Laggards

Chevau-léger lancier du 2e régiment
Hippolyte Bellangé (PD)

The carriage jolted to a halt, nearly throwing the Emperor from his seat. He had refused the offer of Ali to pull out the bed, wanting to remain awake to address the voluminous correspondence which he had received prior to departing Paris. Normally he would have let Berthier handle that, but that man needed to focus on the campaign ahead.

Napoléon looked outside and saw a lancer of the 2nd Régiment. So, the duty squadron, dedicated to protecting his person, had changed during the night. While he preferred that the Guard Chasseurs à Cheval¹ handle this duty on the day of battle, during movements such as this, duty squadrons could be, and often were, drawn from line cavalry regiments.

An officer of that unit approached the carriage.

"Sire, my apologies for the abrupt stop, an ammunition wagon is blocking the road ahead and the dunces did not light a torch to warn oncoming traffic."

The Emperor nodded, then dismounted from the carriage.

"It's quite all right, Captain ..." he squinted in the lantern light at the mounted man.

"Beauvais, yes? Captain Beauvais, you were a corporal in my Guard in Russia, yes?"

"Yes Sire, I was, I'm surprised you remembered."

"We shared a shank of mutton outside Orsha as I recall."

"We did Sire, a meal which kept me alive. I am still grateful."

"I'm glad to see you promoted, my line cavalry needs brave officers. You learned your trade well in my Guard."

"A harsh school, Sire, but yes. Excuse me while I see to the obstruction in the road."

Napoléon waved his hand as if to say, "carry on," but given with the air of one soldier to another, not as an emperor to a junior officer.

Berthier had dismounted from his carriage as well, he watched the interaction between the cavalryman and the commander in chief. He turned to his aide.

"And that is why we follow him, to the grave if necessary."

The aide, Général de Brigade Louis-François Lejeune nodded, "Even though the Emperor had me arrested for leaving the army without orders in 1812, it's why I agreed to rejoin the army under le Maréchal Oudinot in 1813."

"You have no problem with that, the Emperor himself left the army on the retreat after all?"

"It may seem hypocritical but the man is the head of state, Paris left to herself will always make trouble. Someone had to take the reins, and they were, and are again, his to take."

Berthier nodded, "Indeed. But you took up painting did you not, after the Emperor's abdication?"

"Yes, I enjoy it, but my country, and my Emperor, called out to me. I couldn't justify sitting at home painting landscapes while my brothers marched against the enemy."

Berthier was about to speak when he heard the Emperor call his name.

"While they clear that wagon off the road, let us speak of the part of the army I've designated as my right wing." Napoléon began speaking brusquely, as he often did, his mind racing ahead of current events to what lay in the immediate future.

"Yes, Sire. With the relief of Gérard and the appointment of Ney to the command of IV Corps, I am a bit concerned. Ney has yet to rejoin the army, in act he hadn't left his estate as of two days ago, I'm concerned that two corps may be more than Vandamme can handle on his own."

"I am not. If I were to attack Lucifer in Hell, I would want Vandamme beside me. Of course, if I had two such generals as he, I would set one to hang the other. He is brutal and violent, just what I want for this campaign. Besides which, Soult is already with that wing of the army. I have no worries."

A look crossed Berthier's face.

"What? What is it, Berthier?"

"Monsieur le Maréchal Soult has not joined them as of yet. He was thrown from his horse and spent a few days recuperating. I have a letter from him, he expects to be on the scene tomorrow, at the latest." Then Berthier waited for the Emperor to erupt.

Napoléon clenched his teeth, gripping his hands tightly behind his back, he barely restrained himself from shouting at Berthier. Through their long association, Napoléon was known to strike and otherwise abuse his chief of staff. For now, he took a deep breath.

"Send for Chef d'Escadron Moliné, he should be with his unit at the moment. Tell him to come quickly and bring his troopers, he'll know the ones I mean."

Berthier went pale, Moliné was the man the Emperor used for a number of tasks, none of them to be spoken of outside of the Emperor's presence. He had heard a rumor that Moliné was responsible for the disappearance, and probable murders, of Fouché and Talleyrand.

"Yes Sire, at once."

