It becomes tedious talking about personalities, doesn't it?
WO,
Yes, it does. Very much so, but then that is endemic with this event. You have those who will choose a side and regardless of the evidence, reasoning, common sense, and first-hand accounts to the contrary, will never change their minds. I think we may add that to the definition of "ignorance."
You bring up an interesting point here.
Last night I was up late, well past midnight... and something of a chore for me since I am generally up around 5:30 to 6 AM... and was just trolling around between various sites, here, next door, Facebook, etc. A post caught my eye, and I do not even remember where I saw it or who posted it, but it was just the typical nonsensical distortion we see so much. And I have to paraphrase here because I was a bit groggy by then....
This poster claimed Custer
knew... or told his officers... they would be meeting 1,500 warriors,
"at least." It was the "at least" that caught my eye, as well as the number. The poster then went on to say something to the effect that Custer said this was the biggest village he had ever seen... or words to that effect.
Things like this, of course, spur me on because I do not recall ever reading, hearing, or seeing anything quite like that...
as coming from Custer. If it were true, then things would have to be looked at in a completely different light. So naturally, I started doing some research. Being entirely too lazy to hunt down the post... or even when it was put up: hell, if it was on Delphi, it could have been put up 10 years ago!... I just decided to put what I found here:
Godfrey, “Custer’s Last Battle 1876,”
Century Magazine, January 1892—Godfrey made the necessary preparations and gave the necessary orders to his company. During this routine, he came to the bivouac area of the scouts and met up with Mitch Boyer, Bloody Knife, and Half Yellow Face. Boyer saw him and—apparently at the suggestion of the Crow—asked Godfrey, “‘Have you ever fought against these Sioux?’” The following conversation ensued: Godfrey: “‘Yes,’ I replied. Then he [Boyer] asked, ‘Well, how many do you expect to find?’ I answered, ‘It is said we may find between one thousand and fifteen hundred.’ ‘Well, do you think we can whip that many?’ ‘Oh, yes, I guess so.’ After he had interpreted our conversation, he said to me with a good deal of emphasis, ‘Well, I can tell you we are going to have a ----- big fight.’”
The 1921 re-print of Godfrey’s updated and changed 1892,
Century Magazine article. The original article was “revised” in 1908, but was not re-published until 1921—At officers’ call on the 22nd, Custer emphasized the need to keep the companies within “supporting distance of each other,” and based on Reno’s findings they “might meet at least a thousand warriors,” supplemented by agency Indians, bringing the total to 1,500. Custer was confident—based on all the reports he had seen—this was the most they would meet up with. This was also the evening when Godfrey ran across Boyer, Bloody Knife, Half Yellow Face, and some others, and Boyer asked Godfrey about how many Indians they were likely to meet and whether they could whip 1,500.
At the RCOI—Herendeen estimated there were 1,500 lodges. “I have seen a great many camps and this was the largest I ever saw by a great deal…. I have always estimated them at that number. I have seen 700 or 800 lodges together before and I judge there were all of 1,800 there.” Herendeen thought the Indians had 3,500 fighting men. “I think there was a large force of Indians who had no women along.”
From a statement made by Herendeen in Bozeman, M. T., on January 4, 1878, and published in the
New York Herald, January 22, 1878—Boyer said it was the largest camp he had ever seen. Reynolds told Custer it would take six hours of hard fighting to whip them.
At the RCOI—Fred Gerard—At about 11 PM on the 24th, Custer called Gerard and told him to take Half Yellow Face and Bloody Knife and ride at the head of the column with Custer. At 11:30 PM they pulled out and got at the head of the column, waiting for Custer to come up. Custer told Gerard to follow the left-hand trail no matter how small it might be. At some point they halted and Gerard sat with Custer while the Indians were finding the trail. Custer asked Gerard how many Indians he thought they might find and Gerard told him it would not be less than 2,500. The following day, Gerard asked that this number be changed to 1,500 to 2,000.
“Scalp Dance”—a collection of Win Edgerly’s papers—Edgerly felt neither Terry nor Custer had any idea of the great number of Indians in the village (an interesting point, especially since they had been prepared for as many as 1,500).
May 14, 1876—Sunday—Terry telegrams Sheridan: “It is represented that they have 1,500 lodges, are confident and intend making a stand” [Connell,
Son of the Morning Star, 264].
Marc Kellogg, the civilian reporter for the Bismarck Tribune wrote: “The latest information brought in by scouts from the hostile camps report Sitting Bull as having concentrated his entire camp near the Little Missouri River… [h]is force is given at 1,500 lodges. This estimate would enable him to put at least 3,000 warriors into the field.”
LT James Bradley estimated the village at about 400 lodges and 800 to 1,000 warriors. LT Roe, however—who was not with this scouting party—later expressed the opinion that there were between 1,500 and 2,000 warriors in this particular village [Bradley,
The March of the Montana Column, 126; and Edgar Stewart,
Custer’s Luck, 154, FN 33, referencing Roe,
Custer’s Last Battle, 2]. Roe may have been correct for even Stewart claims more and more Indians were joining, so the camp had to be growing over this period.
June 21, 1876—Wednesday—At this time the scouts placed the Indian strength at some 5,000 warriors, while Custer and a few others anticipated 1,000 to 1,500. It appears most officers felt even that number was too high [Stewart,
Custer’s Luck, 242 – 243].
June 22—Custer tells his officers of his estimates of the size of the Indian force: Indian Office in Washington estimated 3,000 persons, translating to 850 warriors. That tied in with Boyer’s estimate of 400 lodges = 800 warriors. Custer figured another 500 might come out of the agencies for the summer, making a maximum of 1,500.
Luke Hare interview with Walter Mason Camp, conducted, February 7, 1910—Boyer told Custer: “General I have been with these Indians for 30 years and this is the largest village I have ever heard of.” Hare assumed this was because of the size of the trail.
So... nowhere in here is there the slightest hint of either of those statements. At the most, it appears Custer expected some 800 + 500 warriors, all of whom he believed he could deal with (yeah, with a full regiment, all together!!!)... and nowhere in there was it Custer's belief this was the largest village, ever, despite Herendeen's and Boyer's admonitions. It also appears-- at least to me-- Herendeen's observations came well
after the fact.
So again, here you have a classic case of distortion: the poster takes well-known "facts" and attributes those facts to someone else and completely out of the context they were originally placed. To me, that is a disgrace.
Best wishes,
Fred.