Little Big Horn – Colonel Custer

History has recorded that there were no US Calvary soldiers who survived the Battle of Little Big Horn. In truth there were several. There were no survivors of the battle and the torture that ensued afterward.

This isn’t white man’s hyperbole. Indians have recorded it themselves and don’t deny it. I watched and listened to an interview with a tribal historian who confirmed it. He said that there were troopers who had lost consciousness during the battle for one reason or another and were taken, prisoner. The Indians,
the Lakota, Sioux, and Cheyenne, had such hate for the white men that they let their women and children finish them off. They did this by cutting off his testicles, then slicing through the skin on his thighs about 10 inches long, head to foot. Then cutting horizontal ones about 5 inches long at the top and the bottom of the first slice. Then the skin would be peeled away. When the trooper was no longer fun he was killed.

This historian was quite sure that Colonel Custer shot himself when he realized there was no escaping. Custer knew what to expect and no doubt chose death over it.

At first, it sounds as if Custer was reckless for making the charge since he was outnumbered nearly 10 to 1 by the Indians. However, Custer expected about a tenth of the number of Indians to what was actually there. Custer didn’t know that white gun runners had sold the Indians repeating rifles. These were better guns than the single shot Sharps carbines Custer’s troops had. In the past, whenever charged in this way, the Indians fled. And, Custer was expecting that a detachment from his force that was nearby would join the battle. However, they encountered an attack by the Indians and they fled when able.

During the Civil War Custer rose to the battle rank of Major General. Those promotions went away after the war. They are to fill urgent shortages of officers and to reward officers who merited it. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Custer realized that the rebel cavalry of Gen Jeb Stuart was about to overrun the rear of the Union forces. Custer drew his sword and let a charge of about 400 union cavalry against about 2,500 confederates ones. Custer broke the attack by Stuart and this was one reason for the Union victory.