One of the duty squadron came into the lantern light, "Capitaine Beauvais's respects, Sire. The obstruction has been cleared, we may proceed."

The Emperor thanked the trooper and turned to where Berthier had been standing, his chief of staff was already over by his own carriage, handing a message to one of his aides. That aide galloped off in haste. Berthier nodded at the Emperor.

As Napoléon tried to get comfortable in his carriage once more, the ache in his backside was troublesome to say the least, he thought to himself, "I shall light a fire under both Soult and Ney, they will move their asses or feel my wrath. Perhaps I should make Vandamme a marshal, wouldn't that anger any number of people?"

He settled back as the carriage moved forward, he grimaced as a sudden pain made him shift in his seat. Damn these piles!

¹ Literally "mounted hunters," an elite light cavalry unit. Very similar to hussars.

Final Preparations

Napoleon in 1806
Édouard Detaille (PD)

Maréchal Ney came into the Emperor's office, Ali had just left with a few last minute items to be stowed in the Imperial carriage. Ali had tactfully turned away when the Emperor had handed him a small portrait of Joséphine. He swore that a tear glistened upon the man's cheek.

Ney spoke gruffly, "Sire, I am concerned that you are dispatching the Guard tomorrow. That will signal to everyone in Europe that you will be traveling soon."

The Emperor sighed, put a battery of cannon to his front, give him a squadron of hussars, and Michel Ney would draw his saber and bellow the charge at the top of his lungs. But the peculiarities of tactics and strategy, particularly strategy, were well beyond his ken.

"My dear Maréchal, how long do you thing it will take for the Russians and Austrians to approach the frontier?"

"Certainly weeks, Sire, but ..."

"Where are the two armies which could conceivably march on Paris any day now?"

"Why Belgium of course, Blücher and his Prussians, then you've got Wellington and his mongrel army. But march on Paris? Not while the diplomats continue to squabble in Vienna."

"Ah Ney, you are a good soldier but you see, there is only one move available to me, one logical move, and that is to move north and attack Wellington and Blücher in their cantonments. While they might expect it, my spies have spread the word that I'm having trouble recruiting my cavalry up to strength, let alone properly mounting them. I let them think that my infantry is still being equipped and that my artillery is woefully inadequate. But they are duped, when we march it will be with a hundred and fifty thousand veteran troops and nearly 300 cannon."

"You said we, I thought I was to be left behind, that whole 'iron cage' thing, for which I apologize once again ..."

"Ney, Ney, Ney, your apology was accepted. I understand, you bet on what you thought was a sure thing. The might of France against my rag tag army of banditti marching up from the Mediterranean coast. I might have done the same. But the dice rolled one way and you came up short."

"Am I to accompany the army with you? And in what capacity I might ask."

"You march with my headquarters. I may have need of your sword at some point, you will be a spare marshal, if you will, if anything happens to Davout or Soult, I can throw you into command. The men know you, I'm not sure they fully trust you, but they do respect you. It's that or spend the campaign under house arrest. Your choice."

Ney bowed his head, he was desperate, he needed this. After all, the Bourbons had insulted his beloved wife, they had looked down on him, even referring to him as "that Alsatian brute" behind his back. Though he had thrown in his lot with Louis, he regretted it now, deeply.

"I will go where you command, Sire. Into Hell itself, if need be."

Napoléon laughed, "If we lose we may indeed see Hell, a firing squad at the very least. Now go, we march in the morning."

The Emperor opened his eyes well before dawn. He sat up and grimaced, his piles were acting up. Though the physicians had given him a salve, it smelled badly and didn't really relieve the pain. He was eating a very plain diet in the hope that by the time he had to take to his saddle, the piles might subside.

A sharp rap came on the outer door, he heard Ali respond. A moment later Ali was at his bedchamber.

"Sire, le Maréchal Berthier is here."

"Very well, send him in."

The Emperor ran his fingers through his hair, he hoped he looked somewhat presentable, but Berthier had seen him disheveled before and wouldn't say a word.

"Ah, Berthier, good morning. You have news for me I trust?"

"Yes Sire. Certain royalist officers have been, shall we say, relieved from their posts as of late last night. Général de Division Bourmont had already moved with his staff to the frontier. Unfortunately ..."

