- Joined
- Aug 16, 2015
General Miles disputes quite effectively the 'too many Indians' argument. He points out that it was common for cavalry to be outnumbered throughout the Indian Wars. He was told by surviving Indians that the Army estimates of the size of the village were wrong because the Uncpapas moved their tents after the first action from the northern end of the camp to the southern end, leaving what appeared to be a much larger camp. Those same Indians told him that the number of "warriors did not exceed thirty-five hundred." He states that interviews of surrendered Indians soon after the battle by Captain Philo Clark, who was fluent in sign language, arrived at a maximum of "twenty-six hundred". <Nelson Appleton Miles, Personal recollections and observations of General Nelson A. Miles embracing a brief view of the Civil War, or, From New England to the Golden Gate : and the story of his Indian campaigns, with comments on the exploration, development and progress of our great western empire. (Chicago: Werner, 1896). Chapter XXII, pp. 290-293.>Custer followed standard military practice of the day when he split his regiment to attack the village on the Little Bighorn. Most of his decisions were tactically sound.....in hindsight he probably should have remained in a place where he could direct the actions of all three battalions, rather than riding with one, but that wasn't the way he did things. He commanded from the front. All in all there were just too many Lakota and Cheyenne who, as they showed as few days earlier at the Rosebud, were willing and capable soldiers.
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