Battlefield Detectives - History Channel

[Diane Merkel]

Set your VCRs! Battlefield Detectives: Custer at Little Big Horn premiers next Wednesday, November 22, on The History Channel at 9:00 AM (Eastern).

A tiny band of brave U.S. cavalrymen battle bow-and-arrow and tomahawk-wielding Indians--this image of Custer's Last Stand is one of the most potent legends of the American Frontier. The site of Little Big Horn has been researched like no other American battlefield. Using the results of this recent scientific research, we'll peel away the myths about Little Big Horn, revealing that there was no "last stand" and, in fact, few bows, arrows, or tomahawks.

www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=193959

[crzhrs]

From numerous Indian statements they say they fired many arrows from cover which would contradict what the promo for the show says.

"A tiny band" . . .? Does 212 relate to tiny?

From many posters there is some question on the accuracy of a number of The History Channel's shows . . . I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Melani]

Thanks for the info, Diane! I'll definitely catch it.

[harpskiddie]

The Battlefield Detectives series seems to be a cut above the usual recreation-style documentary offerings from the History Channel, which often serves up the same old same old. That is judging from previous programs in the series, all of which admittedly I cannot vouch for from a historical standpoint, except for the one they did on the Charge of The Light Brigade at Balaclaca [it was accurate and interesting].

Gordie

[TopKick1833]

So did anyone catch the episode of battlefield Detectives?? I was out of town at the time and was not able to watch it.

TopKick

[Diane Merkel]

It was a repeat, and I'm sure it will air again. I'll keep an eye out for it.

[harpskiddie]

All:

The Battlefield Detectives LBH episode was repeated on the History Channel Canada last night. Be sure to put it on your "Don't Fail To Miss" list.

The experts mostly appearing are Fox, Scott, and Joe Medicine Crow [whose grandfather WMRH ostensibly told him all about the battle he didn't see]. Fox is still claiming that because two cases fired from the same gun indicate only one direction of travel, and Scott is still saying that a case indicates where a gun was fired, and by whom. Actually one of the military historians that they brought on [complete with his 7th Cavalry hat and uniform] grew so emotional by holding the unfired cartridge that Scott had recently found on LSH, that he could almost see the young man who had recently arrived in New York only to find himself gripped in the throes of terror at the LBH, and so dropping the cartridge from shaking hands.

Fox described how the last men to die were shot down in Deep Ravine by warriors standing on the rims, where numerous shells were found. He thought they might even now be standing on the ground beneath which the soldiers' bodies were located, although he never bothered to seriously address why no bones or even Indian bullets [the ones that were fired from the rims], or indeed any artifacts of any kind, have ever been found in Deep Ravine.

The same with MTC Ford, where they claimed fighting had taken place. Nothing wwas said about the absence of any of the archaeological evidence which they so proudle proclaim shows the path of the fighting on other parts of the battlefield.

Anyway it's just the same old same old same old....If you've ever seen any of the many programs featuring their interpretations of the evidence, or read the two or three Indian accounts upon which they rely, you'll have no reason to waste time on this one.

The books are much better, because you can interpret the evidence according to your own lights, rather than Fox's. Normally, I wouldn't even comment on a television show, unless it was something absolutely outstanding. In this case, I had to make an exception.

Gordie