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Post by quincannon on Jan 19, 2018 16:47:39 GMT
Excellent Ian. Pictures are always more valuable than word descriptions.
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Post by yanmacca on Jan 19, 2018 20:34:37 GMT
I would think that if they had enough time, that the horses from both E and F would be stashed somewhere, you do read accounts of soldiers trying to fire while holding their own horses, I am not sure if these men where from E, F or even C companies.
If both E and F where in a similar position as on that map and they had time, then I would guess that the small ravine which runs down to where the yellow F and box are situated, is the most likely option.
I would guess that the best place to leave your horses would be out of the line of fire, which would be a double edged sword as it also restricts the line of site of the horse holders to any strike on their position, so this ravine is ideally placed.
I would also think that Custer himself + his entourage would be behind these companies and probably not far from the horses. They could be as far back as the cemetery, but that would leave them in the path of any assault from the north or even the route the suicide boys took.
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Post by quincannon on Jan 19, 2018 22:26:42 GMT
Ian: I believe it is almost an exercise in futility to try and identify all the places that may have been used as battle positions, or to stash horses, or locate the command group.
We really have nothing solid in that regard, other that where the markers are indicating the general location where something took place, and where some died.
If this battle had happened yesterday, battlefield forensics would give us all the answers we would require to put these pieces together to form a perfect or near perfect picture of events. We could examine every thing from horse droppings, to shell casings, to the actual D and A of every body to assure positive identification of each casualty and to whom they belonged.
We have none of these tools available that really could aide us in thoroughly examining that battle in this present day. I suspect that the closest we have is shell casings, but even then, while we may determine that this casing on LSH matches one found in Putt's toilet, we have absolutely no idea of whose hand that weapon was in when it was fired.
I pay little heed to body identifications as well. Most of these people were mutilated and dismembered beyond the ability in those days to render 100 percent certitude identification. The First Sergeant of Company E for instance was so mutilated that the means of identification used for him were the initials embroidered in his socks. That's OK I guess if that's all you have to go on, but what if he lent a pair of spare socks to his buddy Corporal Numbnuts, and the First Sergeant of Company E was somehow included in the unidentified bodies in the Keogh (Company I) area. Far fetched perhaps, but there is not a damned soul living since 25/6/76 that could disprove it.
So what we have apparently is up to anyone's guesswork, yours no better than mine, and neither of ours any better than anyone else's including Wagner, or Rini, or the Man in the Moon. But is that so? Guesswork must fall within the practices of known parameters. It must meet the logical actions test. Guesswork must be plausible to meet what I call the Kidnapped By Aliens In Deep Coulee Test. In other words if a person's guesswork seems to be on par with being kidnapped by aliens that guesswork probably leaves a hell of a lot to be desired when it comes to being plausible
Your great work on that map this morning shows everyone who looks at it how implausible the Wagner theory of events are. As Mac says, the geometry is all wrong. It poses far more questions and exposes many more flaws in reasoned thinking than it solves. You deserve a lot of credit for the effort.
For now though the entire story of the events of the afternoon of 25/6/76 can be laid on the doorstep of Captain Kirk who miserably failed to get his crew served Phasers in place on F-F Ridge, and don't let anyone tell you any different.
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