Berthier coughed and had to clear his throat.

"Bourmont was shot and killed by his own men as he was reconnoitering the area to the front of his division. The pickets were not informed and they assumed the general and his party were a Prussian cavalry patrol. A number of his staff were also killed and wounded."

"Ah, a shame," the Emperor's voice had a hint of glee in it.

He had been looking for a reason to get rid of Bourmont, but a number of people, important people, had vouched for the man. One of those who sang Bourmont's praises had been Fouché, whose body now lay moldering beneath the soil of the Forêt de Marly, alongside that of Talleyrand.

"Who will take 14th Division in his stead?" Napoléon asked, knowing the answer.

"The commander of the 1st Brigade, Général de Brigade Baron Etienne Hulot de Mazarny is very capable. However, Gérard has been making noises, he vouched for Bourmont and he is demanding an investigation."

"Well, now I have a job for Ney, recall Gérard to Paris at once, place him under house arrest for the time being. Write the orders, Ney is to have IV Corps. He should be able to handle that."

"Sire, it shall be done. Your carriage is ready, the headquarters is ready. The Guard is already on the roads north. The borders have been sealed and Paris itself has been placed under martial law for the time being. Maréchal St. Cyr has been given carte blanche to deal with any insurrectionists."

"Very well."

As Berthier left, Napoléon shouted, "Ali! Let's get a move on man! We march!"

Source

Background Briefing

Napoleon's return from Elba
Carl von Steuben(PD)

Okay, so I'm back from vacation (my return was nowhere near as spectacular as Napoléon's return from Elba depicted above) and ready (in so far as that goes) to get back to writing. But before I begin with the continuation of my "What If" series on the Battle of Waterloo, I decided to give you, my oh-so-patient readers, a bit of background on the time period in question. That time period being the spring of 1815, the place being the continent of Europe.

We're two episodes into the series and what has happened so far - well, the Emperor has ordered the executions of his Minister of Police, one Joseph Fouché, and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, one Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. Both men had been against the Emperor since about 1808. Talleyrand may have actually cared about France, Fouché cared about Fouché and not much else.

During the actual Hundred Days Campaign (which is the overarching name for the short period in which Napoléon returned to Paris, 20 March 1815, to the subsequent return of King Louis XVIII to the French throne, 8 July 1815) Napoléon had to watch his back. He had to be in the field with his army and he needed people he could trust in Paris. In real life he left Marshal Davout, perhaps his best field commander, behind in Paris. Probably to keep an eye on Fouché and Talleyrand.

By disposing of them, he could bring Davout on campaign, as I figure it. Leaving another Marshal behind in Paris to watch the politicians would suffice.

Now Napoléon had a number of marshals (maréchal in French), most of whom won their batons (they are the equivalent of field marshals, something the USA doesn't have because George Marshall didn't want to be known as Field Marshal Marshall, so I've been led to believe) by merit, either on the battlefield or for political reasons.

Hey, there were a number of old republicans and anti-monarchists, mostly in Paris, who weren't thrilled when Napoléon declared himself Emperor, (okay the people did vote on it, but that vote was kinda-sorta not above board, something we in the USA are all too familiar with these days) and to mollify them, a couple of their guys were made marshals. With Paris, one must always appeal to the "people," often called the "mob" if one were to be completely honest.

Anyhoo, some of those marshals were extremely good at fighting, Davout, in my opinion, being only second to the Emperor himself. And in some respects better in the field than Napoléon. Jean-de-Dieu Soult was also a damned good fighter, but as the real Waterloo showed, he sucked at staff work.

Which brings us to Louis-Alexandre Berthier, perhaps the best staff officer in military history. Many of Napoléon's victories can be traced to Berthier's excellent staff work. He could translate Napoléon's thoughts and intentions into tangible orders which could be sent to the troops, understood, and acted upon.

Soult failed miserably at that.

Berthier died under very suspicious circumstances on the 1st of June, 1815, falling from a window to his death in Bamberg, Germany. Some speculate that he had help in falling from that window. Personally, I think Berthier was murdered to prevent him from rejoining the Emperor on campaign. Which led to a lot of mistakes, bad staff work, missing messages, and just all around confusion when to succeed, Napoléon needed everything to be just so. Under Soult that didn't happen.

