Fred and others:
I was wondering about the Sioux (primarily, I`d guess) rear guard Terry`s column saw/met. Did it have an effect on when the soldiers reached the village area? This was on the 26th, Terry ordered a bivouac and then started moving again the day after. With warriors lurking around, it made sense to not wander around in the dark. But let`s say they weren`t there, and Terry decided to again let the cavalry continue even after the infantry would have to rest. I haven`t really got access to maps showing distances and stuff from Terry`s route. But the place he put up camp must have been really close to the area the Indian encampment had been, or was breaking up that very evening? When could they have reached it? This might be difficult to answer with certainty, but many people here tend to know about both timing and horse riding
And a side question, do we have testimonies or names from the Indian rear guard?
Hope all is well and that someone can help a constantly confused Scandinavian
All the best,
Geir
Geir,
Sorry for the late response, but power has been out for almost a week because of a hurricane. This may be what you are looking for. From my notes,
JUNE 26, 1876—MONDAY
Some scattered showers early, then plenty of sun and heat.
2 AM—Will Logan—sent out by Terry to try to locate Custer—hears war drums and voices in the distance; he halts.
BETWEEN 2 AM – 3 AM—Daybreak.
3:30 AM—The “Far West” starts out.
DAYLIGHT—Brisbin rouses Bradley and orders him out on a scout.
3:30 AM—Bradley sends six Crows out in the lead.
4 AM—Bradley leaves camp on his scout.
5 AM—The infantry column breaks camp and begins its move to catch up to the cavalry.
5:30 AM—“Far West” reaches a creek flowing into the Big Horn on its right bank; they encounter rapids and meet with a long delay.
EARLY MORNING—About six miles below the mouth of the LBH horse tracks are seen in the grass and a little way further, three Indians are spotted on the other side of the Big Horn. A lone horse was also spotted on the same side of the river as the soldiers were on; this was the horse the Crows had let go when they tried to swim the river.
The three Indians proved to be the Crows, White Man Runs Him, Goes Ahead, and Hairy Moccasin.
They inform Prevo that Custer and all with him have been wiped out.
After questioning them, Prevo concluded they were certainly exaggerating and had no definitive knowledge of what had happened.
7:50 AM—Gatling gun battery arrives at the bivouac.
9 AM—Carroll’s trains break camp.
They went 2 miles and came across some of the Crow scouts who were assigned to Custer.
Crow scouts report big fight on the Little Big Horn with Custer being whipped badly.
9:15 AM—LT Bradley sees Terry and the head of the cavalry command appear on a ridge a couple of miles back and decides it is his duty to inform the general of what the Crows said.
His staff and COL Gibbon, who had re-joined the command earlier that morning, surrounded Terry.
Terry’s diary mentions these reports as being of Sioux trails. Taylor reports more.
Terry wanted to wait for his infantry to arrive, but now directed the command to move as soon as they could finish their coffee.
9:30 AM— “Far West” passes Terry’s camp of June 25.
10 AM—Terry begins to move toward the LBH valley.
The infantry command is seen moving toward them.
10 AM—Curley is far down Tullock’s Creek.
Indians started grass and brush fires, probably to conceal their movements and to prevent soldiers from approaching river for water.
12:30 PM—Having proceeded about 9½ miles up the LBH valley (on the east side of the river), the combined Terry/Gibbon command begins crossing the LBH to its west side.
The river here was about twenty yards across, 2½ feet deep, and cold.
Ash growing along the stream.
ABOUT 2:20 PM—With the entire command across the river, Terry orders a halt.
An advance guard of Muggins Taylor and Henry Bostwick is sent out, each by a different route, to reconnoiter and try to link up with Custer.
3 PM—Indian firing ceased altogether. Large numbers of warriors seen returning to the village.
5 PM TO 5:20 PM—Terry’s advance up the LBH begins again.
The infantry formed the left column (nearest the river); the cavalry was on the right. Terry and Gibbon marched up front, in between the two columns.
The Gatling guns were in the rear.
Trains are with them.
LATE AFTERNOON—The Indians begin firing the prairie in the valley. Under the cover of this fire—set to conceal their movements (as before)—the Indians broke camp and began to move away.
6:20 PM—Terry’s column halts.
