Post by Dark Cloud on Jul 19, 2006 22:09:23 GMT -6
This is prompted by a reference and reaction in the Terry Intent thread. Mabry thinks the 7th could've done it. Since some people reference, but give no indication of actually having read the Reno Inquest like they do with Gray's last, it might be time to chat about some of it's needier portions. Recorder Lee makes Nancy Grace seem reticent, relevant, and on target.
Regarding overall feasibility of the attack at all, although Herendeen is given many strokes when he is sourced for the Mount/Dismount episode - which stangely comes off far more to Reno's favor in Herendeen's actual words, since the shots come from less than 30 feet away - he also claimed 1800 lodges and 3500 warriors at Reno's inquiry. He'd know, and his testimony considered the moving of the lodges and all that, and he repeated several times: 1800 lodges, 3500 warriors. Custer could barely win at Washita over a period of hours against a tad less and that with starved ponies and dawn surprise.
Given that this was a gathering designed for war, it probably held a higher number of warriors than a normal camp ratio, and I'd suspect it closer to 4k. Either way, 125 here, 210 there and applied at intervals, is highly unlikely to have done more than annoy them. There was plenty of manpower to whup the 7th, and they were motivated to do just that. Page 228 and environs.
Also of interest is my long conviction that much of the confusion was due to McGuire's map. Herendeen complains often about it, but Lee presses on trying to get people confused and caught on a detail. Herendeen refers to a Weir's Hill as a half a mile from Reno's place, and the time for Custer's potential rescue, which Lee proudly extracts, is therefore off by a factor of 2 or more in his disfavor. Nobody notices.
BUT, it is the distance to Sharpshooter, and that a hill, and I'm quite convinced that half the testimony people think applies to Weir Point applies to Sharpshooter. Or, you know, Herendeen is given to missing estimated mileages by 50%, somewhat a serious failing in a scout, as it is in a 'recorder' who pretends to an objectivity he left at home and insists on using a map that nobody agrees is accurate.
This was a witch hunt of the first water.
Regarding overall feasibility of the attack at all, although Herendeen is given many strokes when he is sourced for the Mount/Dismount episode - which stangely comes off far more to Reno's favor in Herendeen's actual words, since the shots come from less than 30 feet away - he also claimed 1800 lodges and 3500 warriors at Reno's inquiry. He'd know, and his testimony considered the moving of the lodges and all that, and he repeated several times: 1800 lodges, 3500 warriors. Custer could barely win at Washita over a period of hours against a tad less and that with starved ponies and dawn surprise.
Given that this was a gathering designed for war, it probably held a higher number of warriors than a normal camp ratio, and I'd suspect it closer to 4k. Either way, 125 here, 210 there and applied at intervals, is highly unlikely to have done more than annoy them. There was plenty of manpower to whup the 7th, and they were motivated to do just that. Page 228 and environs.
Also of interest is my long conviction that much of the confusion was due to McGuire's map. Herendeen complains often about it, but Lee presses on trying to get people confused and caught on a detail. Herendeen refers to a Weir's Hill as a half a mile from Reno's place, and the time for Custer's potential rescue, which Lee proudly extracts, is therefore off by a factor of 2 or more in his disfavor. Nobody notices.
BUT, it is the distance to Sharpshooter, and that a hill, and I'm quite convinced that half the testimony people think applies to Weir Point applies to Sharpshooter. Or, you know, Herendeen is given to missing estimated mileages by 50%, somewhat a serious failing in a scout, as it is in a 'recorder' who pretends to an objectivity he left at home and insists on using a map that nobody agrees is accurate.
This was a witch hunt of the first water.