Now the point of the story is to examine ways in which Napoléon Bonaparte could have won at Waterloo and what might have happened in the aftermath of a French victory. The precursors for such a victory required, in my mind, that Davout and Soult accompany the Emperor to Belgium, in command of troops, with Berthier handling the details of moving and fighting the army Napoléon took with him into Belgium.

What about Maréchal Ney, the bravest of the brave, Prince de la Moskowa, Duke of Elchingen? The man was a scrapper, someone you wanted beside you in a barfight or in a desperate retreat, like from Russia, where he was allegedly the last French soldier to depart Russian soil in 1812.

Well, he did fight at Waterloo, man was an inspiration, had multiple horses shot out from under him, but ...

He tended to lose his mind in a fight, instead of directing his forces, he'd put himself at their head and charge headlong into the enemy. I mean, he started life as a light cavalry sergeant ya know? Never really forgot those days I guess.

He's also the guy who promised Louis XVIII that he would intercept Napoléon on his march to Paris and bring him back "in an iron cage." He'd also been one of the marshals who had insisted on the Emperor's first abdication in 1814. There's an old saying, "once a traitor, always a traitor." While I'm not saying it applied to Maréchal Ney, after all he's one of my favorite soldiers from history, that thought did cross the Emperor's mind after the battle.

Ney may also have been suffering from PTSD from his time in Russia, which I have no proof of, but many historians have speculated that that was the case, especially after the horrors of the Russian Campaign. I tend to agree with them based on his behavior during the Hundred Days.

So will Ney march into Belgium with the Armée du Nord? I can't say yet, he probably will, but I can't think of a job for him, not with Davout and Soult on the ground. One guy I haven't mentioned is Maréchal Emmanuel de Grouchy, many blame him for the loss at Waterloo. Many think he should never have been promoted to marshal. I tend to agree with that camp.

So there you go, the background behind this latest series. We'll see how it goes.

In other news ...

I enjoyed my time away from the internet over the past few weeks. I'm still not sure if the blog will remain a going concern, it seems so easy to just walk away. While it's not easy to continue, on the gripping hand, it would be hard to just stop. We'll see how things go.

Ciao!

John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History – “History is written by the winner” Part 3

Source

The victors’ celebrations which continue 150 years after Custer’s defeat

Remember, the Plains Indians were composed of many different tribes, with their own languages, almost none of it written, and dependent on mostly oral history traditions passed down from each generation. They do have some pictographic documentation of various events often on buffalo hide, paper or fabric, and are sometimes called “Ledger art” for the ledger books used for the drawings. When carefully studied they seem to be very accurate representations of the depicted events. Several pictographs exist of the Custer battle, done by participants. 

One Bull was the adopted son of Chief Sitting Bull, and a participant in the battle. He painted the pictograph discussed in the video in the source above (6:06 long). I urge you to view this one which ties together so much information about the Custer battle. There are many short videos below showing today’s Indians celebrating these events.

 

Today, a lot of documentation is taking place on social media instead of buffalo hides, so to see the full story, we need to look at several social media postings such as those below.  It is worth the time to view them and try to understand their culture, even today.

To appreciate the battle you need to understand the terrain.  It is a maze of jumbled hills, ridges, and depressions. The Little Big Horn River is pretty much the only water, and trees grew along it, but hardly anywhere else. The river at the battle site is only 25-50 feet wide, and ankle to knee deep. Here are two short videos.

VIDEO 1 (42 seconds) - Little Big Horn battlefield from a distance, showing last stand hill (green area on the hilltop with visitor center) and Indian village location in the trees along the river. VIDEO

VIDEO 2 (42 seconds) - Views from the battlefield, along the path of Custer’s retreat, taking casualties up to Last Stand Hill. VIDEO

The mission of the 7th Cavalry was to destroy the Indian camp which was unexpectedly large, estimated at maybe 1,500 to 4,000 warriors and total of 10,000 people from many tribes ready to start the annual buffalo hunt. Here are two short videos showing a much smaller camp at this year’s celebration which was held on privately owned land adjacent to the Custer battlefield. 

