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The Indians did have repeating rifles, but that didn't turn the course of the battle in their favor. There were less than 300 repeaters attributed to the Indian warriors. There were still lots of bows and arrows and some Sharps rifles.

There is always the thought that Custer was derelict in not bringing Gatling guns. He left them at the fort, as there was no way to use a carriage mounted gun such as that in an Indian campaign on the plains. Gatlings were also slow and heavy, drawn by condemned Cavalry horses, so getting those guns anywhere and in any reasonable amount of time was impossible. Anyone shooting any black powder can attest to the unreliability to the mechanism from fouling.

As far as repeating rifles, the Army had tried various firearms and found that under the conditions of the West and Indian fighting, a Trapdoor rifle was the better choice for more reasons than one.

Cavalry were trained to fight in skirmish lines with volley fire and they found that sustained fire was more suitable with a single shot than a repeater that could get shot empty and take the soldier out of the fight while he would reload the magazine.

The repeaters of the day were mostly Henry and Model 1866 rifles which were not high powered cartridges. The necessity of a trapdoor to shoot longer range and also to be able to put down a horse, was criteria that made the Trapdoor more suitable...

If you divided up all the 50,000 casualties of Gettysburg alone, there would be enough to go around for all the officers and get the same kind of data...

Am I correct in remembering that a big problem with the trapdoors was the copper-cased ammunition that would stick in the chamber, rendering them useless?

Another misconception about the unreliability of the Trapdoor. Copper cases did tend to stick more than brass will, but the failure rate was around 2%. It did fail, but not at the rate some people think.

Inside and rim primed cartridges were not perfected and reliable detonation wasn't always the case. There are plenty of picked up cases from the battle that have multiple strikes on the primers to get them to fire...

I remembered you talking about this....but your picture of all those books surely must be from Venturino's table.

Yep, and the same logic allows Al Sharpton to get all the jigs wound up cause great-great-great Jemima was a slave.

The same vitriol fuels Obama....go figure.

Looking at Sharpton, she must have been ugly too...

The gastric bypass job makes him look even more loveable.

I have a Vietnam vet friend who went to the battlefield at LBH. He said it reminded him of a battle where the North Vietnamese over whelmed the South Vietnamese in Cambodia. He figured most of Custers Last Stand was an all out every man for himself desperate retreat.
He gave me a book to read about the LBH. The book tells of a horse from the battle walking into a livery stable under its own power somewhere near St. Louis.
I am under the impression there never was a photograph taken of Crazy Horse.

Was at the battlefield a few years back and again last July with my wife. each time I go I am more intrigued by the course of events that led to it. I've read both Philbrick's The Last Stand, Donovan's A Terrible Glory as well as Ambrose's Crazy Horse & Custer and enjoyed them all. I've also read and recommended Utley's work on Sitting Bull titled The Lance and The Shield.

While we were there we listened to a talk by one of the rangers who wrote about the maps used by the troops, we chatted with him afterward and I am still kicking myself for not getting a copy of the book while we were in the bookstore, I'll admit to being a bit of a map junkie.

From the Horse of the Week site.
It was Comanche, the favorite mount of Capt. Myles Keogh, who had valiantly rallied the men of "I" Company right up to the end, when they were overwhelmed by the charge of warriors under Crazy Horse and Gall. The horse was on its haunches, seemingly too weak to move any further. He had apparently sustained at least seven wounds, and his coat was matted with dried blood and soil. CPT Nowlan ordered the men to get water for the horse from the river. Several other troopers coaxed the horse onto its feet and led it away. The farrier field dressed the wounds. Comanche marched with the command to the junction of the Little Bighorn and Bighorn Rivers, and was loaded aboard the steamer "Far West" with the battle casualties, heading home to Fort Lincoln.
More to the story is on the site.

�.now stuffed and on display at the University of Kansas---not sure why--must have been a connection to Ft. Riley or Leavenworth.

The same things were said about Patton...War is a dirty business and men die.

As far as I am aware, Custer customarily led from the front, an easily identifiable target at the head of his men. I'm recalling he had three horses shot out from under him in that single climactic charge against Stuart at Gettysburg. AFAIK he didn't ask anything of his men in battle that he wouldn't do himself.

That OTHER Union General, Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, AKA "Kill Cavalry" so far as can be determined really may have been a self-serving pr&ck, certainly he needlessly sacrificed Farnsworth at Gettysburg, after accusing the man of cowardice. Prob'ly did more too than any other one man, to wreak havoc upon the populace during Sherman's March to the Sea.

Birdwatcher

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�.now stuffed and on display at the University of Kansas---not sure why--must have been a connection to Ft. Riley or Leavenworth.
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Horse was taken and lived a long life then taxied as being the lone survivor of the battle. The 7th actually were formed p for the expedition at Ft. Hays.

A few years back I had the time to take a trip that included Leavenworth, Riley, Hays, right on up into the Greasy Grass site and various other sites in WY and MT. Very interesting travel that year.

Birdwatcher,that is my understanding of Custer's character also.
He did lose that unit at the Washita and another on the Kansas plains but I don't think that they were willingly sacrificed for his glory.

Custer was a very aggressive commander,but that was what was needed for a cavalry commander...to take the fight to the enemy.
Also,he did not try to conceal his identity in battle but dressed to standout from the troops which would have made him a desirable target for enemy guns.

One failing of his that cost the 7th dearly was not listening to the scouts about the size of the camp. I believe it was Bloody Knife that said that there were enough Sioux to keep them fighting for 2 or 3 days and I think that Mitch Boyer was concerned whether they had enough ammunition and said it was the largest camp he'd ever seen.

It's easy being an armchair quarterback after the fact,and we'll never know,but if they hadn't been spotted and weren't worried that the camp was scattering then he probably would have waited for Terry and Gibbon's forces and the outcome would most likely have been very different.

One thing for sure,he was a very brave man who had been in many terrible fights.

I visited the Battlefield years ago, the Park Service bus tour was pretty good. I heard there used to be an interprtive exhibit there that said "No one survived the battle of the Little Bighorn". The Indians objected, saying there were thousands of Indians who actually did survive the battle.....

Elliot left on his own, without clearing it with Custer. The Indian battle went on without Elliott and they ran out of daylight and another Indian camp from down the river was alerted to come in aid of Black Kettle. Custer faked another charge, retreated and saved the immediate command he had charge of, Elliott didn't fare so well. Some blame Custer for deserting Elliott, but he had to save the majority of his command that he did have control of and as such Elliott was left. ..

This is all little understood historical truth about the battle. Custer was to send a scout back to Terry after investigating Tullock creek and finding out where the Indians were located. Herendeen was the scout that would have been deployed to cover that expedition, but when Custer realized they had been discovered by the Indians, it was time to move in a manner to keep the Indians from separating and dispersing into the plains of Montana.

Had Custer not been discovered, he most likely would have stayed another day in the Wolf Mountains, waiting for Terry and Gibbon...