Ammunition Depletion at LBH Battle

[Walt Cross]

Here you go Two Moons.

Walt

[George Armstrong Custer]

Walt, I think your calculations on ammunition carried and the constraints which that would inevitably place upon mounting a defence of any duration against vast numbers of assailants are absolutely crucial to any understanding of the Custer fight. It's an aspect which ought to be absolutely central to any time/motion discussion of the battle, but all too often (though not always) has been excluded from anatomies of the action. I'd like to come back to this shortly. In the meantime, here's an interesting passage from Wayne Sarfe's 'The Little Bighorn Campaign' (Combined Books, 1993, pp. 231-234), in which Custer's rate of ammunition depletion is key:

'At just what time Custer's fight ended cannot be determined, though to British student Francis B. Taunton the evidence suggests "that 'D' Company certainly witnessed the last hour or so of Custer's battle and the companies who later joined them may have seen the last thirty minutes of the fighting." Certainly the officers on the point suspected that Custer, like Reno, had been whipped. But did even those watching the dim figures from weir Point suspect the full truth? as Taunton writes: "None ever admitted so and certainly the extiction of five companies of cavalry was unparalleled in Indian warfare in the 19th century." Yet Reno's command now possessed all the reserve ammunition and mule-borne supplies, and "deep down it must have been asked: how could Custer sustain [even] a three-hour engagement with only 100 rounds of carbine ammunition per man?"

'In later years, of course, the officers "consoled themselves and each other" with the propositions that Custer and his men were dead before they could have reached them, and that there were too many Indians between the two commands to have effected a rescue. But given Taunton's suggested reconstruction, with Weir reaching the point at roughly 17.00 and elements of Custer's command still alive at 18.00, an early demonstration towards the Indians might have disrupted their attack and saved a remnant of Custer's men - though any chance to save most of them, if such a chance existed, had doubtless passed before weir even started out. Small wonder, then, that some officer's later suffered from "a tendency to accelerate the movement northwards and terminate the existence of firing (what firing?) at the earliest opportunity."

Apropros of the latter observation, Godfrey later wrote of the dusty panorama viewed from Weir Point:

"While watching this group the conclusion was arrived at that Custer had been repulsed, and the firing was the parting shots of the rear guard. The firing ceased, the groups dispersed, clouds of dust rose from all parts of the field, and the horsemen converged towards our position......'

Ciao,
GAC

[Walt Cross]

George;
Thank you for those astute observations. Many researchers ignore the ammunition question because of the Indian narrative that states they found cartridge belts with plenty of ammo. At the risk of beating my point to death I reply that it doesn't matter how much ammo was found, the men of Calhoun's command did not have access to it. And they were the very men holding the warriors in check and forming the lynchpin of the defense.

As for the officer's statements afterward about Weir Point and what was seen, I have no doubt there was a good deal of cover your behind in their statements. And it worked. Many, many officers of Custer's 7th Cavalry rose to high rank. That would not have happened had the stigma of cowardice or betrayal stuck to them.

Walt

[Walt Cross]

Here is a couple of facts from "1876 Facts About Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn" by Jerry L. Russell.

Page 99: "When firing from a skirmish line...a soldier normally took a handful of cartridges from his belt and laid them on the ground on his right side, for ease of loading. An order to move frequently resulted in the loose ammunition being left behind, causing in some instances considerable loss of ammunition"

Comments?

LTC Elwood Nye in "Marching with Custer" discussing the pack train: "Without the arrival of those mules, carrying heavy loads including extra ammunition, the men with Reno ...must have shared very quickly the fate of those with Custer"

Still think ammo depletion had nothing to do with the defeat of the right wing?

Walt