Forwards and get the hell out of here

[yanmacca]

Hi everyone, and I hope you are all looking forward to your weekend.

Now Beth has come up with a great idea to try and simulate the movement of the Custer column after it left the LNC ridge complex, now this will hopefully be visualized in a way which shows the column moving to ford D, then withdrawing to cemetery ridge and battle ridge extensions before breaking into individual companies in a hope to get back to LNC.

Now Beth is getting one of her daughters on board, because if the truth be known, this is an area that I know little about .

Right to get the ball rolling I am going to show you some maps, now these will try and picture the route taken by the column as it approached the eastern side of battle ridge and its route to find the fords up north, the second map will show what positions they took in the time between withdrawing from the ford to before they tried to get back to LNC, and the third will try and show the order they rode to reach LNC, finally the fourth will visualize the positions they ended on before being destroyed, so here goes with map one, the approach;

[yanmacca]

Map two the withdraw from the ford;

[yanmacca]

Number three;

[yanmacca]

Number four the stopping points;

[yanmacca]

Now we really could do with everyone getting on board with this one and try to come to some agreement on these maps, so lets go and if anyone thinks that I have made a mistake with any routes or positions, then this is the time to speak up so I can amend things.

[quincannon]

I think that the first map ought to indicate a split somewhere around the memorial with one part of the battalion going to that place where the river comes to a point near the housing area, and the second element going first north toward the trading post and then west to the I90/US212 intersection, and stopping there.

I further believe where you had the red line approaching the river was where that second element intended to go, but never got that far.

Now look at the second map and consider what I just said. On that second map I think the two goose eggs representing the positions on Cemetery Ridge and BRE are just about right, but if you go back to that point you have the red line touching the river, a withdrawal from that place to the two goose eggs does not make sense. Logic would tell you that they would have withdrawn to BRE, all of them, if all five were in that flat area above the highway bridge and below the intersection.

The Kellogg marker tells us that the river was approached on two axis of advance.

[yanmacca]

Thank you Chuck, now these things will take time, probably because I have to find the places you refer too, but here we go, the advance map amended;

[yanmacca]

Regroup after ford D;

[yanmacca]

Withdrawal by L, C and I and the rear guard by E and F;

[quincannon]

No your original second map was perfect. The amended map showing the approach I believe is spot on.

[quincannon]

Ian: I want you to imagine a door in your house. The hinge side of that door is that point where the river turns, by the housing area. The latch is where the highway and road bridges across the river are.

Now pretend that is the door to your bedroom and you want to take a nap. You start to close that door and the door swings only to be stopped by a brick about half way into the swing that closes the door. The door never reaches the latch and the force of the door in its swinging motion hitting the brick bounces the door back to the place the door started its swing. Think of a swinging door approach to the river by Custer and you have a decent representation of what happened in that first phase.

Actually when Joan wants to take an afternoon nap she has a brick, that has some sort of a knitted cover that her mom made. She closes the door only three quarters of the way, because the dog likes to take a nap with her, and often times the dog wishes to leave the room. That is why she does not shut the door all the way.

So in this example the hinge represents the closest any of Custer's units got to the river. The door itself is the wide front of the line presented by five companies. The latch represents the extreme right flank of the location which was the right most company's crossing point. The brick is the Indians east of the river that stopped them. The positions on BRE and Cemetery Ridge is the door back in its completely open position.

[yanmacca]

Sort like deflected or bounced away from their objective, yes I can visualize that Chuck.

So up to now in your view, that out of the original maps;

amended map 1
original map two
original map three
original map four

Are Ok, or should I make an extra one to depict this deflection.

[quincannon]

That is OK. Let it fly.

[Beth]

Thanks Ian for getting the ball rolling, once we have several maps showing the points on the way then the plans are to make sort of an animation so we can see it actually in motion. It's going to take a bit of time of course, but Kid 2 has promised to help us.

[mac]

Love the maps Ian. Well done!
This is a terrific initiative.
Cheers