The Devil is in the Details, or New Details of the Battle of Little Bighorn
A still from the film "Sons of the Big Dipper." Tokei Ito with a Winchester rifle, 1873.
"It's a good day to die; follow me," Low Dog shouted to his men, as reported by Captain Howe of the Standing Rock Agency, and later repeated by Judson Elliott Walker in General Custer's Campaigns in the Northwest and the Final Surrender of Sitting Bull, published in 1881.
Puzzles stories. We've already covered the Battle of Little Bighorn, where the United States Army suffered one of the most shameful defeats in its history, on numerous occasions on the pages of VO. But... Every year, we learn more and more about this event. Archaeological excavations have long been underway at the site of the battle, and they are yielding new information that, in some cases, forces us to look at the events that unfolded in a new way. Or, conversely, we are receiving confirmation of what the surviving participants told us after the battle.
For example, it was reported that soldiers firing Springfield carbines encountered difficulty extracting spent cartridges from the chamber. Such cartridges were indeed found at the battlefield, and microscopic examination revealed that several of them had been removed from the carbine chamber with a knife. In two cases, the rim and base were even torn during the extraction process.
The overall calculation revealed that extraction problems accounted for 4,3% and 5,6% of failures at the two Little Bighorn sites, respectively. This yields an average overall failure rate of 5%. Ultimately, archaeological evidence has revealed more carbines with extraction problems than historically documented. It is also clear that two factors exist beyond archaeology's control: cases where the spent cartridge case proved impossible to extract after firing, and cases where the cartridge case was eventually extracted using Captain French's cleaning rod.
Here's another question that hasn't been addressed before: if the army had problems with cartridge case extraction, did Native American warriors encounter a similar problem? In 1872, the army formed a commission of officers to evaluate the quality and reliability of various types of firearms. weapons In an attempt to select the best breech-loading system, Major Reno was a member of this committee. The field trials compared the Sharps, Remington, and Springfield rifles. During these tests, 76,628 rounds were fired from the Sharps, of which 2699 (3,52%) rounds failed. The Remington fired 89,828 rounds, of which 2595 rounds failed (2,86%), and the Springfield fired 96,628 rounds, of which 1882 rounds failed (1,96%). The results of the field trials showed the clear superiority of the Springfield rifle, which was subsequently adopted. However, failures did occur on the battlefield.
And there's historical evidence that Native Americans also had problems with removing spent cartridges, which they had to overcome. For example, a dead Sioux warrior was found with a rifle with a spent cartridge stuck in the chamber.
What's more, according to archaeological data, the frequency of cartridge extraction failures among both Native Americans and soldiers during combat was roughly equal. While extraction failures certainly occurred, they were not significantly influential on the outcome of the battle.
Here's evidence of the use of personal firearms: Captain Thomas French used a Springfield .50/70 caliber infantry rifle (remember that the caliber of cavalry carbines was .45, that is, equal to the caliber of the 1873 Colt revolver – V.O.) while fighting Reno-Benteen. Sergeant John Ryan later recalled that French "notched the stock of his rifle... every time he fired at an Indian." And Private Dan Newell recalled that Captain French used his rifle's cleaning rod to extract stuck cartridges from other soldiers of Company M.
Several .50/70 caliber cartridges and shells were discovered during archaeological excavations. These seven shells indicate that six different rifles firing this cartridge were used in the area where Reno-Benteen's unit fought, and Captain French wasn't the only one with this caliber. Other officers and enlisted personnel may have preferred this caliber over the Model 1873 carbine.
Same movie. A villain with a Spencer rifle in his hands.
Sergeant John Ryan used a Sharps sporting rifle chambered for a government carbine. He was one of several men in the Reno-Benteen line who returned fire from long range at the Indians on Wooden Leg Hill. On the afternoon of June 26, Captain Thomas French asked Ryan to help suppress Indian fire from the vicinity of the hill. Ryan recalled that he "fired half a dozen shots in quick succession, and the Indians rushed away from the bluff, and this put an end to the Indian fire in that memorable fight, and our men celebrated with great rejoicing."
Indirect evidence of Ryan's use of his Sharps rifle comes from a bullet found on the southern slope of the ridge. This bullet is a standard government .45 caliber 405-grain bullet, but rifling marks on its surface indicate it was fired from a Sharps sport rifle. While it's possible this bullet came from a different Sharps, the location of the shot certainly supports the theory that he fired it.
No direct evidence of George Custer's personal firearms (a Remington sporting rifle and Royal Irish Constabulary Bulldog revolvers) was found on the battlefield. However, a single .50-caliber bullet fired from a Remington sporting rifle was found at the Reno-Benteen defense line. However, its position indicates that it was fired from the Indian side.
Overall, battlefield analysis of the firearms casings revealed that they were fired from fourteen different Springfield, Sharps, and Remington rifles.
The question of the number of firearms used by Native Americans at the Battle of the Little Bighorn has intrigued scholars and historians for years. Until inventorying and studying significant artifacts using state-of-the-art firearms identification techniques, a reliable answer was impossible. However, new research has provided at least a partial answer regarding the minimal number of weapons used during this battle.
