Betrayal at Little Bighorn

Custer’s Last Stand on Little Bighorn could have been adverted if his subordinates had followed their orders. On June 25, 1876, Major Marcus Reno failed in his duty as a soldier and allowed Custer and his men to be massacred by Lakota and Cheyanne warriors. 

Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer received some intelligence that a Lakota/Cheyanne village was nearby. It was also made clear by Custer’s scouts that their army had been detected by the Indians. With the element of surprise lost, Custer decided to divide his army into four segments: “the pack train with ammunition and supplies, a three company force (123) commanded by Captain Frederick Benteen, a three company force (140) command by Major Marcus Reno, and a five company force (210) commanded by Custer.”¹ The pack train would stay back while the three other segments would advance on the enemy.

It was intended that all three waves would converge on the Indian village. Reno would meet with strong resistance after crossing the Ash Creek. Reno attempted to hold the line by dismounting his troops and setting up a skirmish line. As the Lakota and Cheyenne pressed the attack, Reno would be forced to retreat with his men. Many of the U.S. troops would be shot and pulled off their horses by the Indian warriors. 

Reno would regroup on top of steep bluffs to the east of Custer’s engagement with the warriors. Benteen would encounter no Indians to the south and would join Reno’s men. These officers would receive word from Custer, “Come on. Big Village. Be Quick. Brings Packs. P.S. Bring Packs.”² By this point, it was clear to Reno and his men that Custer had engaged the enemy. “Firing was heard far away to the north-ward. It was heavy and continuous. There could be but one explanation of it. Custer’s detachment had at last met the Indians and was engaged.”³ Reno would order no charge or give any support to Custer.

The four hundred men under the command of Major Reno “felt…that Custer was in grave jeopardy”⁴ and understood that they needed to support their commander immediately. Captain Weir, who led D Troop, attempted to support Custer without asking permission. Weir would advance his men to the point where they could see Custer waving his hat encouraging them to bring reinforcements.⁵ Custer must have expected then that his message was received and expected that his men would soon reinforce his attack upon the Indians.

After the fact, Major Reno would be criticized for his actions on that day. During a court of inquiry, Custer’s demise would be blamed on Reno’s “indecision and tardiness.”⁶ Evidence proved that Reno gave no attempt to support Custer’s attack. Reno failed to hold his position and attack on the Indians in the timber (where he failed to hold or advance his line) and was implied as a “coward.”⁷ The court also expressed that Reno was “lying when he testified that he had not heard Custer’s gunfire downriver.”⁸

Private Peter Thompson, a private at the battle, would say of Reno: “As I stood looking at him I could not help wondering if he knew what his duty was...he kept himself in a hole where there was no danger of being struck and no doubt would have pulled the hole in after him if he could and if he even dreamed that by so doing he could have increased his security.”⁹

Custer may have been arrogant and one of the most photographed men in the nineteenth century, but he was not an idiot. He went into the battle against the Lakota and Cheyenne with a plan. It is unclear however, if Reno had followed orders and had not been a coward if that would have prevented Custer and his men from the same fate. It is possible that all of Custer’s men might have perished that day if Reno had reinforced his command officer. But one thing is clear; Custer was indeed betrayed by his Major, Marcus Reno.

Notes:

1.       National Park Service. The Battle of the Little Bighorn. November 18, 2013. http://www.nps.gov/libi/historyculture/index.htm (accessed November 28, 2013).

2.       Ibid.

3.       Ibid.

4.       Brady, Cyrus Townsend. "War With the Sioux." Pearson's Magazine, July 1904: 280.

5.       Ibid, p. 281.        

6.       Donovan, James. "A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn, the Last Great Battle of the American West." 377. New York: Back Bay Book/Little, Brown and Company, 2008.

7.       Ibid.

8.       Ibid.

9.       Thompson, Peter. "Thompson's Narrative of the Little Big Horn." By Walt Cross, 79. Stillwater: Cross Publications, 2007.