In your opinion are the warrior movements given in Michno's Lakota Noon reasonable?... One thing that concerns me about his account is that he doesn't have many warriors at the major firing locations on GGR.
Pete--
I use Michno's work a lot. He has his faults and issues, but his work, overall, is top-notch stuff.
I like his research efforts. My issue with him is he does not follow through enough. It almost appears he gets bored... and his work on the village is a perfect example. Now as a cynic, I could say he only goes far enough to "prove" his theories, but I think that may be unfair of me. In other words, if he continued beyond, he might find questionable results for his theories... catch my drift here?
As for Greasy Grass Ridge and some other areas, you may be interested in some of my notes:
Michno says there were “few or no relics found along the traditional northward line directly from the ford to Greasy Grass Ridge and Calhoun Hill.” References “A” through “G” count 8 or 9 bodies; “H” counts some more. Whose… Indians or soldiers? Indians generally policed up their dead, though these may have been missed. Possible single warriors, present without families. The soldiers were accounted for (lieutenants Porter and Harrington were exceptions) despite the inability to identify everyone.
From Michno,
Lakota Noon, map on p. 226—
(A) Henryville, on the Deep Coulee side: 32 Indian cartridge cases.
(B) Henryville, on the Calhoun Hill side: 13 Indian cartridge cases.
(C) Across Calhoun Hill, roughly from west to east: nine Indian cartridge cases.
(D) All along the ridges and gullies east of Battle Ridge and the Keogh Sector: 108 Indian cartridges, including .50/70’s, .44’s, and .56’s.
(E) Along the south side of Finley Ridge: nine Indian bullets.
(F) Across Calhoun Hill, roughly north to south: 5 Army cartridge cases.
“Shell cases have been found for nearly a quarter mile along the crest [of Blummer-(Nye) Cartwright Ridge]. Hank Wiebert [sic] reported he found a number of shell cases along the crest of Blummer (Nye)-Cartwright Ridge. However, Joseph Blummer wrote to Robert Cartwright in a 1928 letter that he found a number of shells along the northern slope of this ridge about 10 feet from the crest” [Liddic,
Vanishing Victory, p. 116].
Michno,
The Mystery of E Troop, pp. 51 – 52. He breaks the 1984 – 1985 archeological finds into 12 main areas. Furthermore, “All areas had a mix of both Indian and army relics, while some had a predominance of one type over another to mark it as either a soldier or Indian position.”
1. Greasy Grass Ridge, particularly in the southern portion (173 artifacts); northern portion (32 artifacts): Indian positions.
2. Henryville (114): Indian.
3. Today’s cemetery (53): Indian.
4. The “bend” of Deep Ravine (34): Indian.
5. North of Custer Hill (45): Indian.
6. Soldier positions were strongest at Custer Hill (80) and to a lesser extent at Calhoun Hill (63).
7. Mixed areas were in Calhoun Coulee (43), Finley Ridge (23), the Keogh Sector (86), and the South Skirmish Line (169). The latter two areas show considerable mixed activity.
The archeological survey conducted by Fox and Scott in 1984 found that at least seven “of the Indian weapons which were used to break the soldier’s line on Finley Hill were also fired against Calhoun’s position from Henryville Ridge, southeast of this hill” [Liddic,
Vanishing Victory, p. 151]. Liddic correctly suggests the reason for this was because at 700 yards away on Greasy Grass Ridge, the Indians’ fire was not effective against troops on Calhoun Hill, but at the shorter distance of about 350 yards from Henryville, the Henrys and Winchesters were lethal.
Hope this is of value.
Best wishes,
Fred.