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Originally posted by mcaryf


Hi Joe

The example you give about the guidon is just the same as the earlier ones. There is no doubt that Benteen thought Custer and/or his column were still effective when he planted the flag on 25th June. The doubt as to whether Custer was already dead would have come later.

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Joe
Hi Mike! You're right, its the same example, the difference being that Benteen re-admits, years later, that he planted the guidon to attract survivors. What I hope to do,now,is to re-evaluate my previous post in a wider context. It is imperitive to understand that before and after the Reno Inquiry, Benteen made written and verbal statements that contradicted his testimony.

While Benteen was certainly a brave soldier he was not a very pleasant individual. Prone to jealousy, his acrimonious relationship with virtually every member of the Office Class,he was a part of,speaks volumes.

A man of such a mental caliber views life from a stringent perspective and acute personal judgment. "The End Justifies The Means" would be an adage Benteen was very familiar with. Benteen makes an admission that he withheld, altered, and/or denied the truth when he testified. The motive for doing so regarding Reno would have to differ from his motivation for describing Custer as incompetent.

My guest is that he perjured himself to protect Reno (although he despised him) to cover Reno's incompetence thereby, protecting the regiment. Custer receive his ire simply because he had to be portrayed as failing to have issued reasonable orders and, being overly ambitious. Thus, the responsibility for the fiasco becomes a dead man's burden who is unable to defend himself.

It is not by chance that the students of this battle fall into two primary camps; Pro-Custer or Pro-Reno/Benteen. This division of "cause and effect" is a direct corollary of the Inquiry testimony.
Excluding basic facts that are corroborated by unbiased testimony, the pertinent, unwitnessed "facts" are clouded by official by tainted testimony.

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Originally posted by Sgtmajor109th

Mike,

Like you have I have been researching Benteen's movements for
some time. And I have always had the feeling that there were things
that took place that didn't seem right. And there was more going on
with Capt Weir, Benteen and Reno that meets the eye, however I doubt
we will ever know.

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Joe
SgtMajor, we probably will never know what actually occurred between the commanders however, we can speculate that the "incident" was one of embarrassment for the regigmnet thus, hidden by mis-information.

For example, Weir not only defied orders by leading out to Weir's Point, his action accentuated Reno's loss of control of the entire situation. Reno ordered a trumpeter to sound "recall"(continuously) which Weir also ignored. Upon arriving at the hill Benteen decided that the location was not a good one for defense. He then descends the hill with his troop returning to Reno's position a half mile or so to the rear. Inexplicably, he did so forgetting/neglecting to inform the others. Weir followed him leaving his troop in the care of Edgerly. French, the only senior left, remained with his company.

In the meanwhile, Godfrey's command was in a line along the ridge south of Weir's company on the hill. As the Indians quickly approached, French mounted his men and led them out at a gallop while yelling to Edgerly to do the same.

Godfrey watched the troops speed by him in a full gallop and, immediately realized that if something were not done immediately the emboldened warriors would follow the troops right to and through the other troops.

Godfrey, assisted by Hare, placed his thirty men in skirmish and fired into the fast approaching warriors who held up and retreated for cover. In other words, the Lieutenant utilized a "Rearguard Action" thereby saving himself and the command. If Godfrey had the presence of mind to perform this critical but basic military maneuver, how does one explain Reno's( a senior officer)inability to do so? Weir, later, thanked Godfrey profusely for saving his command.

There were other embarrassing "incidents" that were also covered up by dumping responsibility for the errors of others on those who could no longer defend themselves.

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Originally posted by joe wiggs

quote:

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Originally posted by Sgtmajor109th

Mike,

Like you have I have been researching Benteen's movements for
some time. And I have always had the feeling that there were things
that took place that didn't seem right. And there was more going on
with Capt Weir, Benteen and Reno that meets the eye, however I doubt
we will ever know.

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Joe
SgtMajor, we probably will never know what actually occurred between the commanders however, we can speculate that the "incident" was one of embarrassment for the regiment thus, hidden by mis-information at the Reno Inquiry.

For example, Weir not only defied orders by leading out to Weir's Point, his action accentuated Reno's loss of control of the entire situation. Reno ordered a trumpeter to sound "recall"(continuously) which Weir also ignored. Upon arriving at the hill Benteen decided that the location was not a good one for defense. He then descends the hill with his troop returning to Reno's position a half mile or so to the rear. Inexplicably, he did so forgetting/neglecting to inform the others. Weir followed him leaving his troop in the care of Edgerly. French, the only senior left, remained with his company.

In the meanwhile, Godfrey's command was in a line along the ridge south of Weir's company on the hill. As the Indians quickly approached, French mounted his men and led them out at a gallop while yelling to Edgerly to do the same.

Godfrey watched the troops speed by him in a full gallop and, quickly realized that if something were not done immediately the emboldened warriors would follow the fleeing troops right to and through camp.

Godfrey, assisted by Hare, coolly and methodically placed his thirty men in skirmish and had them fire volleys into the massive and fast approaching warriors who held up and retreated for cover. As his men slowly retreated they began to "bunch" but were forced by Godfrey and hare to maintain authorized distances for men in skirmish. In other words, the Lieutenant utilized a "Rearguard Action" thereby saving himself and the command. If Godfrey had the presence of mind to perform this critical but basic military maneuver, how does one explain Reno's( a senior officer)inability to do so? That is the reason that the Weir incident was not disclosed at the inquiry! Weir, later, thanked Godfrey profusely for saving his command.

There were other embarrassing "incidents" that were also covered up by dumping responsibility for the errors of others on those who could no longer defend themselves. Quite a few survivors did not handle themselves well (understandably)and so this humiliation had to be buried in a quagmire of subterfuge.

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