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what if Custer's 7th had been armed with Spencers/Winchesters and Schofields

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Doug.38PR:
Would that have really made a difference as is so often claimed?

The Trapdoor .45-70's advantage of shooting beyond the range of the Indian's bow and arrow and lever action rifles.

But then we are still talking about 4000 Souix and Cheyenne braves against 200 something odd American troopers.

Crossdrawnj:
They still (probably) have had their butts kicked, but not as bad. I think the issue was is they 7th were out maneuvered and out numbered by the Sioux and Cheyenne.

St. George:
Go to the 'Spencer Shooting Society' forum, and look this one up.

Topic: Thoughts on Spencers back in 1868...56-50 vs 50-70  (Read 5268 times)

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Ranch 13:
Close air support might have saved Custer's backside.

St. George:
If you read the threads in SSS, you'll find the Army's rationale for using a hard-hitting single-shot.

That said, nothing can beat thorough training, and in order to do that, you have to be able to back it up with funding for ammunition, amongst other things - something that the frontier Army just didn't have.

Custer's Seventh - like every other Frontier Army outfit - was filled with newly-arrived immigrants and men trying to get to the gold fields while eating Army rations.

They weren't elite, well-trained, highly-motivated, agile, mobile, and hostile troopers by any stretch of the imagination.

Custer was conventional Cavalry combat-experienced, and an experienced leader of men - ask the Michigan Wolverines - but he was also hungry for glory and a chance to redeem himself - and he - like everyone else - seriously underestimated his foe's capabilities.

Never before - and never since - would American troops encounter the number of Indians in one place and cocked, locked and ready to rock - and they reminded the Army that there were still lessons to be learned on the modern battlefield - lessons we would take to heart.

It would take Crook's implacable Infantry to bring the Indian Wars to a close - but there was no way John Ford could add 'romance' to hard-campaigning dogfaces who pursued in winter, so that part of the truth is always left to the dust of history.

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