"Stuart Tank, Little Bighorn Revolver on Auction" Topic

A handgun carried into the Battle of Little Bighorn by a legendary U.S. Army cavalry officer is headlining a high-profile firearms auction in Bedford, Texas this weekend…

Fox News: link

For a moment I thought this was about the Twilight Zone episode where the Stuart tank crew find themselves caught at the Battle of the Little Big Horn :)

So did I.

I'd like that Stuart!

For a moment I thought this was about the Twilight Zone episode where the Stuart tank crew find themselves caught at the Battle of the Little Big Horn :)

If Serling wrote it, it would be a tense microdrama inside a tank with a crew including a Sioux, a Crow, an African-American, and a commander with a family history of US Army service, who all had ancestors in the Great Sioux War.

I should get that Stuart and drive it home to California. Road trip!

I've been in a Stuart. I hope you're reasonably slim!

I've been in a Stuart.

As have I….

"Gunner … co-ax … trash cans in the open."

Had a buddy give me a ride around his neighborhood in his Stuart. He's an active refurbisher and reenactor. Used to do a fair bit of volunteer work for the Patton Museum at Ft. Knox (he's just outside Louisville, Kentucky) Has several vehicles, including this gem.

We headed up one of the residential streets in his area, did a pivot-turn at the top, and as we were coming back down, there was a fellow who had evidently heard us go up, and came out to watch us go back down his street. We were all in happy and friendly moods, and I waved at him. He cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled something. I asked my bud to stop so we could talk with the friendly neighbor.

Then we hear him shouting …

"Just checking to make sure you're one of OURS."

I hope you're reasonably slim!

I have been called many things in my life, but slim is not among them.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Where do you pick up Street Safe Tracks for a Stuart? It isn't like they have them in stock at NTB.

W A Graham in "The Custer Myth" quotes Benteen making a disparaging reference in one of his letters to a cavalry captain with long mustaches openly weeping as he blasted away at Indians who were far out of range. Moylan was one of Reno's captains, and married to Calhoun's sister, and so a part of Custer's extended family (not a group with whom Benteen was at peace). I've often wondered if it was Moylan that Benteen was referring to.

If so, that might be the pistol- an interesting piece of history indeed.

If you read Benteen's unedited letters to Theodore Goldin, you will see he was critical of all officers in the 7th, except himself, of course.

Tom

Tom's correct.

Benteen was a very sour man. At war with everyone.

His comment on Moylan's conduct in the Valley Fight: "Upon reaching the hilltop, the first thing I saw was the gallantly mustached commander of Company A blubbering like a whipped cur."

That's similar to the quote I was thinking of- had forgotten the company reference, but that explains why I remembered it as Moylan. Maybe I am confusing two descriptions, though?

I have not read the letters you're referring to, only the expurgated versions of his correspondence that Graham quotes in "The Custer Myth," but those did not leave me with a dramatically different impression.

I have seen letters Benteen sent his wife. Let us just say they were a bit risqué, especially for that time period.

Haven't seen them, but read the descriptions in "Son of the Morning Star," so I know what you mean.

The LBH feels to me like one of those great stories of how individual characters and organizational culture can produce conflict in a military context, which puts it in a category with the charge at Balaklava, the sinking of the "Victoria," the "Royal Oak" court-martial, the Arnheiter affair, etc, etc (quite apart from its military interest).

I haven't ever quite made up my mind about what I think about Benteen. I can see two cases to be made about his conduct, but neither is quite open and shut.