The TERRIFYING Weapons Decisions That Doomed Custer at Little Bighorn
The War Chronicle
2,760 views
Eight years before Little Bighorn, George Armstrong Custer trusted a seven-shot Spencer repeating carbine. Yet in 1876, most of his cavalrymen rode into their most famous battle carrying single-shot Springfield carbines. Even more surprising, Custer had been offered three Gatling guns—and chose to leave them behind.
This documentary explores the overlooked weapons decisions behind the Battle of the Little Bighorn: why the U.S. Army replaced repeaters with the Springfield Model 1873, why cavalry ammunition differed from infantry cartridges, why sabers were absent from Custer’s final fight, and why one of his last surviving orders repeated the words “Bring Packs.”
But the strangest evidence appeared more than a century later. Archaeologists studying thousands of cartridge cases discovered that firing-pin and extractor marks could identify individual guns, trace their movement across the battlefield, and even reveal Army weapons that may have been captured and turned against the 7th Cavalry.
The soldiers could no longer speak. The guns still could.
#LittleBighorn #GeorgeArmstrongCuster #Custer #AmericanWest #WildWestHistory #NativeAmericanHistory #USCavalry #MilitaryHistory #HistoryDocumentary
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The TERRIFYING Weapons Decisions That Doomed Custer at Little Bighorn
The War Chronicle
2,760 views
Eight years before Little Bighorn, George Armstrong Custer trusted a seven-shot Spencer repeating carbine. Yet in 1876, most of his cavalrymen rode into their most famous battle carrying single-shot Springfield carbines. Even more surprising, Custer had been offered three Gatling guns—and chose to leave them behind.
This documentary explores the overlooked weapons decisions behind the Battle of the Little Bighorn: why the U.S. Army replaced repeaters with the Springfield Model 1873, why cavalry ammunition differed from infantry cartridges, why sabers were absent from Custer’s final fight, and why one of his last surviving orders repeated the words “Bring Packs.”
But the strangest evidence appeared more than a century later. Archaeologists studying thousands of cartridge cases discovered that firing-pin and extractor marks could identify individual guns, trace their movement across the battlefield, and even reveal Army weapons that may have been captured and turned against the 7th Cavalry.
The soldiers could no longer speak. The guns still could.
#LittleBighorn #GeorgeArmstrongCuster #Custer #AmericanWest #WildWestHistory #NativeAmericanHistory #USCavalry #MilitaryHistory #HistoryDocumentary