Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle:The Little Big Horn Reexamined

Description

On the afternoon of June 25| 1867| an overwhelming force of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians quickly mounted a savage onslaught against General George Armstrong Custer’s battalion| driving the doomed troopers of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry to a small hill overlooking the Little Bighorn River| where Custer and his men bravely erected their heroic last stand.
So goes the myth of the Battle of the Little Bighorn| a myth perpetuated and reinforced for over 100 years.
In truth| however| “Custer’s Last Stand” was neither the last of the fighting nor a stand.
Using innovative and standard archaeological techniques| combined with historical documents and Indian eyewitness accounts| Richard Allan Fox| Jr. vividly replays this battle in astonishing detail.
Through bullets| spent cartridges| and other material data| Fox identifies combat positions and tracks soldiers and Indians across the Battlefield.
Guided by the history beneath our feet| and listening to the previously ignored Indian testimonies| Fox reveals scenes of panic and collapse and| ultimately| a story of the Custer battle quite different from the fatalistic versions of history.
According to the author| the five companies of the Seventh Cavalry entered the fray in good order| following planned strategies and displaying tactical stability.
It was the sudden disintegration of this cohesion that caused the troopers’ defeat.
The end came quickly| unexpectedly| and largely amid terror and disarray.
Archaeological evidences show that there was no determined fighting and little firearm resistance.
The last soldiers to be killed had rushed from Custer Hill.