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http://www.freep.com/article/20100625/E ... old-by-DIA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

“This is Michigan and this is Custer, one of the greatest heroes Michigan has produced...

This Michigan "hero" slaughtered innocent women and children and elders at Washita. Custer got what was coming to him. Sadly, he didn't get it soon enough. IMO, Custer stands as a repugnant blemish on all that is good about the USA. It's a pity that he took the 7th Cavalry with him.

Oldgringo wrote:It's a pity that he took the 7th Cavalry with him.

Not all perished...

Though only a historical unit descendent.. The 7th, still has members alive, kicking.. AND serving the Nation.
As for his reported transgressions.. I’ll leave that to the Historians.. I was not there. (I aint THAT old)

bronco78 wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:It's a pity that he took the 7th Cavalry with him.

Not all perished...

Though only a historical unit descendent.. The 7th, still has members alive, kicking.. AND serving the Nation.
As for his reported transgressions.. I’ll leave that to the Historians.. I was not there. (I aint THAT old)

If the reference is to the patch on the shoulder in the picture, that's the 7th Infantry Division, not the 7th Cavalry regiment. I served in the 7th ID for 3 tours, two in Korea and one in the States. The 7th Cavalry Regiment is now part of 4 different Infantry Divisions. Squadrons of the 7th Cav. serve with the 1st Cav Div, 2d ID, and the 3d ID. There are 5 squadrons of the 7th Cav in total today.

If I misunderstood the post, I apologize.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Cavalr ... _States%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Infant ... _States%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry, inside joke... Yes I'm aware of all of that. I was in 7th ID from 1988 to 1992, Now at Hood , having served in 1-7, 2-5 and finally 1CD HQ
1-7 CAV as part of 1st BCT, 1CD is in lineage to Custer’s 7th.

In closing,, it was the guy wearing the 7th ID patch, not the patch.

bronco78 wrote:Sorry, inside joke... Yes I'm aware of all of that. I was in 7th ID from 1988 to 1992, Now at Hood , having served in 1-7, 2-5 and finally 1CD HQ
1-7 CAV as part of 1st BCT, 1CD is in lineage to Custer’s 7th.

In closing,, it was the guy wearing the 7th ID patch, not the patch.

OK cool. That's why I said IF the reference was to the patch. Just didn't want the two to be confused. Both units have highly distinguished records. My Cav days were spent in the 2/10 Cav as part of the 7th ID.

bronco78 wrote:As for his reported transgressions.. I’ll leave that to the Historians.. I was not there. (I aint THAT old)

He doesn't call himself Oldgringo for nothing.

Oldgringo wrote:

“This is Michigan and this is Custer, one of the greatest heroes Michigan has produced...

This Michigan "hero" slaughtered innocent women and children and elders at Washita. Custer got what was coming to him. Sadly, he didn't get it soon enough. IMO, Custer stands as a repugnant blemish on all that is good about the USA. It's a pity that he took the 7th Cavalry with him.

He still didn't take all of the 7th with him, my great grandfather John Sylvanus Loud was an officer in the 7th later.

jimlongley wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:

“This is Michigan and this is Custer, one of the greatest heroes Michigan has produced...

This Michigan "hero" slaughtered innocent women and children and elders at Washita. Custer got what was coming to him. Sadly, he didn't get it soon enough. IMO, Custer stands as a repugnant blemish on all that is good about the USA. It's a pity that he took the 7th Cavalry with him.

He still didn't take all of the 7th with him, my great grandfather John Sylvanus Loud was an officer in the 7th later.

In addition to Big Medicine and the other Crow scouts that Custer arrogantly dismissed, I recall (?) there was a 7th Cavalry horse named "Commanche" that survived Custer's last folly. BTW, one of my favorite movies of all time, Little Big Man, had passages on the events leading up to the battle of the Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn).

The 7th Cavalry Regiment survived the battle of Little Big Horn the troopers in the five companies (troops) under the command of Custer were killed to a man. Major Reno's command and Captain Benteen's command took heavy losses but, weren't wiped out. I watched a program on the historoy channel (HCI I think) just last night on the Indian's view of the battle of Little Big Horn. They view the battle as a defensive battle against an invading force. There were alligations from the scouts that Custer dismissed that Custer did nothing but watch Reno's men fight for their lives. He could have gone to Reno's aid and won the whole affair.

Family lore/legend has it that an ancestor of mine among the Teamsters for the 7th Cavalry survived. This of course is because the civilian teamsters all listened to the scouts and departed the vicinity the night before the final battle.

I'm not qualified to judge Custer's tactics. Some authors suggest he erred tactically by dividing his command prior to the attack. Benteen thought so, and said so afterwards. But Benteen also disliked Custer, so not exactly an unbiased viewpoint.

My armchair reading paints a picture of Custer as being callous and uncaring about his enlisted men (if true, that doesn't endear him to me).

I think Custer deserves harshest criticism if, as has also been suggested, he pushed to attack the village in order to win personal/political glory (again, at the ultimate expense of his men). As I understand it, his orders were to keep the Indians from escaping to the south, and to drive them towards Terry's advancing infantry.

J.R.@A&M wrote:I'm not qualified to judge Custer's tactics. Some authors suggest he erred tactically by dividing his command prior to the attack. Benteen thought so, and said so afterwards. But Benteen also disliked Custer, so not exactly an unbiased viewpoint.

My armchair reading paints a picture of Custer as being callous and uncaring about his enlisted men (if true, that doesn't endear him to me).

I think Custer deserves harshest criticism if, as has also been suggested, he pushed to attack the village in order to win personal/political glory (again, at the ultimate expense of his men). As I understand it, his orders were to keep the Indians from escaping to the south, and to drive them towards Terry's advancing infantry.

Yes, Custer was not alone out there, there was a much larger force not far away, and it is quite likely that events would reached a much different conclusion if Custer had done what he was supposed to.

My great-grandfather knew Custer fairly well, both were officers during the late civil war and when the Army reduced in size shortly after, they stayed in and were part of a small officer corps. My grandmother used to reminisce about her father's tales of the goings on in the Army in those days, as well as his involvement in the "Pine Ridge Campaign" which influenced my cousin and her husband to write a well received book about that time: "Letters from the Field: John Sylvanus Loud and the Pine Ridge Campaign of 1890-1891" and he WAS involved in Wounded Knee.

My great-grandfather was much less than impressed with Custer.

Much of the reading I've done has portrayed George Armstrong Custer as a glory hound.