Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Little Bighorn question

That is nearly the longest day of the year in terms of daylight. It is commonly thought that time was kept according to Chicago time, as they didn’t have time zones in those days. Custer left the Crow’s Nest early in the morning which is about 15 miles from the Little Bighorn River.

Custer sent Benteen in his oblique before Custer and Reno headed down the South fork of Reno Creek to where it ran into the middle fork of Reno creek. Custer sent 3 companies with Benteen and then took the other 8 companies toward the Little Bighorn, leaving one other company with the pack train.

Although some claim the cavalry mounts were tired, I doubt they were as weary as some think, and Custer was probably able to get to the middle fork of Reno creek in a couple hours.

Once Custer and Reno converged on the middle fork, they were on either side of the South fork and to get 8 companies to cross a morass, it would take some time. More time passes and at the site of the Lone Teepee, Fred Gerard, a scout for Custer, saw some Indians on a bluff above and others that took off in the direction of the Little Bighorn.

Custer then sends Reno down the middle fork of Reno Creek to the Little Bighorn with the orders to strike the village from the south and Custer would support him with the whole outfit. I believe Reno thought Custer would come down the Little Bighorn behind him but Custer went in the same direction on the East side of the Little Bighorn behind the ridge that kept him out of sight of the Indian village.

More time passes and Reno is met with heavy resistance and suffers many casualties. He says “every man for himself” and heads for the high ground leaving wounded and no order in retreat.

Custer has continued down the Little Bighorn and near the center of the village has Yates, Calhoun and Keough deploy to engage the Indians and he takes a course to strike the village in anticipation of the scattering of the women and children to allow containment of the non-combatants which would lead to a swift victory.

This is now in the afternoon and Custer’s fight continues until 4:30 or so with no support as expected from Benteen, who finally reached Reno on Reno hill in a mess that needed support and order. Captain Weir made an advance toward the firing of Custer’s companies, hoping to give aid to Custer, but even finally with Reno and Benteen in support, Weir could not make their way North, and had to retreat back to Reno/Benteen Hill.

It is supposed that Custer was completely annihilated by this time which should be around 5:00. The battle at Reno/Benteen site, continued on into the evening and throughout the night the remaining 7th cavalry heard chanting and victory celebrations by the Indians. Fighting started again in the morning until mid afternoon the day of June 26, before the Indians packed up and left.

So much conjecture and myth surround this whole battle. Most of what is believed is from baseless criticism that survives due to so many unknown circumstances.

Did Custer think he would prevail?
Absolutely.

Did Custer and 220 men under his immediate command die?
Absolutely.

Could the 7th cavalry have prevailed on June 25?
Certainly, but it didn’t happen that way.

If Custer had survived, the story would be dramatically different with his account, where without it, he has become the goat and history has not been kind to him. He died a hero’s death in 1876 to a shocked nation in celebration of the 100th anniversary of their independence. 146 years later, his image is tarnished and only the survivors get to tell their part.

As was brought out earlier, Custer didn’t take Gatling guns with him, and had he done so, he would have most certainly survived. Not due to the Gatling guns, but due to how much slower he could have progressed and he would have arrived a day or two later and come upon the battlefield that Gibbon and Terry would have been involved.





We will be camped at the 7th camp campground on Reno Creek from June 24-26 if anyone is interested in meeting there. I will be spending time with Battlefield Rangers and surveying the area again, I never tire of the history there. We just spent a few days there last week looking at possible areas that could have been used to cache some of the articles taken from the dead soldiers. You don’t get the full effect of what happened if you don’t see the backside of the battlefield and where Custer and Reno came down the south fork of Reno Creek.

The location of the Lone Teepee is a significant part of the pre-battle organization of forces and where it is located. I have a very rare copy of the book “The Search For The Lone Teepee” which is an interesting insight to that historical location.