Col. Gibbon's Failure

[joewiggs]

Twice the scouts of Col. Gibbon discovered large villages. At the Tongue River than the at the Rosebud. Not once did he attack. Remember, the purpose of his being in the field was to "attack" recalcitrant Indians who refused to report to their respective reservations.

On one occasion, to be fair, Gibbon ordered an attempt to cross the river which current was so strong that the try was unsuccessful, or so he claimed.

Why there is certainly grounds for arguing the pros and con of whether he should have attacked we should not base these points on the results of Custer's battle. At the time Gibbon sighted the village he could not know if the task was too much to handle. I am certain that he shared the misinformed philosophy of his brother officers that the Indians were militarily inferior to any white troops.

More importantly, why did Gibbon fail to inform Terry of his discovery by courier prior to loosing site of the aforementioned sightings which, as it turned out, was a double sighting of the very same village that destroyed Custer's command.

Why were his actions and Cooke's failure to inform others of his significant battle at the Rosebud not scrutinized at the Reno Inquiry? Both actions were certainly and profoundly related and specifically contributed to the fatalistic outcome of Custer's battle.

If the "truth" of what happened was the true aim of the inquiry, undoubtedly, these incidents would have been addressed.I

[tbw]

Nov 26, 2011 18:58:32 GMT -5 joewiggs said:

Twice the scouts of Col. Gibbon discovered large villages. At the Tongue River than the at the Rosebud. Not once did he attack. Remember, the purpose of his being in the field was to "attack" recalcitrant Indians who refused to report to their respective reservations.

On one occasion, to be fair, Gibbon ordered an attempt to cross the river which current was so strong that the try was unsuccessful, or so he claimed.

Why there is certainly grounds for arguing the pros and con of whether he should have attacked we should not base these points on the results of Custer's battle. At the time Gibbon sighted the village he could not know if the task was too much to handle. I am certain that he shared the misinformed philosophy of his brother officers that the Indians were militarily inferior to any white troops.

More importantly, why did Gibbon fail to inform Terry of his discovery by courier prior to loosing site of the aforementioned sightings which, as it turned out, was a double sighting of the very same village that destroyed Custer's command.

Why were his actions and Cooke's failure to inform others of his significant battle at the Rosebud not scrutinized at the Reno Inquiry? Both actions were certainly and profoundly related and specifically contributed to the fatalistic outcome of Custer's battle.

If the "truth" of what happened was the true aim of the inquiry, undoubtedly, these incidents would have been addressed.I

Please elaborate more, when, where etc....

[joewiggs]

Here are is most of the sources I was able to locate:

"Terry and Custer did not know where the Indians were. Neither Crook, who headed north for the second time on May 29. Curiously, Gibbon knew where they were but failed to inform Terry. On May 16 gibbon's Crow scouts spotted the main Sioux and Cheyenne village in the valley of the Tongue River. Two weeks later they found it again on the Rosebud. Gibbon could not get his command across the swollen Yellowstone to launch an attack.

On June 9, aboard the chartered river steamer far West, Terry and Gibbon at last met, and Terry learned for the first time where the Indians were.
The Custer Reader, p.242

"The result of this scout made it certain that the hostiles were in force, and that this was the same village that Bradley had seen earlier on the tongue River. they they had been about 35 miles from Gibbon's position;now they were only 18 miles away. "

Custer's Luck (starts on page 154.)

This second sighting was not met with any attempt to cross the river ostensibly because of the still swollen Yellowstone. The author states that the difficulty could have been over come by, "leaving the horses behind for since the village was only 18 miles away,the command could be ferried across the river in the afternoon and a forced march would have had them there by nightfall in time for the preferred"attack at dawn."

The Last Stand Philbrick,p51

"bucking the current, the Far West took eight and a half hours to cover the 35 miles to Gibbon, whom they found with a company of scouts just below the tongue river. During this meeting with gibbon and his officers, Terry learned that while he and and The Dakota Column had been crawling west, gibbon and the Montana Column had apparently been doing their best to avoid the Indians."

In summation the Indians were found, then lost by Gibbon who was ordered to retrace his steps in hopes of re-finding the Sioux encampment which also necessitated that Custer be "cut loose" with an highly mobile unit, believed to be strong enough to defeat any forced that he encountered, then drive any remnants of the village towards Terry and Gibbon.

Gibbon's failure to send a speedy courier to Terry while maintaining contact with the village is inexplicable. It is this type of incompetence and malfeasance of duty by Gibbon and Crook, and Sheridan's doomed to failure "plan" that culminated into a horrible evening on June 25. The condoned savagery of Chivington's massacre of a peaceful camp under the protection of the U.S. help set the stage for a violent revenge by the Cheyenne.

It is my opinion that, at a given point in time, this inglorious mess of deplorable acts by the military had to be soften in order to receive desperately needed funds from a stingy and myopic congress by placing the responsibility on the shoulders of someone who was conveniently dead and could not respond to the charges.

I dedicate this post to all those who are convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that G.A. Custer was the "buffoon or clown" who was responsible for every failing that occurred. This philosophy is the historical gift handed down to us by the Reno Inquiry. Custer was not alone in this three ring circus of boo boo's, their was a whole host of participants.

[tbw]

Interesting research here. Was there ever a map produced of Gibbons scouting expedition? Or for that matter, how many indians/tepees was thought might have been in those particular camps? Surely more of this expedition is somewhere in the archives.