Firearms identification analysis revealed 44 revolvers (Colt Model 1873) and 13 others, 119 repeating rifles and carbines, 188 single-shot rifles and carbines (131 Springfield Model 1873 and 58 others), and 8 unidentified pistols. The ammunition used was calibers such as .44, .45, and .50, as well as shot. It is clear that this firearms count reflects only those cartridges and bullets recovered during excavations and in no way represents all possible firearms used there. These figures represent only the minimum number of firearms that can be identified from the archaeological record. Undoubtedly, both sides used far greater quantities.
The largest number of firearms was represented by 131 Springfield M 1873 carbines in .45/55 caliber. The second largest group was 108 Henry and Winchester Model 1866 rifles. 35 Sharps rifles and 13 Springfield rifles in .50/70 caliber were identified.
In total, the shell casings indicate 371 firearms, 162 of which are either Model 1873 Springfield Army Carbine or Model 1873 Colt Army Revolver. The remaining 209 firearms are likely Native American.
Military firearms account for 43,6% of the total number of individually identified specimens. Henry and Winchester repeating firearms of the 1866 and 1873 models account for 31,2% of all firearms and 55% of all non-military firearms.
For the Custer Hill battlefield, the estimated number of Indian firearms ranges from 354 to 414. It is also assumed that 198 to 232 of the Indian rifles were Henry or Winchester M1866 or 1873 rifles. At the Reno-Benteen defensive line, the estimated number of Indian rifles ranges from 259 to 300, and the number of repeating rifles ranges from 150 to 174.
If we estimate the amount of ammunition that could have been loaded into the repeating rifles on the battlefield at Custer's Hill—that is, assuming every magazine was full at the start of the battle—we get a total of approximately 3792 rounds fired. This means that when all those guns were aimed at Custer's men, there were more than eighteen bullets fired for every man killed. And this only includes repeating rifles. And this is an incomplete figure, given the thousands of shell casings found by collectors outside the protected area of this historic site.
A still from the same film. It shows a Winchester rifle from 1866.
Here is what Sergeant Charles Windolph reported about the Indian weapons at the battle site:
It's generally accepted that all Red Indian warriors were armed with the latest Winchester repeating rifles and had ample ammunition. I, for one, believe that a good half of the warriors were armed only with bows, arrows, and spears, while perhaps the remaining half carried a variety of odds and ends—old muzzleloaders and single-shot rifles of various vintages. Probably no more than 25–30 percent of the warriors had modern repeating rifles.
Assuming that only 1500 warriors participated in the battle, which is the generally accepted conservative estimate, then about a quarter, or 375, were armed with the "muzzle-loading and single-shot rifles" that Windolf mentions.
He also suggested that 25% of the warriors may have been armed with various models of repeating rifles. If his assumptions are correct, 375 repeating rifles would have been used in the battle (based on the estimated 1500 warriors). The archaeologically established minimum number of repeating firearms—Henry rifles, Winchester Model 1866s, and Model 1873s—is 116, with a statistical prediction of 340 to 403 guns, based on a sample size of 30–35%. These figures are consistent with Windolph's range of estimates.
Taking into account all the firearms data, it becomes clear that Custer and his men were inferior to the Indians, if not in range or lethality, then certainly in firepower. U.S. Army Ordnance Reports (War Department, 1879), comparing the Springfield and Sharps carbines with the repeating rifle, clearly show that the latter had excellent performance in terms of lethality, range, and accuracy. However, repeating rifles were also very effective, and perhaps even superior in firepower to the single-shot Springfield carbines, as the Indians approached the American cavalry positions. Moreover, the Indians also used them. But they most likely came into their hands recently: in an earlier battle at the Rosebud River, or belonged to fallen soldiers and were taken directly from the field at Little Bighorn.
Shooting on the battlefield was likely intense on both sides. The discovery of spent cartridges and bullets certainly points to this. Bullets fired from soldiers' rifles were found in the ground, often within or in front of the sites of large quantities of Native American shell casings. Bullets of a caliber matching those found at Native American positions were also found at army positions. Some were even found in close proximity to human remains. As the soldiers' return fire began to wane, the Native Americans approached.
The heaviest fire came from the southeast. Here, the quantity of .44-caliber lever-action weapons was significant: at least twenty-three Henry or Winchester Model 1866 rifles and at least six Winchester Model 1873 rifles. This same evidence also indicates that at least one Smith & Wesson revolver and two .44-caliber rimfire revolvers, as well as seven .50/70 caliber shotguns, were used.
The relatively small number of Indian shell casings found to the north and west suggests that the Indians attacking from this direction were not as well armed as those attacking elsewhere. However, this area now houses a national cemetery, a visitor center, and a road. The construction of these facilities likely destroyed some artifacts, but how many and which ones exactly, we will never know.
In any case, the American soldiers died primarily because the Indians were outnumbered, and they also had plenty of modern, rapid-fire, repeating rifles. They were simply overwhelmed by the firepower! As for how the Indians obtained such large numbers of them, if selling such weapons meant jail time, we'll likely never know!
P.S. Many theories have been made about where the Indians got their rifles. For example, in Liselotte Welskopf Heinrich's novel "Tokei-Ito." The author also attempted to explain this in his novel "Men and Arms." However, in both cases, this is nothing more than fiction.
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