Download The Mystery of E Troop: Custer's Gray Horse Company at the Little Bighorn ePub

A very interesting read! If you are a Custerania buff like myself- and there are a lot of us!- you will enjoy anything that attempts to pierce the veil that shrouds so many unanswered questions about that battle. The one is question here is the fate of E Troop, a company that rode Gray horses to distinguish them from the other companies, who rode horsed of a particular color. Written accounts claim that the end of E troop came near the end of the infamous 'Last Stand', as those left, about 40 or so, broke and ran for the river, being ran down on the way. A group of about 28 died in a ravine, along with some of their gray mounts. And that should have been all there was to it. The battlefield is unique in that there are markers where a soldier actually fell, and you can see the movement of the troopers that day- or, at least try to interpret it. But here is the mystery.

When you visit the battlefield, as I have done, you see white marble markers all over the place. Scattered, in groups- they all tell a desperate story, and none so poignant as the last desperate defense and slaughter of those 28 company E troopers that were surrounded in a site named Deep Ravine and massacred. But when you go to Deep Ravine, there are no markers. There are plenty along the way, but none in the Ravine itself. Some have speculated that there was en error when placing the markers, or that the bodies were brought up and in the confusion, buried with other troopers. To make it worse, after a fire in the mid 80's, the field was extensively searched by an archeology team, uncovering lots of artifacts and clarifying some of the myths and theories. They also took many samples in Deep Ravine looking for remains. They didn't find any.

Michno says that this is because they were never there, but in a near gully or ravine that is now named Cemetery Ravine due to it's location near the cemetery that was placed on the site. There are lots of markers leading down this ravine or gully heading for Deep Ravine. Michno attempts to prove that E troop formed a skirmish line at this site, and was attacked on all sides, leading the survivors to make a break for Deep Ravine and the river. They did not get very far because Deep Ravine was a staging area for the Native forces, and they were shot down while approaching it. A few may have made it there, but not many, and not 28. Michno gives a lot of testimony, both white and Indian. But what is more compelling to me and more convincing is a character named Captain Sweet.

The state of the battlelfield was becoming an embarrassment due to the scattered bones of the troopers. After the battle, there were few implements to make graves- it was reported that you needed a pick just to break the hard soil, and there were only a few on hand, and very few shovels. Most got a sort of light covering of dirt, rocks and sage brush, leaving them open to scavengers of both the 2 and 4 legged variety. There was a constant stream of visitors, military and otherwise, and although there had been several trips make to collect officer's bones and try to tidy up it was still pretty morbid. Sweet arrived with 246 markers and on the Custer section found himself with 20+ too many. We know that some of the graves at the Reno-Benteen site 4 miles away were on private land, and in the last 14 years farms had sprung up. Some of the more known characters there did eventually get a marker, but for Cpt. Sweet, what to do with those markers? Sweet looked very hard for places to set them, and sometimes he got it wrong. There are a few double markers where there was only one body. It was surmised that troopers found a mound with depressions to either side and assumed there were two bodies when in fact there were so few tools for burial in the days following the battle that you scooped up whatever you could to either side of a decomposing body and covered it as best you could. I assume that the enlisted man, with his endless ability to shirk, convinced Officers and NCO' that there were enough bones and debris to justify 2 markers at these locations. And it helped Capt. Sweet.

But if there was any evidence of 28 bodies in Deep Ravine, Sweet would have chortled happily and sent somebody down to place them. But he didn't and we know from accounts that the bodies were not that hard to find. You could not have hidden several piles of corpses down there and just lost them. So Michno claims they were never there at all! If he is right, and it looks like the odds are in his favor, there will never be any trooper remains found in Deep Ravine- at least not 28 troopers from E Company. Lots of data. If you are into the LBH battle, buy it. Not a good starting off point, however. Start with Son Of The Morning Star for a good overview, then branch out.

Much has been written about the so-called last stand, but thanks to a brushfire that swept the Custer battlefield in the 1980s, a lot has been learned since from recovered artifacts and even bones found still on the surface to explain the movements of both sides in the fight. This book presents the best analysis of the story told by the objects and human remains to date. Eye witness testimony, even years later, is objectively presented along with fairly detailed comparisons with the ground as described in an effort to solve the mystery of what happened to some 30 men whose fate has long been debated and misunderstood. The conclusions drawn by the author, Mr. Machno, are the most convincing and thoughtful I've ever read. It makes the reader want to visit the site for himself.

Michno delivers! This is a first-rate work of historical analysis on E Troop at the LBH. It not only offers a compelling case, using and refuting some of the latest field studies, but his ability to bring light to the Indian accounts and place first hand accounts in a unified context is - well, simply remarkable and brilliant. This field of study owns Michno a great debt. Not only for bringing context to a troubling topic, but for opening our minds to new methods of evaluation and presentations. I highly recommend this book.

OCD history readers will love this one! Huge amount of details, reader can really get a picture of what happened during Custer's part of the conflict. Could maybe use a little more mapping, I was constantly flipping back and forth to the limited maps trying to put everything in context. All in all an informative thoughtful read.

Absolute must read for those interested in Custer's final fight. Well written and easy to follow - the included maps and sketches document the various digs that have enabled a clearer picture of what happen to the 28 troopers assigned to Troop E.

Excellent read. Don't know why researchers did not want to accept their version of what happened. The participants could only tell of their participation of the Battle. Did not know their were fighting Custer until later on. The Government Inquiry in 1879 was a farce. Everyone had their own agenda to save their asses,

I found this book to be an excellent balance between archaeology and interviews from those that were at the battle. I provided all aspects of those interviewed, including those that conflicted with each other which I appreciated. It then went into possible reasons for the conflicts that made good sense. I do not agree with those that suggest it did not provide any conclusions as what the author thought was easily apparent to me. It also appeared to be substantiated by the archaeology. The book also went into a variety of methods that were used by the archaeologists to validate their information, including geology of the area and additions studies that were conducted to ensure as well as humanely possible that the information was accurate. Of course, the backdrop of this book was the battle itself and I felt it did a very good job of providing that information in a method that was interesting and as accurate as we can be as there were no survivors in the 7th that fought on that ridge that day. If you are interested in the Battle of the Little Bighorn or for that matter, battlefield archaeology, this is a very good book for you library. It is balanced, well researched, guides to so that you may make your own conclusion and balances the interviews from both sides of the conflict.

Custer without the usual BS. Highly recommend.