 

VIDEO 3 (42 seconds) – Indian camp on eve of victory celebration. (Beautiful!). VIDEO

Video 4 (42 seconds) – Indians gathering in camp (Northern Cheyenne and Crows) and celebrations. VIDEO

The plains Indians were dependent on horses to hunt game, and haul their teepee camps to new locations. Horses had been reintroduced to North America by Cortez expedition in 1519, but spread rapidly in the wild. Obtaining (capturing or stealing) horses was a necessity for their way of life. Great horses make great warriors. Here is a two minute video of some Lakota Sioux in their camp showing off some of their horses.

VIDEO 5 (2:00 minutes) –Lakota Sioux camp with their horses prior to the reenactment of the battle. VIDEO

The highlight of the Victory Day celebration is the reenactment of the Indian repulse of the cavalry and their pursuit and destruction away from the camp to “last stand hill.” The following short videos are a good representation of the battle, although with far smaller numbers than in 1876. But, for the 268 men of Custer’s command, this is a good approximation of the battle. The first is a 1:57 minute view of the Indian charge from camp up the hill surrounding the site of Custer’s troops. Then a 22 second video taken in the midst of the attacking Indians. Finally, two videos (under a minute each) where the warriors charge from the hilltop to the spectator line – pretty much what Custer saw coming at them.

VIDEO 6 (1:57 minutes) “Victory Day” Warrior charge up the hill. VIDEO

VIDEO 7 (22 Seconds) – Indian View from inside the warrior attack. VIDEO

VIDEO 8 (45 seconds) - Final charge towards the spectators. VIDEO

VIDEO 9 (59 seconds) Another video captions this part of the celebration: 

150th Little Big Horn Victory- The Final Charge. 

From the top of the hill to the base of our seats, riders arrived in less than ten seconds, a sight from the front row that sends chills down your spine.

But this ground holds something deeper. Warriors from the Oceti Sakowin, Cheyenne, and Arapaho once stood on lands like these, defending everything they held sacred, their families, their freedom, and their right to live upon the ancestral lands of their people.

 

Let this be a reminder of the tenacity and courage that still runs through our blood. VIDEO

The final video of the reenactment is 40 seconds of a ceremonial dance by the spectators honoring their ancestors.

VIDEO 10 - (40 seconds) - “And we danced for our ancestors! Much respect for our ancestors.” VIDEO

There are other pictographic accounts of the battle, in addition to the oral histories known to the participants in the reenactment above. Follow the links below for more on the pictographs and what they tell us.

Chief Red Horse’s depiction of the battle (detail of one of several) done circa 1881.
Source

The artist, Chief Red Horse:

Source

For further reading on pictograph sources check out the following:

Part 1 of 2 part series on Red Horse’s work:

https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/the-amazing-little-bighorn-drawings-of-red-horse

Part 1 of 2 part series on Red Horse’s work:

https://www.notesfromthefrontier.com/post/red-horse-at-the-battle-of-the-little-bighorn-an-eyewitness-account

Crow “White Swan” work circa 1890 in Denver Art Museum

https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/object/1968.336

Some say there were no survivors from the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

They are wrong, the survivors are called “Indians.”

John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History – “History is written by the winner” Part 2

The Custer Fight
Charles Marion Russell (PD)

Part 2 of 3 - Our horrendous defeat which spoiled the 1876 Centennial celebration- Shocking News from the Greasy Grass, July 5, 1876.

On July 5, 1876 the newspapers were filled with praises of the many patriotic events of the celebrations across the country on our 100th Fourth of July.  But things suddenly turned into chaos, embarrassment, anger and sorrow.    

On the evening of July 5, 1876 the New York Herald published an “Extra” with the first news received in the east about the June 25th Battle of the Little Big Horn” when “General” Custer and (reportedly) 314 other men of his 7th U.S. Cavalry were killed. The following morning all the newspapers across the country were printing stories about the massacre.¹

New York Times lede on July 6, 1876.
(No copy of the July 5th New York Herald found.)
Source

General Phil Sheridan, commanding the Army in the West from a post in Chicago (Now Fort Sheridan) was in Philadelphia for the ceremonies, and the official Army report of the defeat had been telegraphed to his desk in Chicago.  He did not believe the newspaper headlines when he saw them, but a copy of the official report finally reached him later in the day. Nor had General W.T. Sherman, Commanding General of the Army who was also in Philadelphia and had not yet received any report forwarded from Chicago.