6:30 PM – 6:40 PM—The scout, Henry Bostwick, sent out earlier to try to get a message to Custer comes riding back at a furious gallop. “You have been looking for Indians all summer? You’ll find all you want there!”
Bostwick gestured excitedly up the valley, to a section of bench land about six miles up.
Terry sends LT Roe (F/2C) toward the western bench land as an advanced guard along the column’s right flank.
LT Bradley moves up the left side of the column, through the timber and brush that grew along the river. He continually saw Indians in the valley and on the bluffs to the right (where Roe was advancing), sometimes singly, pairs, or more. He also saw a group of 75 – 100, and heard rifle shots from the bluffs.
o At one point, Bradley saw a timbered area jutting far into the valley. Indians were riding from the bluffs into that woods, and he felt there were more than 100, plus whatever number had already been there.
o The Indians facing Roe were estimated to be as many as 300, their advance elements appearing to be wearing uniform jackets and carrying guidons. This group was between Roe and a large mass of people seeming to be moving from the Little Big Horn toward the Big Horn.
o Roe sent a sergeant and three men forward to see who these people were… and quickly found out!
o Bradley felt there were at least 1,000 warriors to the command’s front, “with plenty more to cooperate with them.”
The Gatling guns and three companies of cavalry moved on the right in column, four companies of infantry were on the left, and one company of infantry in front and behind the pack mules in between the other two columns.
7 PM—The Indian column emerges from the smoke of the prairie fire.
The possessions of those who were in mourning were left behind, as was custom. That included the standing tepees.
Some troopers estimated the Indian column’s length at five miles. Benteen thought it to be three miles long and ½ mile wide. Benteen said, “They had an advance guard, and platoons formed, and were in as regular military order as a corps or division.”
o “Benteen, who was qualified to judge, estimated the strength of the hostiles as being equal to that of a full cavalry division. ‘It [the Indian column] started about sunset and was in sight till darkness came. It was in a straight line about three miles long, and I think half a mile wide, as densely packed as animals could be. They had an advance guard and platoons formed, and were in as regular military order as a corps or division.’”
LT Godfrey: “‘… the Indian village moving… was, or seemed to be, about three miles long by ¾ [mile] wide and very closely packed’”
PVT Windolph: “The heavy smoke seemed to lift for a few moments, and there in the valley below we caught glimpses of thousands of Indians on foot and horseback, with their pony herds and travois, dogs and pack animals, and all the trappings of a great camp, slowly moving southward. It was like some Biblical exodus; the Israelites moving into Egypt; a mighty tribe on the march.”
LT Edgerly: “I thought before the ponies commenced to move that it was like a lot of brown underbrush; it was the largest number of quadrupeds I ever saw in my life…. It looked as though a heavy carpet was being moved over the ground.”
Most troopers thought the Indians had run low on ammo or that Custer, with reinforcements, was coming to their rescue.
LT Roe, moving up the bench lands, comes across a large body of warriors, maybe as many as several hundred in number. He sends an orderly back to Terry. He also sees the tail end of the moving village and objects on the eastern bluffs he takes to be dead buffalo. He waits, a good distance away.
Terry’s column approaches a heavily timbered area, LT Bradley in the lead, and Indians are spotted amongst the trees and brush.
Terry, in his June 27, 1876, battle dispatch, said both Benteen and Reno estimated not less than 2,500 warriors, but other officers thought the number of Indians engaged was much more.
8 PM—LT Roe leaves the bench land to re-join the main column.
8:40 PM – 9 PM—Terry decides to go into bivouac, as it is getting dark. He camped on the site of the present-day Crow Agency, the schoolhouse marking the approximate center of his camp.
The infantry had marched some 29 to 30 miles.
The camp was about 11 miles as the Crow flies, from the mouth of the LBH and about 8 – 9 miles from Reno’s position in the hills.
There were fully 1,000 Indians to Terry’s front, yet this was only the rear guard, as the rest of the village headed south.
Good camp: wide bottom, plenty of grass.
Ten head of horses found during the day; not clear whose they were.
Night passes quietly.
SUNDOWN—No Indians to be seen.
DARKNESS—Gerard and Jackson leave the timber above Ford A and head toward Reno’s command.
9:30 PM— “Far West” moors on the west side of a large island near the right bank of the Big Horn. Maximum temperature recorded by SGT Wilson was 70º; minimum was 60º.
Best wishes,
Fred.