From what I'm understanding from some of the books I've been reading lately, the general concensous is now that Custer himself did not go to Ford B. He may have sent some troops there as a feint or to keep the Indians "at bay" for a while but he didn't go there himself.
Also, one Indian said that he shot a soldier wearing a buckskin jacket off of his horse at Ford B but I believe it was stated that Custer had taken his buckskin jacket off earlier due to the heat.
I do tend to think that Custer was at least wounded before he arrived on Last Stand Hill.
What happened after Custer departed from Reno has been a source of contention every since. Ford "B" being one of the major contentions about not just if Custer himself ever went there, but whether or not he sent anyone there at all. It's easy to say 'we don't know' and slough if off as if it could never be answered. Many authors, John Gray being one of them try to place everything like this into some kind of context so it can be understood better (not saying he's right or wrong). And usually this context is forward looking rather than looking at what was behind him. The reasoning then follows that it was an attack and all hell was to break loose and every man need be there. The facts are then skewed to this view and usually biased in some way as to who believes what (not taking sides here, just stating the obvious).
In one of my last post here, I had this to say about the messages, which have to tie in to Custer's actions at some point, for instance this Ford "B" encounter. Here is what I said:
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I think a lot of this message business depended upon visibility and what was or even what wasn't known by the commanders on either end of it. Just for one example, among a couple of hundred more; Did either of the commanders see and know where the other was? And
if the answer was yes, as it appeared to have been (because of less detailed instructions),
would the last known position where Custer and his couple of hundred troops be the place for Benteen to go? Benteen denied at the COI that he or Reno knew where the other was, this
if true, is an important part of this message business and seems to indicate that Benteen was supposed to go to (at the very least of our understanding) to Custer's last known position. Timing and location would also play an important part in determining where and when all this took place from beginning to conclusion which shouldn't have been over until Benteen attained that last known position. Did he? According to what cinnamon has deduced from this, the answer
seems to be an unqualified, yes. Because Martin didn't go back indicated what? What is it we don't know and can't see because of the obscurity of time and those who didn't follow through at the COI for us to know for sure? What is apparent is that Martin didn't go back and wasn't questioned at the court about it, nor did he ever state in interviews the reasons why he didn't follow the order to return. What could it possibly have been to have prevented him from following the order, Benteen countermanding it or something else?
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The question still remains, where was Benteen and how would this impact Custer's decision with regards to ford "B"? We have to remember here Martin didn't return as he was ordered to do if... (his only condition not to) he could safely do so.
Much of this has to do with finding exact locations, and in this regard Maguire's map at the COI has serious flaws,
one of which is where it shows the departure of two columns near MTF, it wasn't the exact location and was further up MTC than he depicted. Just one instance among about a thousand where misrepresenting a location can and does affect our perceptions today.
The 'feint' business that John Gray first proposed
hasn't been properly analyzed to tell whether it happened that way or not. Again in one of my last post I wrote this:
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If Custer had waited (for the ammo or for that matter Benteen), it might have actually turned out better than it did, and here cinnamon is
most likely correct on this. But once again, what did or didn't Custer know that led him on instead of waiting? The ever classic comment, [paraphrased] "We'll go down and make a crossing and finish up here and go home to our station" and their concurrent statements about where the warriors could have been, buffalo hunting, places his further actions in proper perspective. This along with what Martin reported also further corroborates the reason why Custer didn't wait, the ever proverbial "empty (devoid of warriors) village" (Which Martin observed).
If Custer was going to attack the thing it would have been then and there at that time and not when it was full of angry, blood thirsty warriors trying to defend their families. It's always been assumed that whatever he observed from the heights, it didn't scare him, undaunted he went forward, actually it wasn't this at all, there were no warriors to be seen that could have daunted or scared him. Two vastly different things, that in reality explains it a lot better than here-to-fore, and
if he had waited for the ammo, which at the time they didn't need to take the "empty village", but possibly would
if the warriors returned while they were ravaging the it, places things in a proper perspective. In other words, not knowing where the warriors were, could have placed both Benteen and the pack train in great peril
if the warriors were behind them, like over in the Tullochs area buffalo hunting, where in fact some of them had been seen from the Crows Nest doing that very thing, and was the
most likely reason Custer ordered both of those columns into hurry mode.
So, while it seems silly or stupid for Custer to have gone further without the ammo, in spite of 'what actually happened in hindsight',
I think if one carefully weighs the evidence, it might actually explain the situation to our better understanding.
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The question at this point, using this rationale, is; wouldn't ford "b" have been the quicker and better choice for him making that attack?
If this is the case then it made no sense to perform a feint anywhere when there would have been no Indians to take the bait, at least
IF any of this had any bearing on what Custer thought or did.
It's just one perspective among a diverse field for everyone's study and thought.
TBW
. There is evidence (See Fox, Archeology, History, and Custer's Last Battle.) That Custer's command traveled to "Ford D" down river in a continued recognizance of the Indian non-combatants who fled north.
