148 years ago today...

[Three Foot Johnson]

On this day in 1876, Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer led ~255 troopers of the 7th Cavalry in an attack against the largest known gathering of the northern plains Indians ever assembled. It did not end well.

[PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L]

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

I spent a day at the battle field May of 2023 and took 137 photos.  Walked the national cemetary, the welcome center and museum, last stand hill, the indian memorial, the deep ravin, drove down to Reno-Benteen's defense hill and walked it.  Stoped along the drive there and back reading all the markers. At one of the presentations at the center it was stated they are supposed to get a new building constructed and open in time for the 150th.  Will post some photos but the cannot take the place of being there.

 

 

Edited June 25 by Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

More photos.

 

[Stump Water]

Quote

... shoot their horses for breastworks...

 

Damn.

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

2 hours ago, PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L said:

Which rifle is this?

 

https://www.historynet.com/battle-of-little-bighorn-were-the-weapons-the-deciding-factor/

 

Excerpt:

 

What the Indians used at Little Bighorn

 

There were 2,361 cartridges, cases and bullets recovered from the entire battlefield, which reportedly came from 45 different firearms types (including the Army Springfields and Colts, of course) and represented at least 371 individual guns. The evidence indicated that the Indians used Sharps, Smith & Wessons, Evans, Henrys, Winchesters, Remingtons, Ballards, Maynards, Starrs, Spencers, Enfields and Forehand & Wadworths, as well as Colts and Springfields of other calibers.

 

The Winchester, in fact, was almost a duplicate of the repeater developed by B. Tyler Henry, who was to become superintendent at Oliver Winchester’s New Haven Arms Company. The success of Henry’s rifles ensured Winchester’s success, and the primary weapon carried by the Indians at the Little Bighorn was either Henry’s model or the slightly altered Winchester Model 1866. Both fired a .44-caliber Henry rimfire cartridge. The Henry used a 216-grain bullet with 25 grains of powder, while the Winchester used a 200-grain bullet with 28 grains of powder.

 

Interview with Battlefield Archaeologist Dr. Douglas Scott!

 

Excerpt:

Dr. Scott:                             29:29                     But there are a couple really interesting things. One of which from biggest overall perspective, because this was considered a victory for the Cheyenne and Lakota who were there. It emboldened them so eight days later at the Little Bighorn they knew they could defeat them because they already had. They thought it was the same guys again. They’d already done it once. They were going to do it again, and they did. Sure. It is one of from an archaeological perspective and um, is that we were looking at the cartridge cases. The University of Montana had done some work at Rosebud some several years ago, and we’ve done some work. There are some other people have too. So, I was looking into the cartridge cases and doing the firing pin analysis. Like we did a Little Bighorn on the microscopic level. And I noticed there was a really oddball cartridge that came from a Ball carbine.

Dr. Scott:                             30:29                     There were only a thousand or so ever made in the Civil War and they weren’t really issued. But we had found one of those, that Little Bighorn, we found the one that Rosebud. And I thought, what’s the off chance so I can compare them because I had access to the information from Little Bighorn at the time. Sure enough, it’s from the same gun. So we can say, and then we found a Henry cartridge that had been fired. And from a gun that was fired at the Little Bighorn as well. So, we’ve got two Indian guns both in Cheyenne positions, or what I believe to be Cheyenne positions, at Little Bighorn having been used at Rosebud. So we can say the, we can talk about those are the same people. And that was really the first time we’ve matched up two disparate battlefields with at least two sets of different Army troops being involved but the same Indians. And, and so it just shows what our capabilities are when they got well preserved and protected sites and well-preserved artifacts as well.

 

 

Edited June 25 by Father Kit Cool Gun Garth
formatting

[PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L]

1 hour ago, Father Kit Cool Gun Garth said:

Which rifle is this?

 

Navy Arms (Uberti) 1866 SRC .44-40 (mfg 1978).

 

(left side)

 

Also have a Winchester 1894 SRC .44-40 LBH Centennial (mfg. 1976) 
(Canadian release)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 26 by PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L
add photo

[Cholla]

I am wrapping up an article about the guns of Custer’s Avengers. In the weeks following the battle men from around the country enlisted in the Seventh. I forget the exact figure but some 500 revolvers and carbines were lost and had to be replaced before sending the Seventh afield again. 

[Trailrider #896]

I was to both LBH and the Rosebud battlefields, but it has been a long time. Back then, the plaques and markers at LBH were few and far between. Virtually nothing more than a pair of plaques at Rosebud.  Crook maintained he won that battle because he "held the field" after the Indians broke contact. But Crook's troops had expended about 50,000 rounds of ammo, and he had wounded to care for, so he retraced his steps to Camp Cloud Peak, where Sheridan, WY now stands, and called for the 5th Cav under Wesley Merritt (along with Buffalo Bill) to come up. By the time Crook got reorganized the LBH battle was over and he rendezvoused with Terry & Gibbon, and after burying Custer's casualties, took off on what became the "starvation march" after the hostiles.