Post by TheGoodMan19 on Dec 27, 2018 23:19:45 GMT
The 7th Cavalry was split into three parts. And the distance between Custer, Benteen and Reno was too great. Not in a straight line, but there was a ridge you had to go around to get from Custer column (moving away) to Reno's fixed position.
I'm certainly not saying is was a great plan. Custer should have just harassed the Sioux and waited for Terry, Gibbon et al to come up. But there was no glory in that. And his thirst for glory gothim a hole in the ground. Shame he took a lot of poor slobs with him.
It was a poorly run campaign from the beginning. There was no overall commander, Sheridan, the department commander, was in Washington. Crook was in command, according to Crook, but neither Terry or Gibbon deferred to him. The columns were unsupporting, too widely separated. Crook got beat on the Rosebud and then sat on his ass for weeks. Custer believed that Crook had at least bloodied Crazy Horse's band on the Rosebud. And they were facing some of the finest light cavalry in history, ably led.