"New Study Debunks Tales of Mass Suicide at Custer’s Last" Topic
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| Tango01 | 24 Jun 2022 9:32 p.m. PST |
… Stand
"It's among the most famous and controversial battles ever fought on American soil. At Custer's Last Stand, in June 1876, the U.S. Army was outnumbered and overwhelmed by Native American warriors, along the banks of the Little Bighorn River. By the end of the battle, some 268 federal troops were dead.
But how many were killed and how many died at their own hands? Often-cited historical accounts tell the story of many Cavalry suicides, with the men choosing to shoot themselves rather than risk death and dismemberment at the hands of Native American fighters. Now, new research presented earlier in April 2018 at the Society for American Archaeology's annual meeting raises more questions about this historic bloodbath. Instead, said bioarchaeology researcher Genevieve Mielke, from the University of Montana, preliminary skeletal analysis suggests suicides among army troops may have been few and far between. "No doubt suicides happened among Custer's men," she told Science News, "but perhaps not on the grand scale previously suggested."…"
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| Legionarius | 25 Jun 2022 7:12 a.m. PST |
More factoids on Yellow Hair's demise :) |
Grattan54  | 25 Jun 2022 10:19 a.m. PST |
I had once read that this idea of the mass suicide came from the Cheyenne but the author who was interviewing Cheyenne misunderstood what they were saying. That saying an enemy killed himself was meant to mean they did something stupid or were not a worthy opponent. Not that they literally killed themselves. |
| Tango01 | 25 Jun 2022 3:48 p.m. PST |
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| 42flanker | 27 Jun 2022 1:48 a.m. PST |
FROM THE ARTICLE:
One account from Wooden Leg, a Northern Cheyenne Indian, describes a chaotic scene up on the ridge: "Right away, all of the white men went crazy. Instead of footing [sic] us, they turned their guns upon themselves. Almost before we could get to them, every one of them was dead. They killed themselves." |
| Pyrate Captain | 15 Aug 2023 9:39 p.m. PST |
By the modern definition of "mass", sensationalized by the opinion-oriented press, it would only require more than two troopers to have killed themselves to be defined as a mass suicide. |
| P Carl Ruidl | 18 Aug 2023 8:00 a.m. PST |
Clyde Snow's analysis of remains viz. 1984-85 did not show evidence of self-inflicted wounds, and apparently this modern study concurs. The story of mass suicide was mentioned by Wooden Leg to both George Grinnell and John Stands In Timber. Wooden Leg recanted the story of mass suicide on his deathbed. The Lakota have no oral history of soldier suicide. |
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