Just noticed that today is Little Bighorn Day. In the space of an hour or so, Custer and his battalion got whacked by the Indians. Nobody is too sure what happened, other than his subordinates disobeying their orders, his force being badly outnumbered- in part because all the Indians left Reno and Benteen (almost literally) alone to concentrate on Custer's detachment, and there have even been allegations that the Indians had more advanced weaponry (some of them) than the cavalry.
All that being said, on top of inflicting a resounding defeat on the Seventh Cavalry, here is a list of the Custer portion of the casualty rolls:
George
Tom
Boston
James C. Calhoun- brother in law of George, Tom, and Boston Custer.
Reminds me of a story from "The Twentieth Maine", by Pullen. As the regiment was marching towards Little Round Top and glory, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, Lieutenant Tom Chamberlain, and brother John- a volunteer nurse- were riding abreast at the head of the Regiment when a shell flew past, a few feet ahead of them. Joshua ( or Lawrence, as he was generally known) commented that another shot like that might make it "a hard day for mother". So he sent John ahead to find a place for the wounded, and Tom to the rear to make sure the regiment was keeping in good order.
Alas, the Custers probably would have preferred to die together, than to do do something so silly- besides, with their record of deeds from the Civil War, who knows if they even thought they could be killed.
Sadly, they could. And it was indeed a hard day for mother.
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