Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-12-26
By GEORGE M. CASEY

There b mystery ap,enty su-
rssndins the defeat Of Custer ut
the Little Big Horn-mysteEy that
has defied satisfactory solution by
historians and military authorities
q The highest rank. And one Of
the greatest Of these enigmas Is
this: Why wasn't Mai. Marcus A.
Rens's force wiped out after the
Sioux had annihilated Clusters
command?
The butchery Of the latter's force is
readily understandable even though
Clusters preparations for the fight and
his plan of battle are not. The reck-
less, headstrong general, ignorant of,
or indifferent to, the Sioux strength
and thirsting for spectacular victory,
simply rode into tidal wave of howl
ing, merciless death from which there
was no escape. Surrounded and over
whelmingly outnumbered, his battalion
OF 200-odd men was marked for quick
destruction.
Reno, who lived to be the goat for
this military fiasco. laid the defeat
largely to the fact that Custer di-
vided his command into three parts
before the attack on the Sioux village
an opinion supported by several
army leaders.
Too Many Indians
That the division OF his force was a
boner cannot well be refuted but to
attribute the Seventh cavalry,s defeat
to this alone is to ignore the cold
facts; for pitted against Custer was
one OF the greatest hosts of Indian
warriors ever assembled The number
has been variously estimated at from
$500 to 1000. Clusters troops num-
bered some 600 men. His force simply
wasn't big enough. fighting as a unit
or otherwise, to successfully combat
SO many Indians, especially Indians
well armed and led by Crazy Horse.
the peerless cavalry leader, and Gall
But after they had cut down Clusters
little force, the Sioux hadn't finished
their job There was Reno's command
on the bluff above the river. frantical-
ly digging in to escape the slaughter
that seemed inevitable.
Reno, with three troops-l12 men
had been sent ahead to strike the
initial blow at the village He quickly
found that he had kicked up a sit
uation far too tough to handle. Too
many Sioux were joining in the scrap.
Reno's men dismounted and fought on
foot-without success. They sought
refuge In thicket from scattering
bullets and whining arrows. And final
ly they mounted and fled in disorgan-
lied rout across the river, the Indians
picking them off as their horses
plunged through the swollen stream.
The timely appearance of Captain
Benteens command, the third unit
into which the Seventh cavalry had
been split, undoubtedly saved Reno's
column from entire liquidation. Ben
teen assumed the burden Of leadership
from the panicky, ratified Reno and
began bringing semblance of order.
But even with the doughty captain,
high class Indian fighter, In COM
mand, there was no excuse for the
Indians not smoking out these en-
battled whites. They could have boiled
up over the bluff in sufficient num-
bers to literally smother them. They
did shoot at the soldiers, it is true,
and briskly for a while. but it was
mostly disultory fire. They displayed
none OF the fury that swept Custer
from the field.
AL that June Is afternoon and night
and all the next day the white men,
sheltered by dead horses and hastily
dug rifle pits, successfully defended
themselves against the Sioux. Then
the Indians pulled down their lodges,
fired the grass and departed upstream
In . line three miles long.
What's the answer for this strange
piece of sonduct2 The Sioux had the
power 10 rub out every white soldier
tn the valley. And they certainly
should have had the incentive, after
the way their palefaced brethren had
been pushing them around for years.
stealing their land, Strengthening the
buffalo and violating treaties. This
was to have been the Sioux's final