LTC George Armstrong Custer did not effectively apply the concept of mission command as a warfighting function during the Battle of Little Bighorn. While it is important to understand the context in which Custer made his decisions, those circumstances offer little in terms of excusing the fiasco that was Little Bighorn. Custer failed to follow orders, did not take pertinent intelligence into consideration, did not adequately plan or execute protection of his forces, and fought without essential fires equipment available to him. Custer did exercise good sustainment, but it was for naught, as the battle was brief. One must understand the context in which Custer fought at Little Bighorn. The year was 1876, and the country was growing. The United …show more content…
The 7th CAV had almost 900 Soldiers assigned to it at this time. Notable participants on the Indian side of the conflict were Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. More significant than the individuals was the sheer number of Lakota Sioux present for the battle. Estimates vary, but historians generally agree there were from 2,000 to 3,000 Lakota Sioux at the battle. (2)(3)(4) The intent of the Battle of Little Bighorn was to push rebel Lakota Sioux onto the nearby Great Sioux Reservation in order to regain the control of the Black Hills. The Army had planned a three pronged approach to achieve this goal, with BG Gibbons and the 2nd CAV approaching from the west, BG Terry and Custer with the 7th CAV approaching from the east, and BG Crooks with his forces coming from the south. Altogether, there were about 2,500 American Soldiers collectively approaching Little …show more content…
Terry had given Custer command of the 7th CAV and had sent Custer on a reconnaissance and pursuit mission. That is, Custer’s orders were to locate and maintain situational awareness of the Indian encampment. While on patrol with the CAV, Custer thought Indian scouts had discovered his forces, and that he had lost the element of surprise. He took a small detachment of his forces and chose to engage the Indians, trusting MAJ Reno and CPT Benteen would be able to come to his aid should he need reinforcement. Custer also believed the military ability of his Soldiers was immensely superior to that of the Indians, and that the CAV would have little difficulty during the battle. Ultimately, Custer split the small number of troops under his direct command, and they were easily overwhelmed by the Indian warriors.
The 7th Cavalry Regiment's destruction at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876 is the subject of over a century of debate. LTC George A. Custer failed to exercise four key responsibilities that were expected of him as the regiment’s commander. He failed to understand the problem and environment, visualize a feasible solution, clearly describe it to his subordinates, and effectively direct his forces. These four aspects of mission command are integral to the operations process and help Soldiers understand and execute their commander's intent. Custer's failure to properly fulfill his role in the operations process resulted in his death and a strategic defeat for the nation.
COL Prescott’s role in the Battle of Bunker Hill, or more correctly know as the Battle of Breed’s Hill, is a great example of how to properly execute mission command. An overview from The Cowpens Staff Ride and Battlefield Tour (Moncure) reveals a number of operation and strategic objectives that the American militia had to consider. In this instance, COL Prescott takes charge of 1200 men with instructions to defend against incoming British forces that were seeking to occupy the surrounding hills during the Siege of Boston campaign. COL Prescott utilized a variety of steps in the operations process that contributed to his expert utilization of mission command over his forces. Through various sources from published works by experts on the subject, COL Prescott’s mission command demonstrates its effectiveness in his understanding of the situation against the British, his visualization to create an end state for t...
General Robert E. Lee executed poor mission command during the Battle of Gettysburg by not providing a clear commander’s intent, and not creating teams of mutual trust1. General Lee commanded the Confederate Army during the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in July 1861. The Confederate Army sought supplies before they decisively engaged the Union Army. General Lee’s lack of mission command lost the Battle of Gettysburg3.
Epple J. C. (1970). Custer’s battle of the Washita and A history of the Plains Indian Tribes
Turner, Frederick Jackson. "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," Learner: Primary Sources. Annenberg Learner, Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
The petition charged McClellan with incompetence, as evidenced by the failure of his campaigns and their heavy losses, “And also because by recent disobedience to superior orders and inactivity he has twice imperiled the army commanded by General Pope, and while he continues to command will daily hazard the f...
Today Custer’s last stand is one of the most famous events in American History. Two Thousand Sioux Native Americans slaughtered General George Custer’s army of 600 men armed with guns. Crazy Horse was a very important leader in the Great Sioux War of 1876.
Kinevan, Marcos E. "Frontier cavlryman, Lieutenant John bigelow with the Buffalo Soldiers in Texas." Texas Western Press, 1998.
The journey of exploration to the western territories brought the white man many great things, but they did face some opposition. The US government made plans to explore the Black Hills, after hearing of the gold it contained. This was not an easy task. The Sioux, with strong force, were not giving up their sacred land easily. The only way to gain the territory of the Black Hills was to wage war against the Sioux. The Battle of the Little Big Horn was one battle that the US will never forget. General George Custer led an army of men to take out the Sioux, one of the battalions was completely wiped out including Custer. The Sioux were very strong, but US had a lot more power and technology. Why did we get massacred? This question has been a mystery to many people throughout the years. Sergeant Windolph, of Benteen’s cavalry, and John F. Finerty, from General Crooks cavalry, bring us some personal accounts and memories of this tragedy.
Jortner, Adam Joseph. The Gods of Prophetstown: The Battle of Tippecanoe and the Holy War for the American Frontier. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 2012.
The term “Manifest Destiny” was never actually used until 1845, but the idea was always implied from the Doctrine of Discovery. Without understanding the Doctrine, it is impossible to understand the reasons and fundamentals behind why Manifest Destiny began.This Doctrine was a set of ten steps and rules that European nations followed in order to avoid conflict over land holdings, created in the early 1400s. The first few steps give the discovering country full rights to buy the land from the native peoples. This is important, since it gave the discovering country the power of preemption. Conquered Indian peoples lose sovereign powers and the rights to free trade and diplomatic relations, and the land they occupy is said to be vacant. Religion played a massive role in the regulations of the Doctrine, since “non-Christian people were not deemed to have the same rights to land, sovereignty, and self determination as Christians”(Miller 4). These rules were all meant to favor the ethnocentric, with full understanding of the repercussions on those who lived in the places being conquered.
Manifest Destiny was the idea that it was the United States’ destiny to take over all of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Most of the public was in favor of territorial expansion, though some politicians felt it contradicted the constitution.
The West: From Lewis and Clark and Wounded Knee: The Turbulent Story of the Settling of Frontier America.
This book was written by Margaret Carrington (1831-1870), the wife of the Commanding Officer Colonel Henry B. Carrington, at Fort Philip Kearny. This novel was written from her own journal about her time spent traveling to the outpost up to her return to Fort Laramie. The book reads initially as a guide to prospective travelers on the Virginia City road, and finishes in the same fashion. In between are her first hand accounts of the troubles experienced at Fort Kearny between eighteen sixty-six and eighteen sixty-seven. The years are significant because miners were responding to the news that gold had been discovered in Montana. The resulting influx of prospectors forced the United States government to deal with the Sioux Indians in order to protect its citizens along the fore mentioned trail.
Lieutenant Colonel Custer led his 7th Cavalry, they were assigned to locate and drive the Indians into the other two large forces that awaited in the south and northeast. Custer was specifically told not to engage with the Indians; but he had made a career out of bold cavalry charges, and with the possibility of a promotion and political career he could not resist. He pushed his troops with the thoughts of defeating the Indians before General Alfred Terry or General George Crook could arrive to help him.