When I wrote it, afterwards I knew Benteen had 3 companies (that was 1 of the mistakes I alluded to in previous posts) so Custer was operating in 3 battalions, Renos and Benteens in comparative equal strength.

Thanks for the correction and you are right, it was a Court of Inquiry. Reno had a sad but self imposed ending due to his drinking. The Custer faction have always used his failure to carry the charge home as causing Custer's defeat. I will use Longstreet's words in analogy, or the popular version, " no 125 ever men made could charge that village and live". Though his assigned task was to draw the warriors out while Custer hit the village or rounded up the retreating Indian squaws and children, he would have been annhilated had he not retreated. True, his retreat was a rout and he drew a significant amount of warriors from the village while in the river valley, but when Custer was spotted, they went after him./ And though he may have lost command and control, Custer's tactics in dividing his force as he had done in the past not knowing the size of the encampment was his doom.

Philip Duer