AZ,
Those are great pictures! I see you also had good weather. I really need to get back and take the guided horseback tour. When I do, I'll be expecting one or two of you to join me.
View Attachmentwww.gonativeamerica.com/1-LittleBighorn.htmlYes, I was above the Reno crossing, and Custer's reported "wave" at 3411 is a bit farther north and affords the better view, certainly. I show this on my previous Google Earth map.
To answer Ian's question, unless you tiptoe along the cliff tops there are no "peekaboo" views of the valley floor anywhere along Custer's presumed route. Once you step back off the ridge a few yards the valley disappears completely and you don't see it again until:
a) you emerge from MTC.
b) you ascend the eastern ridges.
~~~
We can quibble, but Custer saw the village. I don't believe he was thinking, "Hmmmmm, I wonder how big this thing really is?"
He knew he was in tall cotton from first glance. It was then just a matter of pressing the attack, somewhere, anywhere, and have his cavalry wade through the Big Village "like crap through a goose".
Custer waved his hat in the air so enthusiastically it could be seen from over a mile away -- "Here we are, up here, you NA idiots. Come and get us!" That reveals a lot about his state of mind.
It was probably the happiest moment of his life.
~~~
Let me say a bit more about Possibility "A", Custer's charge down MTC with all five companies together.
Here are three good reasons to think that was the plan:
1) It's straightforward. Why do we want to believe in all the delicate maneuvering and cavalry ballet
movements when this was so clearly not the case with either Benteen's or Reno's orders? "Pitch into
whatever you find" and "charge the village" sort of indicate to me the idea was to execute a brutal,
uncomplicated assault.
2) Saves time. See village, attack village.
3) Matches Freeman map of observed cavalry tracks down MTC.
Now, let's look at reasons the
en masse charge makes no sense at all:
1) It doesn't match any reliable NA account. Gall, who should know, says Custer never got closer to the Big Village
than the Nye-Cartwright ridge complex.
2) No bodies, horse carcasses, or cartridge evidence indicating consequential activity at Ford B.
3) MTC is, indeed, an expressway into the village. It's so obvious. For this reason alone Custer probably
avoided it, assuming it would be well defended.
As I walked down MTC towards LBH I had to stop a few hundred yards from the river. Nothing looked right now. I knew it then in my gut, and I shook my head.
"No, Custer didn't come this way," I said to myself.
The coulee is wide, but there is an uneasy feeling of claustrophobia being down low in the ravine. Despite appearances, options for forward movement are limited. Footing is treacherous, especially after a light rain.
I looked around. It made more sense to me that Custer would approach from a slightly higher angle, on the slope of the ridges to the east. That would provide him the better view of the valley floor.
But, of course, that route would put the cavalry in full view as it approached.
View AttachmentView AttachmentI will deal with this problem in a future post, Possibility B.
Mulligan