Post by miker on Jan 26, 2023 20:57:59 GMT
Summery of A Good Walk Around the Boundary: Archaeological Inventory of the Dyck and Other Properties Adjacent to Little Bighorn National Monument.
I got this reprinted book from April 2006 for 10.00 and 3.00 shippingby ordering directly from:
history.nebraska.gov
5050 N 32nd St
Lincoln, NE 68504
They sent me a PayPal invoice and I got it in two days.
It is pretty comprehensive, discusses Scott’s previous works and incorporates many of them into the findings as presented. It is fairly conventional; Scott believes that Custer took E and F toward Ford D while C, L,and I were left behind. Information from the Bonafide map is not included due to the lack of documented finds from that work.
They believe the evidence ‘supports’ (as opposed to ‘proves’) Custer dividing his battalions into two wings: One under Keogh (C, I, & L) which went north toward Calhoun Hill and one under Yates (E and F) which went toward Ford B but only dispatched a small recon party.
The 1994 archeological evidence for combat at the mouth of Medicine Tail Coulee is meager but definitely present. The area has been heavily collected as indicated by Greene’s (1986) summary of previous collecting efforts.
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The mouth of Medicine Tail Coulle at the ford also yielded period artifacts, also numerous .45.60 caliber cartridge cases, wholly intermixed with pattle-period items. These cases are both headstamped and non-headstamped, but all were fired in Model 1886 Winchester firearms. These clearly post-date the battle. The reason for the clustering at the ford is unknown.
The 1994 investigations, however, did recover two pieces of a broken Model 1874 army mess knife, a period butcher know of the type that might have been carried by a soldier or a warrior as a sheath or belt knife, a lead refile ball, the cylinder pin to a Colt revolved, and a .30 Caliber Remington Smoot revolver cartridge case. Dan Ricky and Jesse W Vaughn also reported finding a few .45 claiber army carbine cases, some equipment and personal items, bullets, and Indian caliber cartridge cases at or near the ford (Greene 1986:20-25). Greene’s compilation and the 1994 archaeological data are entirely consistent in type and quantity. These data are also consistent with the historical accounts that a small action with only limited firing occurred at the ford. The finds of other soldier equipment indicate some items were lost at or near the ford are consisted with the conclusion reached by Ricky and Vaught that at least one cavalry horse may have been hit and in plunging around scattered items attached to the saddle. Ricky and Vaughn also noted they recovered some spent Berdan primed .45 caliber cartridge cases. Unfortunately these are not available for examination, but they may well be .45/60 caliber cases like those found in 1994.
The information presented on the Custer Ridge Extension and Cemetery Ridge Episode is interesting. It starts with saying that the left wing, under Yates, with Custer and his staff, moved from Calhoun Hill through the Keogh Sector past Last Stand Hill and continued in a westerly direction toward a river ford north of the village site. (Fox 1993: 173-194). Fox further concludes, mostly on the basis of Indian testimony, that the wing moved near the river.
This area is impacted by various actions which compromised much of it , however:
There is clear evidence for combat actions on the Northern extension of Custer Ridge, in the ravines below the Custer Ridge Extension (CRE), and along an extension of Cemetray Ridge adjacent to the old park entrance road.
All the .45.55 carbine and .45 caliber Colt revolver cases were recovered North of the present park entrance road. Bullets of various calibers were found South of the road but are generally limited to the Cemetery Ridge extension and its associated ravines.
.
.
.
It is assumed that the cavalrymen fired the majority, if not all, of the .45 Springfield bullets, then it appears Sioux and Cheyanne warriors used the two ridges. The orientation of the bullets, as recorded at the time of discover, gives the impression that most were fired from the Last Stand Hill vicinity…
.
.
.
… At least 10 carbines are indicated by the firearms identification. Four of these matched to cases found on Calhoun Hill in 1985 and cases representing one gun also came from the Keogh Area. The 1994 matches to the 1984 finds indicated movement of those firearms across a mile area.
.
.
.
The archeolocial and historical history indicates that the army cases deposing on Calhoun Hill and In Calhoun Coulee were most likely deposited by members of Companies C and L. There is no historic evidence that any members of these companies were part of the movement to the North; in fact, there is evidence to the contrary. (MKR: not documented in the text by the author.)
.
.
.
We may reasonably conclude that the left wing and Custer did move North through Last Stand Hill and Northwesterly along the Custer Ridge Extension at least a quarter mile. However, Fox’s (1993) theory that the command moved West to near the river is not supported by any archaeological evidence gathered to date….
