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"Reno
proved incompetent and Benteen showed his indifference – I will not use the uglier words that have often been in my mind. Both failed Custer and he had to fight it out alone."
Little Bighorn veteran William Taylor, letter to Lieutenant Godfrey, February 20, 1910

INDIAN TESTIMONIES ON CUSTER'S RESISTANCE
source: Gregory Michno, Lakota Noon, the Indian narrative of Custer's defeat, Mountain Press, 1997

Crow King, Sioux hunkpapa warchief (Michno,
p.178):
Riderless mounts scattered across the hills and ran to the river but the soldiers kept in order and fought like brave warriors.
It was a hotly contested battle.
The shootings [by the soldiers] Eagle Elk had witnessed within the last minutes had been enough to convince him of the good sense in staying away from
the front lines.
Even tough virtually surrounded, the soldiers put up a stiff resistance, for it was in this
charge [chief Lame White Man’s charge] that the Lakotas lost more of their men. Red Horse thought that 136 Indians were killed and 160 were wounded in that
phase of the battle.
Hollow Horn Bear, Sioux Brule warrior (Michno, p.177):
In fact, Hollow Horn Bear believed that the troops were in good order at the start of the fight, and kept their organization even while moving from point to point.
There was so much doubt about the outcome [of the battle] that I told the squaws to break the camp and be ready to leave.
Here the soldiers made a desperate fight.
The Indians pressed and crowded right in around Custer Hill. But the soldiers weren’t ready to die. We stood there a long time.