This humiliating defeat by savages living on the desolate plains shook the nation’s confidence, especially since it had happened 10 days earlier.  The U.S. Army at the time was a mere 25,000 men, down from the peak in 1865 of over a million men, and now thinly spread to cover coastal fortifications and the dozens of small frontier garrisons across the west.  Additional troops were still tied down on Reconstruction duty in the southern states, stifling often crooked politicians vying for power.  The destruction of Custer’s command was devastating.

Why the news of the defeat was delayed

While much of the nation had great communications via telegraph, and the transcontinental railroad now crossed the west, vast regions more than a few miles from major rail lines with their parallel telegraphs, remained primitive frontier territory, often days from any news.   The telephone was patented earlier in 1876 but not yet in use anywhere.   Radios would not be invented until two decades later.   

The nearest telegraph to the shattered 7th Cavalry on the Little Big Horn was in Bismarck, about 450 miles as the present highways go, but in 1876 was about 700 miles by river. 

Steamer Far West which carried the news, and wounded from the Big Horn to Bismarck, Dakota Territory.
Source

The paddle wheel steamer “Far West” was providing logistics support to the Army for the campaign.  It was able to navigate many of the rivers being 190 feet long (about 3 ½ semi trailers) with a 33 foot beam and only drawing 30 inches of water when fully loaded, and 21 inches empty.  [Source.]

By June 29th and 30th Far West was located at the mouth of the Little Big Horn River, some 15 miles from the battle site.  There, 52 wounded were taken and placed aboard, and the river boat headed downstream to Bismarck and Fort Abraham Lincoln, with dispatches reporting the disaster.   

The Captain was also given notebooks retrieved from the body or George Kellogg, a newspaper reporter “embedded” with the 7th Cavalry, to be delivered to Kellogg’s employer, the publisher of the Bismarck Herald.

The Far West reached Bismarck on July 5th and Kellogg’s notebooks and news of the battle reached Clement Lounsberry the publisher.  Kellogg and Lounsberry were part of the Associated Press and the New York Herald could preempt a telegraph line for their use. Recognizing a major story, Lounsberry had the local telegraph office give him control of the line as soon as the Army’s report was sent.  He then began dictating stories about the Custer defeat nearly continuously for 22 hours, interspersed with Bible verses for brief periods while composing additional material. Thus the New York Herald was able to “scoop” all the other eastern papers and break the news with an “extra” late on July 5th, although Lounsberry sent so much material that it was spread out over several following days.

Source:  Much of the above comes from this source. 

What appears in newspapers is not necessarily “history” but proof that “first reports are usually wrong.”   The actual count for U.S. casualties at Little Big Horn was NOT 315 dead and 31 wounded, but a total of 268 including 16 officers, 242 enlisted men (including 5 wounded who later died of the wounds), 3 attached civilians, and 7 Indian scouts.   Custer’s fighting lasted at most only a little over an hour before they were wiped out.  Reno’s and Benteen’s elements of the 7th Cavalry which had attacked from other directions were located and pinned down for more than a day and finally relieved late on the 26th.

Historians have used all sorts of archival records as well as archaeological evidence to analyze the battle. One especially well done study was done by Dr. Douglas Scott, summarized in his excellent 44 minute presentation here:  

Bullets and Bones: Archaeological View of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

 

He describes one item which especially evokes the personal tragedy of such events: “…the single most poignant artifact I have ever seen come out of the ground.  That is an inexpensive brass, silver plated wedding ring, still around the finger of one of the soldiers.”

Wedding ring of a 7th Cavalryman.

Source: Screen cap at 31:00 of presentation above.

The full 194 page book is available free for download at this source:

Douglas D. Scott, UNCOVERING HISTORY: THE LEGACY OF ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT, MONTANA, National Park Service, 2010.

