We're leaving tomorrow on what we call our bucket list tour. There are some places we've talked about going to but never got around to. After spending the night in the Chicago area we'll head up into Wisc. to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen. From there we travel acros S.D. stopping to see Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. Into Montana to see the Custer battlefield and the Lewis and Clark exhibit at Great Falls. Up to Calgary and then over to Banff to play their beautiful course. Down to Coeur D'alene and their real island green. Then it's down through Yellowstone to Jackson Hole to visit Mary's sister and play some golf. From there we go to Cheyenne to catch Frontier Days. Curtis Rucker and Kevin Costner are playing the night we're there. Over to Lincoln (staying at the Cornhusker Hotel.) Over to St. Louis and then my daughter's in Indy. When it's all done we'll have driven over 5,500 miles and slept in 15 beds in 20 days.
Safe journeys M&M. Cindy and I planned to make Mt Rushmore part of or December trip last year... thought a little more... decided that RV travel that far North in the Winter would not be the best decision. :?
:idea: Do me a favor. I've probably read more than 50 books on the Battle of the Little Bighorn and I have a pretty good idea of what happened, but virtually every book was written from a particular point of view. When you're there, take a few notes and give me your own opinion of the times and distances involved: - Could Benteen have supported Custer as he was ordered to do? - Could Custer have known how big the village was when he divided his forces? - How far is "Last Stand Hill" from the river? ..Thx! ...........JO'Co
Looking at Mike's agenda, you'll have to do a couple of things 1. put up a teepee in the front yard. 2. have a weenie roast every night but dance around a lot hollering and some how relate it the whole thing to the Sioux, Buffaloes and short game.
JO'Co Benteen may have been able to attempt to support Custer but A. Reno's men would have all perished and B. Benteen's command would have drowned in the same ocean of Indians. After extensive interviews I've determined that Custer never had the opportunity to see the full Indian village. He wanted to keep hidden from the enemy as long as possible. He traveled parallel to the river in a cooley an could not see the river. At one point he did move to a high point but from there he could only observe the southernmost part of the camp maybe 500 Indians strong. The topography kept him from seeind the other 80-90 per cent. The consensus belief is that the river was about 3/4 of a mile from Last Stand Hill.
I've been to Little Big Horn twice, both for only a couple of hours. They changed the format between the two trips. The first time there was a talk in a tent outside where the action actually took place. The speaker made a big deal about the kind of rifles that Custer's troops had and how they were detrimental to them in fighting the indians at the range they were at. I wish I remembered more details, but that stuck with me.
Bill Because of weight restrictions 7 th cavalry was carrying single shot carbines. Some Indians had repeating rifles.
:idea: As I remember, the 7th Cavalry had single shot breech-loading rifles, while the Indians had Henry repeating rifles and arrows that they could fire at 20 per minute. Custer had been complaining about how he was out-gunned in his official reports back to Sheridan in Chicago. While I agree with the park rangers that weaponry was a factor, the single biggest factor was simply the number of combatants engaged. Without his expected support from Benteen and after Reno's failure at the other end of the village, Custer had a total of 210 mostly foreign Irish, inexperienced troopers, against thousands and thousands of Sioux and Cheyenne. The actual number of Indians will never be known, because young warriors had been sneaking off their reservations to join this war party all summer. The lowest number of warriors in this camp that I've ever heard of was 3,500; with other estimates up to 9,000; and most historians putting their number at around 5,000-7,500. No matter which number you pick, this battle didn't last long. Reno's men heard it all and timed the first shot to the last shot at 45 minutes. This would include soldiers being tortured and executed after the battle, so the main battle itself probably didn't exceed 20-25 minutes... <object><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pbpWljQM_p4?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pbpWljQM_p4?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>
Crazy Horse's version of the Battle which appeared in the newspapers the following year... <object><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OU9iyFim4sA?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OU9iyFim4sA?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>
:lol: Mike make sure he gives you an A on the assignment I cant believe he gave you homework and you did it... Oh wait yeah I can believe it what was that 2 peas in a pod
I want you to know I spent over an hour typing a report and then when I submitted it, I had been logged out and it vanished. I haven't the heart to type another one tonight.
Had that happen before... If I have something long to type, I do it in Word and then copy/paste into a post.