What Did Indians Do Right?

[crzhrs]

Since so much focus is always on Custer and what he did right/wrong . . . we sometimes forget what the Indians did right/wrong.

Wrong:
Failed to notice a large military force nearby;

Other than that was there anything else they did wrong?

Right:
(Reno Fight) "Forced" Reno to stop;
Outflanked Reno;
Forced Reno into retreat;
Inflicted heavy casualties chasing after Reno's Command;
Chased Reno up hill thereby eliminating him from threatening village;
Holed up Reno/Benteen.

(Custer Fight)Stopped Custer from getting within striking distance of village;
Took advantage of terrain;
Took out companies piecemeal;
Made final attack when most soldiers on Custer Hill were in no position to fight back with any meaningful force.

Probably a lot more rights/wrongs but it appears the Indians were far more capable (this time) of being the more formidable force even if all the warriors were not able to fight at the same time and in the same place.

[dave]

crzhrs
Good post. I wonder if perhaps the Indians rested on their laurels a little too much after destroyer Custer and his command and not finishing Reno's group?
Could they have attacked more forcefully and over run Reno, Benteen and the pack train?
Could they not have used indirect fire from arrows as they did to Custer's force to destroy and perhaps make the cavalry move?
I would appreciate your views and ideas.
Regards
Dave

[welshofficer]

This is a bit of "a flip side of the coin" debate, in that the numerically weaker regular force played into the hands of the numerically superior irregular force. Feeding itself piecemeal, succumbing to instinctive localised tactical decision making.

WO

[dave]

WO

What a exquisitely worded response---insightful and introspective---full of wisdom.
Regards
Dave

[jodak]

I tend to think along the lines that the Indians didn't necessarily do that much right, at least intentionally as a group, as much as it was a matter of everything going right for them. What I mean by that is that, fortuitously some of them happened to be in the right place to make Custer feel that he had been discovered and lost the element of surprise, enough happened to be in the right place to cause Reno to halt his charge, enough of them, as individuals, just happened to do any number of other things at just the right time, etc.   In short, the stars just happened to align correctly for them, and if the battle had been joined maybe even just an hour earlier or later and the soldiers done exactly as they did, enough things might have been different to change the entire course of the battle.

As far as what the Indians purposely did right after the battle was in progress, the first thing that comes to mind is that they turned Reno's flank and got into his rear.  On the Custer portion of the battlefield, if you believe that a substantial group of Indians coordinated their actions under the leadership of Crazy Horse or others, then they did the right thing by apparently splitting the gap between the Keogh and Yates battalions and some other things.