Historians have confirmed that much of the reporting of the deaths at the battle and post-mortem abuse of the dead soldiers was true.   However, in the context of the cultures involved at the time it was not uncommon, or practiced exclusively by the “savages.”  But, the losers in this battle made sure it was emphasized.   Little was said about the Army’s tactics of attacking villages inhabited by warriors, women, children and the elderly, or killing off the buffalo herds which were their source of food.  Those were different times, and atrocities were committed white on white, or red on red or any combination.  

Source

Medals of Honor, even in defeat

 

Posthumous awards of the MOH were not authorized at that time so none of the 268 dead 7th Cavalrymen were considered for awards, and there were no lesser awards (Silver Star, Bronze Star, etc.) at that time.  Twenty four MOH were awarded for the Little Big Horn, mainly to men from Benteen’s or Renos’ commands who braved Indian fire to bring water from the river.

One MOH recipient was killed at Little Big Horn, Captain Thomas W. Custer (brother of General George A. Custer).   He had received TWO Medals of Honor for separate acts during the Civil War, one of only 14 men [or 19 if you count the five guys who got both an Army and Navy MOH for the same action] to ever receive the MOH twice.  (Marines Smedley Butler and Dan Daly are two others).

Three other Custer family members were also killed on June 25th.  Boston Custer, the youngest brother, working as a forage master; 1st Lieutenant James Calhoun, a brother in law married to the only Custer sister; and Autie Reed, a nephew accompanying the expedition as a civilian.  

To be continued ...

¹ George A. Custer was actually a Lieutenant Colonel in 1876, but had been a Brevet Major General of Volunteers at the end of the Civil War, so the honorific title of General was used thereafter.  It was not uncommon for a post Civil War regiment to have several officers who had been Brevet Colonels or Generals, now serving as a Captain, Major, Lt. Col. or Colonel.

SuperDupersonic +

Source

 

 Well, you know me.  If it's got airplanes in the story, I'm interested.  Especially if they're jets and I mean FAAASSSSTTTTT jets.  Apparently, this aircraft, designated the X-59  is a Mach 5 capable aircraft which more than measures up to my interest level. I

 For those of you that are into numbers, Mach 5 is 3,705.4850 Miles per Hour on a standard day (Mach ground speed changes with air temperature and pressure variations). But, regardless of that, it's a fast (very fast) jet.

Addendum: It's 2884 miles by air from JFK to LAX, meaning the airborne time is ~45 minutes in this jet.  Heck, the steward's can't even get the scotch distributed in that time! 

The design will minimize the jet noise significantly. They're advertising that the sonic boom won't be louder than a dull thump!

Pretty cool huh?

It gets a bit cooler.  Its official name is Lockheed Martin X-59 Quesst which is an acronym for Quiet Supersonic Technology. (I wonder why it's Quesst and not Quisst, but what do I know? I'm trying to think of a suggestion for the name, Quiet Dagger maybe?)

I hadn't heard (no pun intended) about this project until I discovered it on the web.  But, evidently it is for real and is actually in a test phase.  I mean the object in the picture above is obviously flying and therefore, real, right?

Source

 

I also found it interesting that one of the ways they are reducing the sonic boom is by increasing the length of the plane while minimizing the wingspan.  Punches a smaller hole through the atmosphere, I guess.

 

No Beans, that's not me sitting in the simulator despite the physical similarities. More's the pity. 

Source

 

 Another thing I thought interesting, although a bit disturbing potentially.  There is no forward canopy, meaning you can't see what's out front.  Yes, Beans, that would be the point you're flying to.  That's handled with a TV camera.  You can see out the sides of the canopy though, so I guess if the TV quit, you could rejoin with another airplane and fly a formation approach and get dropped of at the runway by the other pilot.  

I've done that a few times, although I'll confess, I did sneak a couple of peeks at the runway lineup before we touched down.  Never had a problem though, always headed right down the runway. 

At the time of the article, there have been 19 flights since its first take off Oct 28, 2025.  The report is that it handled better than the two test pilots expected.  High praise!

