Good morning, Whitewater
It’s the anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn today. Wired‘s This Day in Tech column asks, “Was Custer Outgunned at Little Bighorn?” —
Tactical blunders and faulty intelligence work contributed heavily to one of the worst defeats ever sustained by the U.S. Army during its protracted campaign to subjugate the Plains Indians, but technology may have played a role, too. Simply put, the Indians may have come to the battlefield in eastern Montana better equipped to fight than the 7th Cavalry troopers. Odd, considering the mercurial brevet Maj. Gen. Custer was leading the spear tip of a force ordered to compel the rebellious Indians to return to their reservations, or else annihilate them.
If the Indians were, in fact, better armed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Custer may have contributed to the situation by declining to include Gatling guns in his van. Because he was setting off on what amounted to a search-and-destroy mission, he argued that the Gatlings were too cumbersome and would only slow him down.
At the point where he was surrounded and outnumbered by a ratio as high as 9-to-1, he probably regretted making that choice. In such a dire situation, the Gatling gun would have considerably reduced the enemy’s numerical advantage and may have even proven decisive in turning the tide.
Here’s today’s almanac —
| Almanac | ||
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, June 25, 2009 | Sunrise | Sunset |
| Official Time | 05:17 AM | 08:37 PM |
| Civil Twilight | 04:42 AM | 09:12 PM |
| Tomorrow | 05:17 AM | 08:37 PM |
| Tomorrow will be: | roughly the same as today | |
| Amount of sunlight: | 15h 20m | |
| Amount of daylight: | 16h 30m | |
| Moon phase: | Waxing crescent | |