Column of Custer's Cavalry

[Shotgun Steve]

Column of Cavalry, artillery and wagons
commanded by General George A. Custer, crossing
the plains of Dakota Territory. By W.H.Illingworth,
1874 Black Hills Expedition.

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

A wise philosopher Sitting Bull once said " You should never give children a box of matches without adult supervision, he could get seriously burned"

OCB

[Stillwater]

Steve, I like this picture, inspite of the weak comment from the peanut gallery...! 

Bill

[Daniel Nighteyes]

Steve, I like this picture, inspite of the weak comment from the peanut gallery...! 

Bill

Ah, another Custer in our midst...

[Forty Rod]

A wise philosopher Sitting Bull once said " You should never give children a box of matches without adult supervision, he could get seriously burned"

OCB

Sounds like a lot of (Sitting) Bull, but it's sure right.

Too many government officious officials with matches these days.  We're all gonna get burned.

Was there anything that Custer didn't bring along?  Looks unwieldy, at best.

[Delmonico]

Forty Rod, pretty typical of a CW/IW supply train.  One reason Crock cut things down to a minimum and worked with pack mules.

[Marshal Deadwood]

Bill P....looking at the photo, I can't tell which person is you ? 

(jest yankin' yer chain a little ol' buddy)

Mike

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Bill P....looking at the photo, I can't tell which person is you ? 

(jest yankin' yer chain a little ol' buddy)

Mike

Mike......I'm behind that far ridge on the left waiting for one of the wagons to have a flat tire

Bill

[Steel Horse Bailey]

 

[Dr. Bob]

The spring wagon on the left that looks like an ambulance is probably carrying the scientific instruments of the Engineers who were mapping and collecting plant & animal specimens.  Typical for Army explorations from the 1830's on.

[Stillwater]

The spring wagon on the left that looks like an ambulance is probably carrying the scientific instruments of the Engineers who were mapping and collecting plant & animal specimens.  Typical for Army explorations from the 1830's on.

My thoughts too.

Bill

[Forty Rod]

Mike......I'm behind that far ridge on the left waiting for one of the wagons to have a flat tire

Bill

Were you a forerunner of the AAA?

[Ottawa Creek Bill]

Were you a forerunner of the AAA?

Forty.......I should have added "while sharpening my knife"

OCB

[Mogorilla]

Hey 40, don't worry about all that stuff.  In about two years from that photo, he decides to leave it all behind.   The gattling, everything. 

[RRio]

Was there anything that Custer didn't bring along?  Looks unwieldy, at best.

A pair of Gatling guns??   

[Delmonico]

Funny how everyone seems to think taking the Gatling guns would have helped Custer defeat the Indians in 76.  No way, to clumsy for the terrain and were not good for long range because I understand they were the older 58 rimfires.  But they would have saved the unit, by the time they would have got the dang things over that terrain with those condemed Cav horses they had to pull them with, the village would have long moved and Terry and Gibbon would already be there.

[O.T. Buchannan]

LOL, Delmonico, I believe you are correct in that analysis...

[Books OToole]

At best, they (the Gatling guns) would have been with Benteen's pack train.

Books

[Ol Gabe]

Just for the sake of discussion, only...
Many theories have been postulated down through the past hundred-plus years as to why Custer didn't take the Gatling Guns with him. Most articles claim he left the two Gatling Guns on board the Far West, the steamship on which his Troopers and he traveled up the river on to get to, well you know the rest of the story.
What Custer thought at the time is hard to comprehend, but it seems he had the concept that 'He' could smack them hard with what he had on hand, an attitude to the max if you will, and it proved him sadly and strategically wrong.
The Far West steamboat, tied to shore and loading firewood waiting for his return, was also used to take the information of the massacre back down the river and it actually broke all speed records of the time in getting back to civilization. Surprisingly it didn't get hung up on a sand bar, snag or blow a gasket!
The data above has been seen in print in several articles in the past few decades, sorry but I don't recall which mag or book it was in as there have been many, many 'experts' publishing it in-print and on-TV/documentaries that have stated same.
Best regards and good researching!
'Ol Gabe

[Delmonico]

If I remember right Terry took them guns and had a hell of a time getting them down the realtivly easy going on the river bottom.  As rough as some of that terrain is the 7th crossed he still might not have got there with them.