Post by fred on Oct 30, 2007 15:48:34 GMT -6
On the divide, looking toward the ridges Benteen crossed. This is the exact spot the column crossed over.
The morass. That is Reno Creek that leads through it and it is exactly where Benteen and some others said it was. The business about the morass "moving" or its location "unknown" is fiction... or sloppy research. The original or first "lone tepee" would have been located not too far off the picture to the left. There is a small hill or bluff-- not nearly as steep as the ones you see here-- that was mounted by Boyer, Curley, and some others. From that small rise, they supposedly spotted Indians running down Reno Creek valley. Do not, however, get that confused with where Gerard made his comment about the "devils running." That is much closer to the river, an easy rise right near the second or western "lone tepee."
Looking at the knoll (to the right) Gerard was on when he reported the Indians running. This is in the "Flats." This is the vicinity of the second "lone tepee," actually more than one structure. It is right in this area where Reno and Custer separated and where the "attack" order was given.
Old Ford A vicinity. The small hill on the right below the upper line of trees appears to be where Gerard was speaking with Cooke when the scouts told him about the Indians coming. You can see the old river channel in between two groups of trees, just right of center. "Cooke Knoll" is in that vicinity.
Here is where things begin to get dicey. Since the publication of John Gray's last book, Custer's Last Campaign, battle students, historians, and authors have wrestled with the times left behind by various participants. Gray came to the conclusion the command was on "Local Sun Time," but there may have been a predisposition to justify other actions-- or a perception of a lack of actions. We have many allusions to specific times of day and we have just as many guesses, all left behind by men trying to recall the horror or immediacy of battle.
There are only two comments, however, that make any reference to how the officers' watches were set:
LT E. S. Godfrey was asked at the Reno Court of Inquiry: Q: “What time was daylight in that section of the country at that time of year?”
A: “We did not have the local time, our watches were not changed... .” [Nichols, Reno Court of Inquiry, 491]
LT George "Nick" Wallace was also asked at the RCOI: Q: "Are you sure the time of your watch was the true time of day when you looked at it, or may it have been an hour or more slow or fast?"
A: "I am not sure about that. It may have been fast or it may have been slow. I never have claimed that it was the local time of the place." [74]
Maybe just as revealing, however, was Godfrey's comment in an article appearing in the January, 1892, edition of Century Magazine titled "Custer's Last Battle." In that article, Godfrey wrote, "We compared watches to get the official time... ." [17] The only "official" time in 1876 would have been the time in St. Paul, Minnesota, the department headquarters.
Be that as it may, the "timing issue" is shrouded in controversy and all events from here on out must be viewed with that issue in mind. Things are further exacerbated by the fact that "specific" times were unimportant to these participants and so were only guessed at. In addition, men on the frontier, often in danger of losing their pocket watches or having them compromised by dirt, dust, water, and all manner of grime-- and not having a lot of local jewelers to do immediate repair-- relied just as heavily on the movement of the sun. In many cases during this campaign, references are made, not to specific watch times, but to "sunrise," "sunset," "noon," "forenoon," "mid-afternoon," "evening," etc. One participant could be referring to a time-event, i.e., sunrise, then refer to the time another event took place by having just glanced at his watch. Often, with the activity that went on, the amount of elapsed time between events is overlooked or simply guessed at.
An example of this could be George Wallace's reference to halting at 12:05 p.m., about 1/4 of a mile beyond the crest of the divide [RCOI, 540], versus his USMA classmate, Charlie Varnum's reference to, “The column arrived at the trail-crossing of the divide about 10 a.m., and Custer came at once to where I was, I riding out to meet him. We climbed the bluff and the Indians tried to show Custer what they saw.” [Varnum, I, Varnum, 63] This statement by Varnum could also allude to the so-called "second" trip to the "Crow's Nest," but rather than the Crow's Nest, per se, "the bluff" referred to could be the bluff of the divide. Varnum always denied that second "Crow's Nest" trip, but who is to say Custer did not view the LBH valley a second time, this one being from the divide itself? Varnum would have been the one to tell us there was no second trip to the Crow's Nest, but he never said a word about Custer not viewing the valley from the divide. It would also answer the unasked head-scratching regarding DeRudio's fine Austrian-made field glasses. Ah-h, problems!
So, rather than get embroiled in "time-specifics," let us outline the events once the regiment began crossing the Rosebud-Little Big Horn divide. From the divide to Ford A, and all the little events in between. Let the real fun begin.
Best wishes,
Fred.
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they