…Whatever route Crazy Horse took, Custer’s left wing met with opposition….
…Archeological evidence suggests that when Custer made the movement to Last Stand Hill numerous warriors gained the Custer Ridge Extension and began firing at the remaining members of the command … The bullet orientation strongly suggests this, even though we found very few corresponding army caliber cartridge cases on Last Stand Hill during the 1984 investigation (Scott et al. 1989). One likely reason cartridge cases were not recovered in corresponding quantity is that they were souvenirs from the heavily visited field in the ensuing decade.
The book has several maps, tables, and figures illustrating the finds and course of the battle. I have composed the following map based on the paragraphs above.
• The light blue line indicates movement of the Keogh wing. The dashed blue line shows a path from Calhoun Hill to the vicinity of I company.
• The dark blue line indicates movement of the Yates wing.
• The graphic with the double arrowheads indicates an attack by fire by the cavalry in the region of Ford B.
• The light blue dashed lines indicate the approximate position of the skirmish lines of L, C, and I.
• The Red semi-circle indicates the direction from which the Indians attacked L,C, and I.
• The transparent red arrows indicate the general direction and composition of the Indian attacks on the Custer Battalion.
The blue squares represent 1000m from side to side and top to bottom. I have composed a scale showing 100m increments. The map itself is a 1:12500 map of the LBH. I cropped the map to the indicated area and then made it larger for display. I do not - nor does the book - proport that the locations and routes are accurate but merely represent the general movement of units. My intention, at which I probably failed, was to show the locations where the individual units were destroyed in the Calhoun and Last Stand Hill locations.
Ramifications.
Thus we have Archeological evidence
• Disproving my scenario of Custer’s destruction without an attempt to reach Ford D (This probably comes as no surprise to anyone on the board.)
• Providing little or no support for the entire battalion moving toward Ford D.
• Supporting movement of at least E and F along Battle/Custer ridge extension
• Not supporting the propostiion any portion of the battalion got close to Ford D, much less into the valley, and that it did not make it very far off the later to be established reservation boundary. (I think this is pretty much Chuck’s conclusion, except that he believes the whole battalion went toward Ford D.)
It now requires me to figure out some aspect of the timing of the destruction of E and F. I find it very odd that they were not pursued either from the SE or from Ford D as they turned around. Since this has vexed me since I started studying the battle, do not expect a proposal anytime soon.
I got this reprinted book from April 2006 for 10.00 and 3.00 shippingby ordering directly from:
history.nebraska.gov
5050 N 32nd St
Lincoln, NE 68504
They sent me a PayPal invoice and I got it in two days.
It is pretty comprehensive, discusses Scott’s previous works and incorporates many of them into the findings as presented. It is fairly conventional; Scott believes that Custer took E and F toward Ford D while C, L,and I were left behind. Information from the Bonafide map is not included due to the lack of documented finds from that work.
They believe the evidence ‘supports’ (as opposed to ‘proves’) Custer dividing his battalions into two wings: One under Keogh (C, I, & L) which went north toward Calhoun Hill and one under Yates (E and F) which went toward Ford B but only dispatched a small recon party.
The 1994 archeological evidence for combat at the mouth of Medicine Tail Coulee is meager but definitely present. The area has been heavily collected as indicated by Greene’s (1986) summary of previous collecting efforts.
.
.
.
The mouth of Medicine Tail Coulle at the ford also yielded period artifacts, also numerous .45.60 caliber cartridge cases, wholly intermixed with pattle-period items. These cases are both headstamped and non-headstamped, but all were fired in Model 1886 Winchester firearms. These clearly post-date the battle. The reason for the clustering at the ford is unknown.
The 1994 investigations, however, did recover two pieces of a broken Model 1874 army mess knife, a period butcher know of the type that might have been carried by a soldier or a warrior as a sheath or belt knife, a lead refile ball, the cylinder pin to a Colt revolved, and a .30 Caliber Remington Smoot revolver cartridge case. Dan Ricky and Jesse W Vaughn also reported finding a few .45 claiber army carbine cases, some equipment and personal items, bullets, and Indian caliber cartridge cases at or near the ford (Greene 1986:20-25). Greene’s compilation and the 1994 archaeological data are entirely consistent in type and quantity. These data are also consistent with the historical accounts that a small action with only limited firing occurred at the ford. The finds of other soldier equipment indicate some items were lost at or near the ford are consisted with the conclusion reached by Ricky and Vaught that at least one cavalry horse may have been hit and in plunging around scattered items attached to the saddle. Ricky and Vaughn also noted they recovered some spent Berdan primed .45 caliber cartridge cases. Unfortunately these are not available for examination, but they may well be .45/60 caliber cases like those found in 1994.
