Love of Freedom and the Value of Everything

Part 5 of Hedgerows and Hypersonics?

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing ~ Oscar Wilde?

Love of Freedom

America despite the cynic, exists and thrives because of the love of freedom and Light.?

Fighting with Allies

The only thing worse than fighting with allies is fighting without them ~ Winston Churchill.

A Little History

?History is the only education. All the rest is just training ~ Brent Staples?

In American history, the most poignant example of this education is the Battle of Greasy Grass Ridge also known as The Battle of the Little Bighorn.?

The most valorous of this battle, like those of many battles that took place in America, are long forgotten in a country of the superficial, a country that values supercilious heroes in every facet of life?as the valorous and valor?are ignored?and forgotten.?

Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero! No, Andrea....unhappy is the land that needs a hero ~ Bertolt Brecht?

“Unhappy is the land that needs a hero” is the heavy-hearted response of Galileo to his pupil Andrea, when the latter, furious with the astronomer’s recantation tells him “Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero”.

Chief Gall and the Battle of the Little Big Horn?

Wikipedia: Since the early 1980s, archaeological researchers conducted battlefield excavations after a major grass fire. Historians have been studying accounts by participating Indians (Native Americans) and tribal oral histories. Based on these elements, a contemporary reassessment of the Battle of the Little Bighorn occurred:

and [Chief] Gall:

has been given greater credit for several crucial tactical decisions that contributed to the Sioux and Cheyenne's overpowering defeat of the five companies of cavalry led by Custer of the 7th Cavalry.

Background?

U.S. Cavalry Protagonists?

The U.S. 7th Cavalry, a force of 700 men, was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (formerly a breveted major general during the American Civil War).

Major Marcus Reno

Opening Phase

Reno’s initial attack on the southeast end of the Indian village killed Gall's two wives and several children.?

As Gall described it: "My heart was very bad that day."?

My Comment: A superficial assessment of the?reconnaissance of the village Custer was about to assault, resulted in what history has recorded.?

During the opening phase of the battle, the Lakota and Cheyenne repulsed Reno's three companies of cavalry from the south-eastern end of their large village. Gall was one of the few Indians to suspect that Custer's strategy was probably a two-pronged attack. He believed that determining the location of the other half of Custer's attacking force was critical to Indian defense.

Gall crossed the river and rode to the northeast, where he spied Custer's chief scout, Mitch Bouyer (Boyer) returning to Custer from an overwatch of the Indian village. After locating the main element of Custer's five companies, Gall correctly determined that they probably intended to force a river crossing and an entrance into the northern end of the village. Riding back down from the bluffs, Gall told the allied Sioux and Cheyenne forces returning from Reno's repulse of his suspicions. With Crazy Horse, he led forces north across the river to drive Company E and F due north up present-day Calhoun Couley to present-day Finley Ridge.?

There they forced three of Custer's companies to fight a largely defensive battle. Within minutes, Gall and his forces took a position northeast of Finley Ridge and poured a withering fire down on Companies C, I and L. When Crazy Horse charged through an opening between Lt. Calhoun's Company L and Company I in a sudden surprise right envelopment attack, Company L probably began to pull back off the ridge to try to link up with Company I. Companies C and L tried to redeploy from holding off Gall's men to the east and others to the south.?

This probably looked like a panicked retreat to Gall and his forces.

Seeing that the two Cavalry companies no longer had the fire superiority that held the Indians at bay, Gall and his men attacked from the east as the other Indians attacked the cut-off elements of Company C from both the east and the south. They soon finished off Companies C and L, and forced survivors and some of Company I to flee towards Custer and his men north of the so-called "Last Stand Hill." A few of the soldiers of Companies C, I and L also fled south toward the river. The places where they fell were later marked by white marble monuments, which still stand.

Soon the Indians finished off Custer and his men in the remaining companies C, E, and K. The last approximately 28 survivors made a dash south for the river. They were trapped in the box canyon called "Deep Ravine". After finishing them off, the Indians had won the battle, having annihilated Custer's five companies.

Result: Five of the 7th Cavalry's twelve companies were annihilated, and Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, a nephew, and a brother-in-law. The total U.S. casualty count included 268 dead and 55 severely wounded (six died later from their wounds), including four Crow Indian scouts and at least two Arikara Indian scouts.

In later years, [Chief] Gall recounted his role in the battle. He had mistakenly thought the survivors of Custer's three southeastern companies fled northwest to Custer because they ran out of ammunition. The horse soldiers may also have fled after losing their will to fight, as many men simply ran, even abandoning loaded rifles. The Sioux and Cheyenne picked these up and fired the weapons to drive off the soldiers' horses, thus depriving them of a key tactical mobility advantage.?For loss of a nail, a kingdom was lost?

The native warriors' attacking Greasy Grass Ridge (The Little Bighorn) from the southeast came mostly on foot. Gall kept up enfilading fire from the northeast.[5]

My Comment: The supercilious Custer, unlike the vainglorious Hitler:

and Putin:?

refused an offer of a Gatling gun attachment:

made prior to his assault on the allied village near Greasy Grass Hill.?

Next: Science and America's Cartoon Characters