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Joined: Aug 2002
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Campfire 'Bwana
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OP
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,956 Likes: 6 |
'Nother good'un from RealClearHistory.com... http://articles.latimes.com/1991-09-15/news/mn-3404_1_west-point-s-cemeteryMost of the soldiers killed at Little Bighorn were not properly identified and were buried hastily in shallow graves. Over the years, animals and the elements scattered many of the bones, while tourists carted off others.
Custer got the most decent burial. He was laid in a fairly deep grave--18 inches. The body of Custer's brother, Tom, was laid alongside. The bodies were covered with blankets and a canvas tarp. After it was filled in, the grave was covered with an Indian stretcher, which was weighted down with rocks.
Those efforts should have protected the bodies, leaving two full skeletons for a cavalry detachment that returned a year later to dig up Custer, Snow said.
The exhumation team did not find the stretcher, the rocks, the blankets or the canvas. The grave they believed was Custer's contained only one skeleton. After exhuming it, the diggers discovered that the rotting uniform containing the skeleton bore a corporal's name. They dug up a nearby grave which contained only a skull, rib cage and leg bone. The exhumation team decided those bones were Custer's and shipped them to West Point for burial.
"It sounds like they just moved over to the next grave and said, 'This is Custer,' " Snow said.
McChristian agrees that the exhumation team concluded they "got the right bones the second time but failed to say how they identified the remains any more thoroughly than the first ones."
Evan Connell, author of the Custer biography "Son of the Morning Star," agrees that the exhumation was an unprofessional job, but he thinks the second body dug up was Custer's.
"My impression is they probably got it right the second time," Connell said. A lock of auburn hair found with those remains was sent to Elizabeth Custer, who said it matched her husband's, Connell said.
If the job of digging up Custer was bungled, the exhumation team shouldn't be blamed, said Richard Hardorff of DeKalb, Ill., who published a book on the burials and exhumations at the Little Bighorn.
"Put yourself in their place," Hardorff said. "You see the bones, you see skeletons, but you're used to seeing a living person with a certain face, a certain manner of moving around, but all that's gone. They did the best they could" to identify Custer's bones.
Bruce Liddic of Syracuse, N.Y., who published a book about Custer's burial, said there's a slim chance "that out of pure dumb luck they got the right body, but I doubt it."
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 4,727
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 4,727 |
He's still dead. What did they expect? How about John Paul Jones? He is supposed to be in a lead coffin at the Naval Academy, but they haven't opened the box. Look up coffin liquor.
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Joined: May 2016
Posts: 60,768 Likes: 50
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 60,768 Likes: 50 |
Would need a name tag.
Folks I have known for along time are not recognized when dead.
I am MAGA.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,956 Likes: 6
Campfire 'Bwana
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OP
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,956 Likes: 6 |
Personally, I would rather be left out on that battlefield. I've been to both places, Last Stand Hill and the cemetery on West Point.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,034 Likes: 1
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2002
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Very interesting Birdwatcher, you bring lots of history to this site. TY
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 466
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 466 |
Nah, Porter opened Jones's coffin when they found it in Paris, and it's definitely him. You can find the pix online pretty easily - old salt's long braided hair and all. It's a cool story.
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 31,111 Likes: 5
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 31,111 Likes: 5 |
As I recall, the exhumation team determined the only mutilation to the second body was as described by the Indians, i.e. primarily his ears were pierced with an Awl, to open them so he could hear in the after life, because he sure didn't listen very well in life.
You didn't use logic or reason to get into this opinion, I cannot use logic or reason to get you out of it.
You cannot over estimate the unimportance of nearly everything. John Maxwell
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,485 Likes: 18
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,485 Likes: 18 |
George really doesn't care where his bones are.
βIn a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.β β George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Posts: 152,171 Likes: 35
Campfire Savant
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Campfire Savant
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 152,171 Likes: 35 |
George wishes he would have taken the Gatling guns with him.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,034 Likes: 5
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,034 Likes: 5 |
George wishes he would have taken the Gatling guns with him. And maybe Winchester repeaters! memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
βIβd like to be a good riflemanβ¦..but, I prefer to be a good hunterβ! memtb 2024
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Joined: Feb 2001
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2001
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George wishes he would have taken the Gatling guns with him. It takes a pretty good crew to feed and fire the Gatling Guns. I doubt they'd have been much help. Custer had taken them on an earlier scout, and found that they slowed down the column considerably. The original plan was for the 7th to drive the Indians to the approaching infantry. Custer didn't want to share the glory, and bit off way more than he could chew. 7mm
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." οΏ½ Wesley Pruden
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 50,170 Likes: 2
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 50,170 Likes: 2 |
George wishes he would have taken the Gatling guns with him. It takes a pretty good crew to feed and fire the Gatling Guns. I doubt they'd have been much help. Custer had taken them on an earlier scout, and found that they slowed down the column considerably. The original plan was for the 7th to drive the Indians to the approaching infantry. Custer didn't want to share the glory, and bit off way more than he could chew. 7mm Lol...it would SUCK to be remembered forever as that guy.
The only thing worse than a liberal is a liberal that thinks they're a conservative.
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Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,914
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Heroes and Villains live on in memory for a long time. Sometimes a combination of the two is remembered the longest.
While it's true that all liberals are crazy people, not all crazy people are liberals.
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 16,419 Likes: 1 |
All it takes is one "screw up" to go from hero to zero.
I've always been a curmudgeon - now I'm an old curmudgeon. ~MolΙΜΛn LabΓ© SkΓ½la~
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Joined: Oct 2004
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 50,170 Likes: 2 |
Heroes and Villains live on in memory for a long time. Sometimes a combination of the two is remembered the longest. Right? But that guy always seemed like a "don't try this at home" story.
The only thing worse than a liberal is a liberal that thinks they're a conservative.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,201 Likes: 27
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 61,201 Likes: 27 |
The recipe for success, or failure is only one ingredient different.
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: May 2002
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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George wishes he would have taken the Gatling guns with him. And maybe Winchester repeaters! memtb Or waited for some reinforcements.....
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Most of the troopers were killed in less than half an hour after the horse mounted charge into the valley, some of them committed suicide according to eye witness accounts of Indians that were there that day.
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Joined: Apr 2010
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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George was authorized several days prior to this βtourβ by the War Departmentto draw new repeating rifles but being a traditionlist he stuck with the single shooters!
Maybe that speaks to being last in his class at WP!!
Even birds know not to land downwind!
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Joined: Sep 2006
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 7,150 |
"He'd prefer to be left to lie, his bones covered in the winter by snow and in the summer by sweet grasses and wild flowers; the gentle breezes of spring could pass over his bones and the rains occasionally wash them clean." Daniel C. "The Long Shooters."
"It's a source of great pride, that when I google my name, I find book titles and not mug shots." Daniel C. Chamberlain
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