The information presented on the Custer Ridge Extension and Cemetery Ridge Episode is interesting. It starts with saying that the left wing, under Yates, with Custer and his staff, moved from Calhoun Hill through the Keogh Sector past Last Stand Hill and continued in a westerly direction toward a river ford north of the village site. (Fox 1993: 173-194). Fox further concludes, mostly on the basis of Indian testimony, that the wing moved near the river.
This area is impacted by various actions which compromised much of it , however:
There is clear evidence for combat actions on the Northern extension of Custer Ridge, in the ravines below the Custer Ridge Extension (CRE), and along an extension of Cemetray Ridge adjacent to the old park entrance road.
All the .45.55 carbine and .45 caliber Colt revolver cases were recovered North of the present park entrance road. Bullets of various calibers were found South of the road but are generally limited to the Cemetery Ridge extension and its associated ravines.
.
.
.
It is assumed that the cavalrymen fired the majority, if not all, of the .45 Springfield bullets, then it appears Sioux and Cheyanne warriors used the two ridges. The orientation of the bullets, as recorded at the time of discover, gives the impression that most were fired from the Last Stand Hill vicinity…
.
.
.
… At least 10 carbines are indicated by the firearms identification. Four of these matched to cases found on Calhoun Hill in 1985 and cases representing one gun also came from the Keogh Area. The 1994 matches to the 1984 finds indicated movement of those firearms across a mile area.
.
.
.
The archeolocial and historical history indicates that the army cases deposing on Calhoun Hill and In Calhoun Coulee were most likely deposited by members of Companies C and L. There is no historic evidence that any members of these companies were part of the movement to the North; in fact, there is evidence to the contrary. (MKR: not documented in the text by the author.)
.
.
.
We may reasonably conclude that the left wing and Custer did move North through Last Stand Hill and Northwesterly along the Custer Ridge Extension at least a quarter mile. However, Fox’s (1993) theory that the command moved West to near the river is not supported by any archaeological evidence gathered to date….
…Whatever route Crazy Horse took, Custer’s left wing met with opposition….
…Archeological evidence suggests that when Custer made the movement to Last Stand Hill numerous warriors gained the Custer Ridge Extension and began firing at the remaining members of the command … The bullet orientation strongly suggests this, even though we found very few corresponding army caliber cartridge cases on Last Stand Hill during the 1984 investigation (Scott et al. 1989). One likely reason cartridge cases were not recovered in corresponding quantity is that they were souvenirs from the heavily visited field in the ensuing decade.
The book has several maps, tables, and figures illustrating the finds and course of the battle. I have composed the following map based on the paragraphs above.
• The light blue line indicates movement of the Keogh wing. The dashed blue line shows a path from Calhoun Hill to the vicinity of I company.
• The dark blue line indicates movement of the Yates wing.
• The graphic with the double arrowheads indicates an attack by fire by the cavalry in the region of Ford B.
• The light blue dashed lines indicate the approximate position of the skirmish lines of L, C, and I.
• The Red semi-circle indicates the direction from which the Indians attacked L,C, and I.
• The transparent red arrows indicate the general direction and composition of the Indian attacks on the Custer Battalion.
The blue squares represent 1000m from side to side and top to bottom. I have composed a scale showing 100m increments. The map itself is a 1:12500 map of the LBH. I cropped the map to the indicated area and then made it larger for display. I do not - nor does the book - proport that the locations and routes are accurate but merely represent the general movement of units. My intention, at which I probably failed, was to show the locations where the individual units were destroyed in the Calhoun and Last Stand Hill locations.
Ramifications.
Thus we have Archeological evidence
• Disproving my scenario of Custer’s destruction without an attempt to reach Ford D (This probably comes as no surprise to anyone on the board.)
• Providing little or no support for the entire battalion moving toward Ford D.
• Supporting movement of at least E and F along Battle/Custer ridge extension
• Not supporting the propostiion any portion of the battalion got close to Ford D, much less into the valley, and that it did not make it very far off the later to be established reservation boundary. (I think this is pretty much Chuck’s conclusion, except that he believes the whole battalion went toward Ford D.)
It now requires me to figure out some aspect of the timing of the destruction of E and F. I find it very odd that they were not pursued either from the SE or from Ford D as they turned around. Since this has vexed me since I started studying the battle, do not expect a proposal anytime soon.
