordered the attack just at dawn when his troopers had a small separate encampment surrounded. They set fire to the teepees while the sleeping/just awakening families were in them...rode their horses over the burnt remains, and shot or put the sabre to anyone who tried to escape, including nursing mothers and their infants. Then fearing they would be overwhelmed by Cheyenne's, Arapahos, and others coming to the encampment's aid, he order a retreat, abandoning three companies of his own men. It was after that he used the 50 or so captured women and children as human shields against the Arapahos.

A real hero, eh?

I think the saddest part of the Little Big Horn was that Custer lived long enough to get there.

Still, it could have been worse. If you want a real chiller, Google and read the story of the Sand Creek Massacre, which was carried out by Colorado Militia, not by Custer.

I'll post this, directly from the Bureau of Indian Affair website, so those with any interest can see what precipitated the so-called Indian Wars in the West.

When reading it remain aware that the heads of the then new BIA were political cronies of those in Washington, NOT well meaning men or ethical administrators. They stole the monies intended for the native Americans' subsistence if they accepted moving onto a reservation, resulting in the starvation and lack or shelter or warmth resulting in the deaths of thousands.

"The Bureau of Indian Affairs is responsible for administering the United State’s overall relationship with more than 500 tribes and Alaskan communities. Each tribe, depending on its history, treaties, and applicable congressional laws and legal decisions, maintains a separate and unique relationship with the United States. For many tribes, the bureau has represented mistrust, fraud, and cultural destruction; for the national government it has represented both the goal of fair dealing and the reality of mistreatment.

In 1824, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun created within the War Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Calhoun appointed Thomas McKenney as the bureau's first head and instructed him to oversee treaty negotiations, manage Indian schools, and administer Indian trade, as well as handle all expenditures and correspondence concerning Indian affairs.

By the mid-1830s, the tribes' relationships with the United States had changed dramatically. President Andrew Jackson viewed the tribes solely as obstacles to American expansion. The Indian Removal Act and other federal legislative initiatives sought to separate Indians from the path of settlement, and by 1840, the bureau and the American military had relocated more than 30 tribes to west of the Mississippi.

In 1849, Congress shifted the Indian Office from the Department of War to the newly created Department of the Interior. This structural change also symbolized a new federal objective in Indian relations."

That's all I will post here on this subject. But it is a history few Americans are familiar with or give a damn about.

Even in recent years the BIA and its cronies have been stealing $Billions from the money owed to native Americans for oil & gas which was discovered on their reservations well AFTER the U.S. government had "given" them the reservations (land too unproductive for whites to want it) and signed treaties promising fair and honest dealing.