We're Surrounded - That Simplifies the Problem! - Chesty Puller, USMC

General George Armstrong Custer

The Battle of the Little Bighorn took place in Montana on June 25-26, 1876.  General George Armstrong Custer, forever famous as the namesake for "Custer's Last Stand," died alongside the men of the Seventh Calvary who he led into battle on June 25, 1876.   Accounts of the battle indicate that General Custer knew his men were outnumbered, but was more concerned that the Indians might flee before he could attack than that his men would be defeated in battle.  Most think Custer expected to be outnumbered 3-1 instead of the 12-1 that more approximates his last stand.

General Custer was not accustomed to losing.  He was described as follows:

Libby Custer

He was nearly six feet in height, broad-shouldered, lithe, and active, with a weight never above 170 pounds. His eyes were blue, his hair and mustache of golden tint. He was a man of immense strength and endurance, and, as he used neither liquors nor tobacco, his physical condition was perfect through all the hardships of his life. Eleven horses were shot under him in battle. At the age of twenty-three (1863) he was made a brigadier-general, at twenty-five (1865) a major-general.

Impressive?  I find it equally impressive that his wife Libby accompanied him on most of his campaigns after their marriage in 1864.   Her logic?  ". . . I well knew there was something far worse than fears for my own personal safety. It is infinitely worse to be left behind, a prey to all the horrors of imagining what may be happening to one we love. You eat your heart slowly out with such anxiety, and to endure such suspense is simply the hardest of all trials that come."



Last Stand Hill

In 2008, my wife and I visited the site of "Custer's Last Stand."  With gas prices averaging $4.15 a gallon at the time, attendence at most national parks we visited was sparce.  Not so for the Little Bighorn.  It was the only park we visited on that vacation that was crowded.  And Park Rangers there win the prize for their dramatic retelling of the bloodshed that occurred there on June 25-26, 1876.

According to historians, rather than wait for reinforcements after his scouts located the Indians, Custer sent Trumpeter John Martini with a message for Captain Benteen that said "Benteen, Come on, Big Village.  Be Quick, bring packs.  W.W. Cooke  P.S. bring packs."   Expecting help would arrive soon, General Custer then led his men into battle, unaware that Martini's horse had been shot out from under him on his way to deliver the message and that Benteen could have used some reinforcements himself. 

Legendary Marine General Chesty Puller, the most decorated Marine in history, reportedly once apprised the position of him and his men as follows:  "They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can't get away from us now!"

Sounds like something General Custer might have said.