Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2022 18:16:02 GMT
Crossing the Deadly Ground by Perry D Jamieson
Discusses the evolution of tactics from the end of the Not so Civil War to the Spanish-American War. Two chapters on Indian Fighting.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
BLUF: Custer was no tactician. Probably the only officers I would rate as tacticians were Benteen and Godfrey.
Some salient points.
*No description of tactical doctrine as we would describe it today. However, doctrine is not the same as theory and there was theoretical discussion going on.
*Upton sort of bridges the gap between drill field parading and tactical movement of troops to the battlefield. I am not sure he described the Movement to Contact or Zone Reconnaissance as we know it today.
*I see the tactical employment or troops as something like this:
-----Move toward the enemy or objective. (It is unclear to me if they described objectives in the manner we do today. I doubt it.)
-----Move from Column into Line
-----Charge or form mounted/dismounted skirmish line.
----------Frontal assault or sometimes a flanking maneuver.
-----Concentric attack/ envelopment
-----Linear Defense (for the most part, although Reno/Benteen formed an all around Defense. Other than Calhoun, I don't really think Custer's portion of the Regiment did)
-----Rally/Circle
-----Use of Advance, Rear, and Flank Guards, as Custer did most of the time on the approach to the Little Big Horn Area, using four battalions.
*Limited Tactical Training at West Point and none after war
*Little or no Tactical Training or discussion in 'the field". Too consumed with maintaining the fort/garrison and taking care of horses.
*Little or no Marksmanship training. The 20 rounds/soldier per month(?) was frequently used for hunting.
*Winter Campaigning was a US advantage. (We would have had this advantage in Afghanistan, too, but we didn't make use of it.)
Other interesting views:
Indian Wars were not "real wars". That was the civil war and most instruction was on that or European war. (Same today. IMHO the "real war" is the one you are in, not the theoretical war you want to fight.
Mentions the books Mountain Scouting: A handbook for Officers and soldiers on the Frontiers and Prairie Traveler which were the closest things to tactical books at the time, but are not in the bibliography. I have read both and ya'll should too.
Finding the Indians was the main problem, then maintaining contact. Use of Indian Scouts. But most billets were not filled for them. Some did not trust them, but only one "green on blue" attack documented during the Indian Wars, unlike Afghanistan. Many did not trust them.
Marksmanship was intensified after 1880, some thought too much.
When I went to the Military History Instructor Course, a really obnoxious teacher taught all the Indian War stuff. The whole classes eyes rolled up in our heads when he talked. After WWII, we thought we were through with Indian Wars, but Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Korea was an Indian War, as was Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, Iraq II, and Afghanistan. The Real War (TM) (R) (C) is the Indian War. hahahaha.
Books in the Bibliography I have read:
Mackenzie's Last Fight with the Cheyanne: A Winter Campaign in Wyoming and Montana
The March of the Montana Column: A Prelude to the Custer Disaster
Troopers with Custer: Historic Incidents of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Campaigning with Crook
The Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876
Custer's Last Stand: Mitch Boyer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Yellowstone Command: Colnel Nelson a Miles and the Great Sioux War 1876-1877
The Great Sioux War, 1876-1877
Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian: 1866-1891. (The Indian Wars, not Afghanistan is our longest war.)
Upton and the Army
Cavalier in Buckskin
A Military History of the Western World (3 volumsn) (JFC Fuller)
For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of America
The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy
History of the United States Army
Custer, Godfrey, and the Little Bighorn are mentioned about 30 times in the book. He regards Godfrey pretty well.
I remain surprised there are no copies of Uptons Cavalry or artillery tactics available. The Infantry one is and they are all very similar, but I would really like to get my hands on one.
Discusses the evolution of tactics from the end of the Not so Civil War to the Spanish-American War. Two chapters on Indian Fighting.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
BLUF: Custer was no tactician. Probably the only officers I would rate as tacticians were Benteen and Godfrey.
Some salient points.
*No description of tactical doctrine as we would describe it today. However, doctrine is not the same as theory and there was theoretical discussion going on.
*Upton sort of bridges the gap between drill field parading and tactical movement of troops to the battlefield. I am not sure he described the Movement to Contact or Zone Reconnaissance as we know it today.
*I see the tactical employment or troops as something like this:
-----Move toward the enemy or objective. (It is unclear to me if they described objectives in the manner we do today. I doubt it.)
-----Move from Column into Line
-----Charge or form mounted/dismounted skirmish line.
----------Frontal assault or sometimes a flanking maneuver.
-----Concentric attack/ envelopment
-----Linear Defense (for the most part, although Reno/Benteen formed an all around Defense. Other than Calhoun, I don't really think Custer's portion of the Regiment did)
-----Rally/Circle
-----Use of Advance, Rear, and Flank Guards, as Custer did most of the time on the approach to the Little Big Horn Area, using four battalions.
*Limited Tactical Training at West Point and none after war
*Little or no Tactical Training or discussion in 'the field". Too consumed with maintaining the fort/garrison and taking care of horses.
*Little or no Marksmanship training. The 20 rounds/soldier per month(?) was frequently used for hunting.
*Winter Campaigning was a US advantage. (We would have had this advantage in Afghanistan, too, but we didn't make use of it.)
Other interesting views:
Indian Wars were not "real wars". That was the civil war and most instruction was on that or European war. (Same today. IMHO the "real war" is the one you are in, not the theoretical war you want to fight.
Mentions the books Mountain Scouting: A handbook for Officers and soldiers on the Frontiers and Prairie Traveler which were the closest things to tactical books at the time, but are not in the bibliography. I have read both and ya'll should too.
Finding the Indians was the main problem, then maintaining contact. Use of Indian Scouts. But most billets were not filled for them. Some did not trust them, but only one "green on blue" attack documented during the Indian Wars, unlike Afghanistan. Many did not trust them.
Marksmanship was intensified after 1880, some thought too much.
When I went to the Military History Instructor Course, a really obnoxious teacher taught all the Indian War stuff. The whole classes eyes rolled up in our heads when he talked. After WWII, we thought we were through with Indian Wars, but Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Korea was an Indian War, as was Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, Iraq II, and Afghanistan. The Real War (TM) (R) (C) is the Indian War. hahahaha.
Books in the Bibliography I have read:
Mackenzie's Last Fight with the Cheyanne: A Winter Campaign in Wyoming and Montana
The March of the Montana Column: A Prelude to the Custer Disaster
Troopers with Custer: Historic Incidents of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Campaigning with Crook
The Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876
Custer's Last Stand: Mitch Boyer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Yellowstone Command: Colnel Nelson a Miles and the Great Sioux War 1876-1877
The Great Sioux War, 1876-1877
Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian: 1866-1891. (The Indian Wars, not Afghanistan is our longest war.)
Upton and the Army
Cavalier in Buckskin
A Military History of the Western World (3 volumsn) (JFC Fuller)
For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of America
The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy
History of the United States Army
Custer, Godfrey, and the Little Bighorn are mentioned about 30 times in the book. He regards Godfrey pretty well.
I remain surprised there are no copies of Uptons Cavalry or artillery tactics available. The Infantry one is and they are all very similar, but I would really like to get my hands on one.
