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> as long as the ammunition held out At Greasy Grass, Custer learned this caveat the hard way: https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/historyculture/custer-s-last-mess

> as long as the ammunition held out At Greasy Grass, Custer learned this caveat the hard way: https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/historyculture/custer-s-last-message.htm https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/historyculture/custer-s-last-... (an uncharitable reading of the events of that day suggests that Custer's plan had been to Do Unto the Villagers And Then Run, but it ran into two problems: (a) the village's warriors became aware of his presence, and (b) they were mounted as well —or better— than Custer had been: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn#Role_of_Indian_noncombatants_in_Custer's_strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn#R... ) Gha mit em Schiff über ds Meer Choufe mir äs Ross u nes Gwehr Schliesse mi de Indianer a U kämpfä gägä bös wiss Maa

kragen 2y ago
i suspect that custer would have been victorious had he had maxim guns, but they hadn't been invented yet. (he didn't even bring the gatlings that were available.) that battle is notable as being one of the last significant battles the us armed forces lost to indigenous americans, and maxim's invention eight years later is, i think, a major reason for that
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  Agreed, just pointing out that the import of "Bring Packs" repeated twice is that even had he had gatlings or maxims (or even brownings or vulcans), he lacked the requisite ammunition for sustaining high rate of fire: that was all with Benteen in the baggage train.
  - kragen 2y ago
    indeed! and perhaps the reason the colonialist industrial military juggernaut spared some of the world for decades (and never quite reached, for example, ethiopia or the andaman islands) was the outdated tactics of officers like custer, whose deaths opened up the ranks to younger officers who intuitively understood industrialized warfare

kragen 2y ago

i suspect that custer would have been victorious had he had maxim guns, but they hadn't been invented yet. (he didn't even bring the gatlings that were available.) that battle is notable as being one of the last significant battles the us armed forces lost to indigenous americans, and maxim's invention eight years later is, i think, a major reason for that

082349872349872 2y ago
Agreed, just pointing out that the import of "Bring Packs" repeated twice is that even had he had gatlings or maxims (or even brownings or vulcans), he lacked the requisite ammunition for sustaining high rate of fire: that was all with Benteen in the baggage train.
- kragen 2y ago
  indeed! and perhaps the reason the colonialist industrial military juggernaut spared some of the world for decades (and never quite reached, for example, ethiopia or the andaman islands) was the outdated tactics of officers like custer, whose deaths opened up the ranks to younger officers who intuitively understood industrialized warfare