As to the sonic booms, I thought this was a bit humorous.  The test flights require a chase aircraft or two.  These were F-15s (whoop!) and FA-18s.  Since the X-59 had to go supersonic in order to test supersonic flight and the folks on the ground were testing for noise level, they encountered a bit of a problem.  

The chase aircraft had to stay with the test aircraft in case something went wrong. Duh!  But if the test aircraft is supersonic, that means the chase aircraft had to be supersonic.

Guess which sonic boom was the loudest.

Yep! The Eagles and the Hornets.

So...I guess they are making progress.

They plan to test this aircraft out, by flying it over different parts of the the country, I don't understand why it would be different in different places, but, I'm not an expert.  However, there is one consideration that is required. 

The aircraft requires at least 10,000' of runway to takeoff and land. Most airports used by airlines meet that requirement, but are busy.  Airbases generally come close, but...not all meet the 10K' requirement.  So, they'll have to work that out.

 

Source

 And....a short video of the plane in the air.

M’’

 Hope y'all enjoyed this.  

+ Oh, It's 1700 Texas time, Sunday Evening.  I JUST  found out that my prohibition of driving due to my accident has been dismissed.  Tx Department of Public Safety posted it on their website.  I just found that out.  That's definitely worth a plus!

Thank you, Lord! 

Peace out, y'all! 

 

 

 Sources

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/nasas-x-59-frankenjet-tests-supersonic-flight-without-the-sonic-boom/ 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOTfR1NQ-X8&source_ve_path=OTY3MTQ&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2F 

 

 

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John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History – “History is written by the winner”* Part 1

The Nation Makers
Howard Pyle
Author’s photo, Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, PA. 2025.

Our 1876 Centennial Celebration; our horrendous defeat which spoiled that celebration; and the victors’ celebrations which continue 150 years later.

*Attributed variously to Napoleon or Winston Churchill, but a recurring thought over many centuries, so they may have said it, but likely were not the first to do so. Churchill noted he would be well regarded by history, for he intended to write it… and did so.

Part 1 of 3 - Our 1876 Centennial Celebration

Celebrating our Victory!

Our Revolution’s first shots were fired April 19, 1775. The war ended with the Peace of Paris signed September 3, 1783 confirming our victorious liberation from British colonial status after a long and arduous struggle. That was nearly a year after the surrender of the British army at Yorktown, VA on October 19, 1782 where Lord Cornwallis claimed to be indisposed and skipped the surrender ceremony. The United States of America had truly won over the most powerful country in the world at that time, and proudly recorded that in our historical records

Since we had declared our Independence on July 4, 1776, we chose that date to celebrate as our official “Independence Day."

0ne hundred years later, now 150 years ago, our great nation prepared to celebrate the Centennial of our Independence Day. Just like today, with parades, fireworks, and public festivities. The Philadelphia “Centennial Exhibition” had opened on May 10th hosting nearly a million visitors by the end of June.

1876 Centennial Exhibition- opening day, attended by 160,000 people!
Source

One of the most impressive parts of the Exhibition was the 14 acre “Machinery Hall” highlighting our industrial accomplishments. A 1,400 horsepower two cylinder Corliss steam engine with a 56 ton flywheel provided line shaft and steam power to 800 exhibits in the building. Agriculture, historical items, domestic goods and all sorts of other interests were featured in the 60,000 exhibits under a total of 75 acres of enclosed space. We were truly a leading world power. “The late unpleasantness” which had ended April 9, 1865 had faded, and the nation was reunified, and the Centennial was celebrated North and South.

Portion of the Machinery Hall, with the Corliss engine in the back, and new locomotives right foreground, steam launches front left.
Source

Military technology was also on display, and the Army Ordnance Department had an exhibit where workers made dummy .45-70 cartridges with a special headstamp, passed out as souvenirs.

A “draw set” showing detailed steps in making a cartridge in 1876.
Source

A “draw set” showing detailed steps in making a cartridge in 1876. For nerdy details on the centennial cartridge sets, and a view of the production line set up to make them, chase that Source above.

These were made with soft copper cases which later experienced extraction problems, possibly aggravated by verdigris build up from carrying in leather belts. The soft copper cases were later partially blamed for extraction problems in a famous battle.

To be continued ...